Prelims: Current events of national and international importance| Schemes
Why in News?
Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Sarthak-PDS, with an outlay of Rs 25,530 crores.
- Sarthak-PDS – Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS.
- Integration – It is an umbrella scheme integrating two existing programmes
- Assistance for intra-state movement of food grains and Fair Price Shop dealer margins under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
- The SMART-PDS initiative focused on technology-driven reforms.
- Implementation period – It will be implemented for five years from April 2026 to March 2031 under the 16th Finance Commission cycle.
- Objectives – To support state governments' distribution of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).
Features
- Modernising PDS – To strengthen and modernise the Public Distribution System (PDS) for the effective implementation of the PMGKAY.
- Remuneration enhancement – To enhance the remuneration of fair price shop dealers, which had remained unchanged for several years.
- Transport & Handling Support – State agencies struggled with the costs of moving grains from FCI warehouses to districts and Fair Price Shops.
- The Central government will now provide financial support to cover these costs.
- Unified Database – The scheme also proposes unified databases and state-level command and control centres for efficient operations.
- Technological Reforms – It focuses on
- Digital transformation of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS),
- Ration card digitisation,
- Aadhaar seeding,
- E-pos-enabled fair price shops, and
- Platforms including Mera Ration and Anna Sahayata.
- Technologies used – It will use technologies such as
- Artificial intelligence (AI),
- Machine learning (ML),
- Natural language processing (NLP), and
- Blockchain for better supply-chain management, monitoring, and grievance redressal.
- Significance – The initiative is expected to improve transparency, reduce leakages, ensure efficient food grain distribution, and strengthen food security for beneficiaries across India.
Reference
Business Standard| Sarthak-PDS Scheme
