Sri Lanka, Sept. 29 -- The Government is reconsidering plans to remove nearly one million families classified as extremely poor and poor from the Aswesuma welfare programme, with Deputy Social Security and Community Empowerment Minister Wasantha Piyathissa saying they will remain beneficiaries unless their income levels improve.

Piyathissa told media that around one million families currently categorised as extremely poor and poor receive Aswesuma payments, with monthly allowances of Rs. 17,000 and Rs. 10,000, respectively.

He said the IMF programme requires these two categories to be phased out during 2027, but emphasised that such a move should be accompanied by measures to improve the affected families' incomes.

He said discussions ...