The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the continuation of the “Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS” (SARTHAK PDS). SARTHAK PDS is as an umbrella scheme, in the 16th  Finance Commission cycle award period, with an outlay of Rs 25,530 crore as Central share.

The unified SARTHAK-PDS scheme ensures guaranteed financial support for local foodgrain transit and ration shop margins. It also establishes a smart, citizen-focused digital architecture to secure last-mile delivery, eliminate leakages, and reinforce national food security under the NFSA.

The SARTHAK-PDS scheme modernizes public distribution by integrating advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, NLP, and blockchain. 

“Government of India has a social & 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 of India’s commitment to 81.35 crore persons covered under 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,” CCEA said in a cabinet note.

CCEA noted, government digitization initiatives—including End-to-End Computerization, IM-PDS, and citizen apps like Mera Ration—have transformed the public distribution system over the past decade. 

Since April 1, 2023, the SMART PDS scheme has led these technology reforms. It successfully enabled complete ration card digitization, Aadhaar seeding, e-PoS shop automation, online allocations, and computerized supply chain tracking across all 36 States and UTs.