SRINAGAR: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the continuation of the “Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS” (SARTHAK-PDS) as an umbrella scheme during the 16th Finance Commission award period with a central outlay of Rs 25,530 crore.
The Cabinet also approved revised norms for central assistance to States and Union Territories for expenditure incurred on intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and fair price shop (FPS) dealers’ margins, while continuing the existing funding pattern of central assistance.
According to an official statement, the SARTHAK-PDS scheme integrates two ongoing schemes — “Assistance to State Agencies for intra-State Movement of Foodgrains and FPS Dealers’ Margin under NFSA” and “Scheme for Modernisation and Reforms through Technology in Public Distribution System (SMART PDS)” — to strengthen implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
The scheme aims to provide assured financial support for intra-state movement, handling and FPS dealers’ margins, while creating a unified, citizen-centric and interoperable Public Distribution System (PDS) architecture to ensure last-mile delivery of foodgrains, reduce leakages and improve transparency. The merged scheme will continue till March 31, 2031.
The government said SARTHAK-PDS would modernise and optimise PDS operations through technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain. The scheme proposes standardised digital architecture, unified databases for real-time monitoring, AI-driven grievance redressal and analytics systems, State Command Control Centres and ISO-certified process frameworks to improve transparency, security and sustainability in PDS operations.
The Centre said the scheme is part of its commitment to ensure food and nutritional security for the 81.35 crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA.
The government noted that over the past decade, several digitisation initiatives have been implemented in the PDS ecosystem, including End-to-End Computerisation of TPDS, Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS) and SMART PDS. Citizen-facing platforms such as Mera Ration, Anna Mitra, Rightful Targeting Dashboard and Anna Sahayata have also been introduced.
It said that since April 1, 2023, the SMART PDS scheme has enabled complete digitisation of ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, FPS automation through e-PoS devices, online allocation and computerised supply-chain management across all 36 States and Union Territories.
