New Delhi, May 27 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has 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 approval includes revised norms for Central assistance to States and Union Territories to meet expenditure on intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers’ margins, while retaining the existing funding pattern.
The SARTHAK-PDS scheme integrates two existing programmes — “Assistance to State Agencies for intra-State movement of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ margin under NFSA” and “Scheme for Modernization and Reforms through Technology in Public Distribution System (SMART PDS)” — to strengthen implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
The integrated scheme aims to provide assured financial support for intra-state movement, handling and FPS dealer margins, while building a citizen-centric, intelligent and interoperable Public Distribution System (PDS) to improve last-mile delivery, reduce leakages and reinforce food security mechanisms. The scheme will remain operational until March 31, 2031.
A major feature of SARTHAK-PDS is its focus on technology-driven reforms. The scheme proposes to modernise and optimise PDS operations using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain technologies. These tools will support real-time monitoring, AI-based grievance redressal and analytics, unified databases, State Command and Control Centres, and ISO-certified process frameworks aimed at enhancing transparency, security and efficiency.
The government said the scheme supports its social and legal commitment to ensuring food and nutritional security and will benefit 81.35 crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA.
The initiative builds on digitisation efforts undertaken over the past decade, including End-to-End Computerisation of TPDS, Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS) and SMART PDS, along with citizen-focused applications such as Mera Ration, Anna Mitra, Rightful Targeting Dashboard and Anna Sahayata.
Since April 1, 2023, the SMART PDS programme has driven technology-led reforms by enabling 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.
Photo Courtesy : Partha Sarkar
