National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) which supports minimum needs of destitutes will be completely restructured and all payments will be done through Aadhar-based system to avoid any delay, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

"The restructured system will be in place by March 10 this year and it will ensure that each beneficiary under old age, disabilities and widow pension schemes will get their entitlement every month and there will be no delay in payments," Ramesh said.

He was talking to reporters after a meeting with Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik, Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani and senior officials from Minority Affairs Ministry.

The Minister said that the Central government spends nearly Rs 8,000 crore rupees under the NSAP scheme, but the devolvement of funds is being done in a complicated process in a layered manner, which he said will be rectified and only one State Agency will be identified for receipt of funds for final disbursement to pass book holders through Aadhar-based system.

Ramesh informed that he had already written to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for relaxation of certain norms like reducing the criteria for disability to 40 per cent from the existing 80 per cent, which leads to exclusion of a very large number of disabled persons in rural areas.

Moreover, they also face problem in getting a medical certificate verifying 80 per cent criteria.

"Presently the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme gives assistance of Rs 200 per month to BPL widows over the age of 40, which can be modified to cover widows over the age of 18," he said.

There is also a demand to enhance the amount under National Family Benefit Scheme from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000, which is paid to a BPL family whose main bread-winner dies, besides inclusion of children/youth in the 5 to 20 age group to get the disability pension benefit, which is now restricted to those over the age of 20.