New Delhi [India], May 27 (ANI): The Centre on Wednesday approved a Rs 25,530 crore umbrella scheme aimed at making India's public distribution system (PDS) more efficient, transparent and citizen-friendly, with the government seeking to reduce leakages, improve grievance redressal and ensure smoother delivery of subsidised food grains to over 81 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the continuation and integration of two existing schemes under the new 'Scheme for Assistance in Ration Transport and Handling-Income with Automation in PDS' (SARTHAK-PDS), which will operate till March 31, 2031.

An official release said the scheme aims to create a 'unified, citizen-centric, intelligent and interoperable PDS architecture' to ensure 'last-mile service delivery, minimize leakages and strengthen the nation's commitment to food security under NFSA.'

For the general public, the significance of the scheme lies in the government's push to make ration services more reliable and easier to access through technology-led reforms. The initiative is expected to improve food grain tracking, reduce delays in delivery, strengthen beneficiary identification and make complaint resolution faster and more accessible in regional languages.

The government said the scheme will support '81.35 crore persons covered under NFSA' and reaffirmed its 'social & legal commitment' to ensure food and nutritional security for citizens through timely access to quality food grains.

As part of the technology overhaul, the scheme will modernise PDS operations using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Blockchain technologies.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who briefed the media on the decisions of the union cabinet, said the system will include 'real-time monitoring, AI-driven grievance and analytics systems, State Command Control Centres for data-driven oversight' along with 'standardized architectures and unified databases' to improve transparency and efficiency in the food distribution network.

The government also talked of AI-enabled platforms, including NIRMAL, ASHA and SAKSHAM, under the next phase of SMART PDS.

According to details shared during the briefing, the ASHA platform will function as a multilingual AI grievance redressal and citizen engagement system through calls, WhatsApp, IVRS and chatbots, helping citizens register complaints and seek assistance in their preferred language.

The SAKSHAM platform will introduce vehicle tracking, QR-code traceability, route optimisation and demand forecasting, aimed at improving food grain movement and reducing wastage during transportation.

The government said the reforms are also expected to reduce food grain travel distances by 15-50 per cent, helping improve logistics efficiency and promote local procurement. The measures are projected to generate annual savings of around Rs 280 crore and reduce carbon emissions by 35 per cent.

The scheme also retains financial support for intra-state transportation and handling of food grains as well as fair price shop (FPS) dealer margins, which the government said would help strengthen the last-mile delivery network across states and Union Territories. There will be higher FPS dealer margins.

The release noted that the government has already implemented several digitisation initiatives in the PDS ecosystem over the past decade, including Aadhaar seeding, e-PoS automation at fair price shops and online supply-chain management systems across all States and UTs. (ANI)