{"id":363782,"date":"2026-05-28T10:42:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T05:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=363782"},"modified":"2026-05-28T10:42:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T05:12:31","slug":"sarthak-pds-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sarthak-pds-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"SARTHAK PDS Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>News:<\/strong> The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the continuation of the \u201cScheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS\u201d (SARTHAK PDS) as an umbrella scheme, in the 16<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0Finance Commission cycle award period, with an outlay of Rs. 25,530 crore as Central share.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\"><strong>About SARTHAK PDS Scheme<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_363783\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-363783\" style=\"width: 636px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-363783\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=636%2C358&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SARTHAK PDS Scheme\" width=\"636\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=1536%2C865&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?resize=1568%2C883&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-DD-News-2.jpg?w=1574&amp;ssl=1 1574w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-363783\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; DD News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Full name:<\/strong> SARTHAK PDS stands for &#8211; &#8220;<strong>Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS&#8221;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The <strong>SARTHAK-PDS Scheme<\/strong> is an <strong>umbrella scheme<\/strong> approved by the Union Cabinet to <strong>modernize and digitize India\u2019s Public Distribution System (PDS).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Aim:<\/strong> The Scheme <strong>aims<\/strong> to provide \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>Assured financial support for intra-State movement, handling and FPS dealer\u2019s margin, and<\/li>\n<li>A unified, citizen-centric, intelligent and interoperable PDS architecture that ensures last-mile service delivery, minimizes leakages and strengthens the nation\u2019s commitment to food security under NFSA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objectives:<\/strong> SARTHAK-PDS Scheme seeks to <strong>modernize, integrate and intelligently optimize PDS operations<\/strong> through advanced technologies such as <strong>Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain<\/strong>, by creating standardized architectures and unified databases for real-time monitoring, <strong>AI-driven grievance<\/strong> and analytics systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Funding and timeline:<\/strong> The Centre will spend <strong>\u20b925,530 crore<\/strong> over the <strong>next five years<\/strong> as its share for the implementation of the scheme during the <strong>16th Finance Commission cycle<\/strong>, with the programme set to <strong>continue until March 31, 2031.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Integration:<\/strong> The SARTHAK-PDS scheme <strong>integrates two existing initiatives<\/strong> with the <strong>objective of strengthening implementation of the National Food Security Act &#8211; <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cAssistance to State Agencies for intra-State movement of foodgrains and FPS dealers\u2019 margin under NFSA\u201d<\/strong> and the <strong>\u201cScheme for Modernization and Reforms through Technology in Public Distribution System (SMART PDS)\u201d<\/strong> \u2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Revised norms:<\/strong> The Scheme will have <strong>revised norms of Central assistance<\/strong> for meeting <strong>expenditure incurred by States\/UTs intra-state movement<\/strong> &amp; <strong>handling of foodgrains<\/strong> and <strong>FPS dealers\u2019 margin<\/strong> and continuation of the existing <strong>funding pattern of Central Assistance<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Earlier initiatives in PDS governance:<\/strong> Government has implemented multiple digitization initiatives such as <strong>End-to-End Computerization of TPDS, <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/public-distribution-system-pds\/#:~:text=Under%20PDS%20reforms%2C%20the%20Department,food%20grains%2C%20elimination%20of%20fake\">Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/smart-pds-scheme-a-bold-initiative-in-digitisation\/\">SMART PDS<\/a><\/strong>, along with citizen-facing applications like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/government-launches-mera-ration-mobile-app\/\">Mera Ration<\/a>, Anna Mitra, Rightful Targeting Dashboard and <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/asha-ai-platform\/\">Anna Sahayata<\/a>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the continuation of the \u201cScheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS\u201d (SARTHAK PDS) as an umbrella scheme, in the 16th\u00a0\u00a0Finance Commission cycle award period, with an outlay of Rs. 25,530 crore as Central share. About SARTHAK PDS Scheme Full name:&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sarthak-pds-scheme\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SARTHAK PDS Scheme<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,3127,956,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-363782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-economy","category-schemes-and-programs","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}