Announcing the decision after the Cabinet meeting, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the scheme would operate during the 16th Finance Commission award period and continue till March 31, 2031.
Photo: X/@AshwiniVaishnaw
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the continuation and integration of two key public distribution schemes under a new umbrella programme titled “Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS” (SARTHAK-PDS), with a central outlay of Rs 25,530 crore for the next five years.
Announcing the decision after the Cabinet meeting, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the scheme would operate during the 16th Finance Commission award period and continue till March 31, 2031.
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“The government is committed to ensuring efficient last-mile delivery of foodgrains and strengthening food security infrastructure through technology-driven reforms,” Vaishnaw told reporters.
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The umbrella scheme integrates two existing 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 the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
According to the government, SARTHAK-PDS is designed to provide assured financial support for intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains as well as fair price shop (FPS) dealers’ margins, while simultaneously creating a unified and technology-enabled public distribution system aimed at improving transparency, reducing leakages and ensuring efficient service delivery.
The CCEA has also approved revised norms for central assistance to states and Union Territories for expenditure incurred on intra-state transportation and handling of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ commissions, while retaining the existing funding pattern.
Officials said the scheme seeks to modernise and intelligently optimise PDS operations through advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain.
“The scheme envisages standardised digital architecture, unified databases for real-time monitoring, AI-driven grievance redressal systems, State Command Control Centres for data-driven oversight and ISO-certified process frameworks,” an official statement said.
The minister said the reforms are aimed at ensuring transparency, security and sustainability in food distribution operations while strengthening India’s food security network.
SARTHAK-PDS will support the government’s legal and social commitment under the NFSA to provide subsidised foodgrains to nearly 81.35 crore beneficiaries across the country.
Over the past decade, the Centre has introduced several digitisation initiatives in the public distribution ecosystem, including End-to-End Computerisation of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS) and SMART PDS reforms.
Citizen-facing platforms such as Mera Ration, Anna Mitra, Rightful Targeting Dashboard and Anna Sahayata have also been rolled out to improve accessibility and transparency.
Since April 1, 2023, the SMART PDS scheme has driven technology-led reforms, including complete digitisation of ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, automation of fair price shops through electronic point-of-sale (e-PoS) devices, online allocation systems and computerised supply-chain management across all 36 states and Union Territories.
The minister further said that the newly approved integrated framework is expected to further streamline operations, improve accountability and ensure seamless delivery of subsidised foodgrains to beneficiaries across the country.
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