New Delhi: 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 for the next five years with an outlay of Rs 25,530 crore as the Centre’s share.
The CCEA has also decided to revise the norms of Central assistance for meeting expenditure incurred by states and UTs on intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ margin and continuation of the existing funding pattern of central assistance, according to an official statement.
The Scheme is conceived as an umbrella scheme, in the 16th Finance Commission cycle award period, integrating the ongoing schemes of “Assistance to State Agencies for intra-State movement of foodgrains and FPS dealers’ margin under NFSA” and the “Scheme for Modernisation and Reforms through Technology in Public Distribution System (SMART PDS)” to comprehensively strengthen implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), the statement said.
SARTHAK-PDS Scheme aims to provide assured financial support for intra-state movement, handling and FPS dealer’s margin, and a unified, citizen-centric, intelligent and interoperable PDS architecture that ensures last-mile service delivery, minimises leakages, and strengthens the nation’s commitment to food security under NFSA, with the merged scheme to operate up to March 31, 2031.
It seeks to modernise, integrate and intelligently optimize PDS operations through advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain, by creating standardised architectures and unified databases for real-time monitoring, AI-driven grievance and analytics systems, State Command Control Centres for data-driven oversight, and ISO-certified process frameworks to ensure transparency, security and sustainability in PDS operations.
The Centre has a social and legal commitment to the people of the nation – a dignified life by ensuring them access to food and nutritional security through the availability of adequate quantities of quality food grains. The scheme will work towards fulfilling the government’s commitment to 81.35 crore persons covered under the NFSA. Building on the statutory and policy framework, SARTHAK-PDS retains and streamlines the financial assistance component while simultaneously embedding it within a modern, technology-driven PDS ecosystem, the statement said.
Over the past decade, the government has implemented multiple digitisation initiatives such as end-to-end computerisation 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 1st April 2023, the SMART PDS scheme has acted as the cornerstone of technology-led reforms by enabling complete digitisation of ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, FPS automation through e-PoS, online allocation and computerised supply-chain management across 36 States and UTs, the statement added.
(IANS)
