- Committee to be appointed following HRCSL red flag
- some criteria should undergo change; Min Siyambalapitiya
The Welfare Benefits Board (WBB) has agreed before the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to reconsider through a committee the criteria considered in the selection of beneficiaries for the Aswesuma Social Welfare Programme, it is learnt.
Selected families are provided with monthly allowances varying from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 15,000 under the Aswesuma Programme, which was launched last year (2023).
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (7), a Commissioner of the HRCSL, attorney Nimal Punchihewa said that they had identified various shortcomings in the Programme, particularly in the process of selecting beneficiaries. "For instance, if a child of a particular family is sitting for Ordinary Level (O/L) Examination, that family does not receive benefits under this Programme. The HRCSL identified several such deficiencies and summoned the WBB officials recently."
During the discussion, he said that the WBB had agreed to appoint a committee and reconsider the existing criteria considered in the selection of Aswesuma beneficiaries. When queried as to whether they (HRCSL) had been informed of the progress of the implementation of the said decision, Punchihewa said: "It was only about a week ago that we had this discussion. The WBB will appoint a committee, and it will make the necessary recommendations."
When contacted by The Daily Morning, the State Minister of Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the Government was also of the view that certain criteria in relation to the Aswesuma beneficiary selection process should undergo changes.
The provision of Aswesuma welfare benefits commenced from 1 July 2023. Under the Programme, a monthly allowance of Rs. 2,500 is provided to transitional category of families, Rs. 5,000 to vulnerable category, Rs. 7,500 to poor category, and Rs. 15,000 to extremely poor category. During the early days of the Programme's implementation, the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna itself stated that they had identified several shortcomings in the related selection process, and had urged the President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to address such.