The Welfare Benefits Board has published its first updated Aswesuma list, removing 331,653 people it found unqualified, adding 153,511 newly eligible beneficiaries, and leaving 991,800 individuals approved for cash payments. Objections must be lodged within ten days.

The board published the list on Wednesday, EconomyNext reported at 2.46 p.m. Colombo time. Hiru News carried the same announcement at 10.41 p.m. with the payment rates attached.

The numbers

Of those approved, 628,658 qualified under the “Poor” category and 363,142 under “Extremely Poor” — together the 991,800 total. A further 1,391,830 applicants were found not to qualify.

The review covered 2,383,630 individuals, drawn from more than 3.12 million self-declarations submitted after criticism in 2023 that benefits were reaching ineligible people. The qualified and unqualified figures account for that review population exactly.

Hiru News gives the monthly rates the two surviving categories will receive: Rs 17,500 for the Extremely Poor category and Rs 10,000 for the Poor category. EconomyNext does not carry the rates.

Two different figures that are easily confused

The 331,653 removals and the 1,391,830 found unqualified are not the same group and should not be read as one. The first is the number of existing recipients taken off the registry. The second is the number of applicants in this review who did not meet the criteria — a population that includes people who were never receiving payments.

Hiru’s English headline slug renders the larger figure as 1.4 million people who “will lose benefits.” Its own Sinhala text does not say that: it says that number of people did not qualify (සුදුසුකම් නොලබා) under the new programme. This desk has used the Sinhala wording.

What has been discontinued

Cash transfers are now limited to the two remaining categories. Payments under the Transitional category ended in April 2025, and the Vulnerable category was discontinued in June 2026 after earlier extensions granted because of disaster conditions.

The appeal window

The approved lists will be displayed at Grama Niladhari and Divisional Secretariat offices, opening a strict 10-day window for the public to file objections or appeals before divisional committees.

“Any objections or appeals must strictly be lodged within the designated time frame. We will not be able to extend this period, as we are strictly required to begin payments under the new list within November,” WBB Chairman Nimal Kotawalagedara said.

Disbursements under the new roster are scheduled to begin on 27 November. EconomyNext reports a second list is being prepared “in the near future”; Hiru dates it to December.

WBB Additional Commissioner D.L.P. Rishan Dharmasena said the board believed it had “achieved a major victory by ensuring that Aswesuma benefits reach the most eligible beneficiaries, the most deserving individuals, and those who genuinely ought to receive them.”

Not reported

Neither filing gives the exact date the 10-day window opens or closes — the single most consequential detail for anyone intending to appeal. Neither states where appeals are decided beyond “divisional committees,” what evidence an appellant must produce, or whether a decision can be challenged further.

Neither says how many of the 331,653 removed were receiving payments immediately before removal, nor what the registry’s total was before this round, so the net change in the beneficiary population cannot be calculated from the figures published. Neither gives the criteria applied in the re-certification, nor the cost of the programme under the new list.

Corroborated — two verified newsrooms. EconomyNext and Hiru News agree on 991,800, 628,658 and 363,142 to the individual. Hiru alone carries the payment rates and the December date for the second list; EconomyNext alone carries the 331,653 removals, the 153,511 additions, the appeal window and both officials’ quotes. Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 consecutive days and could not be consulted.