New Delhi: 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 award period of the 16th Finance Commission cycle, with an outlay of Rs. 25,530 crore as the Central share.
The CCEA has also decided to revise the norms of Central assistance for meeting expenditure incurred by States and Union Territories on intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ margin, while continuing the existing funding pattern of Central assistance.
The scheme has been conceived as an umbrella programme integrating the ongoing schemes, (i) “Assistance to State Agencies for intra-State movement of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ margin under NFSA” and (ii) “Scheme for Modernization and Reforms through Technology in Public Distribution System (SMART PDS)”, to comprehensively strengthen the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).
The SARTHAK-PDS scheme aims to provide, (a) assured financial support for intra-state movement, handling and FPS dealers’ margin, and (b) a unified, citizen-centric, intelligent and interoperable PDS architecture that ensures last-mile service delivery, minimizes leakages and strengthens the nation’s commitment to food security under NFSA. The merged scheme will operate till March 31, 2031.
The SARTHAK-PDS scheme seeks to modernize, integrate and intelligently optimize PDS operations through advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain. This will be done by creating standardized architectures and unified databases for real-time monitoring, AI-driven grievance and analytics systems, State Command and Control Centres for data-driven oversight, and ISO-certified process frameworks to ensure transparency, security and sustainability in PDS operations.
The Government of India has a social and legal commitment to ensuring a dignified life for citizens by providing access to food and nutritional security through the availability of adequate quantities of quality foodgrains. The scheme will support the Government of India’s commitment towards 81.35 crore persons covered under NFSA. Building on the statutory and policy framework, SARTHAK-PDS retains and streamlines the financial assistance component while embedding it within a modern, technology-driven PDS ecosystem.
Over the past decade, the Government has implemented multiple digitization initiatives such as End-to-End Computerization of TPDS, Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS) and SMART PDS, along with citizen-facing applications like Mera Ration, Anna Mitra, Rightful Targeting Dashboard and Anna Sahayata. Since April 1, 2023, the SMART PDS scheme has acted as the cornerstone of technology-led reforms by enabling complete digitization of ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, FPS automation through e-PoS, online allocation and computerized supply-chain management across 36 States and Union Territories.
BI Bureau
