Govt prioritizes social assistance quota for 4.2 mln new beneficiaries

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Ministry of Social Affairs, in collaboration with Statistics Indonesia (BPS), is prioritizing social assistance quotas for 4.2 million new beneficiaries, comprising older adults living alone, people with disabilities, and families living in uninhabitable homes.In a press conference here on Friday evening, Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, stated that this step is a follow-up to the verification and updating of new data on 18.7 million social assistance beneficiary families conducted by BPS and the ministry.From the results of the verification, BPS found that 4.2 million beneficiaries were deemed ineligible to receive social assistance because some already had stable jobs and income.To this end, the assistance will be diverted to new beneficiaries, such as older adults living alone, people with disabilities, and families living in uninhabitable homes.Amalia explained that this measure was taken to improve the targeting accuracy of social assistance distribution.”To replace these ineligible beneficiaries, we will incorporate data for groups that previously fell under the exclusion error category, meaning they were eligible but not yet recorded,” she explained.BPS and the Ministry of Social Affairs have also agreed on new priority criteria for prospective new social assistance beneficiaries, including households with 450–900 watts of electricity capacity, heads of families who are unemployed or have irregular incomes, and families living in uninhabitable homes.Four criteria have been set for homes considered uninhabitable, including those with a dirt floor and an unfit roof, an average floor area of less than 7.2 square meters per capita, and homes that lack proper sanitation.”A more accurate data updating result is expected to be able to support the Ministry of Social Affairs in distributing social assistance accurately, transparently, and fairly to those who truly need it,” Widyasanti remarked.