Sarthak PDS gets Cabinet nod with Rs 25,530 crore outlay to modernise food distribution system

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an outlay of Rs 25,530 crore for Sarthak Public Distribution System (PDS) scheme to modernise it and ensure food security for nearly 80 crore beneficiaries. The outlay is for the next five years.

Apart from modernising the distribution and logistics network, the scheme seeks to strengthen fair price shops (FPS) and to assist state agencies for intra-state movement of food grains.

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The government has also decided to revise the norms of Central assistance to meet the 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. It will provide 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, with the merged scheme to operate up to March 2031, the government said in a statement.

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"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, by creating standardized 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," it added.

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.