SRINAGAR: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Information Technology, Transport, and Youth Services & Sports, Satish Sharma, today said that the much-anticipated Smart Public Distribution System (Smart PDS) will be made functional across Jammu and Kashmir by mid-August 2025.
The Minister was reviewing the progress on Smart PDS implementation in the Union Territory.
The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary FCS&CA, Saurabh Bhagat, along with other senior officers and technical teams involved in the migration process.
The Minister stated that Jammu and Kashmir is on track to become the first Union Territory in the country to fully migrate to the Smart PDS under the national RCMS (Ration Card Management System) framework, as directed by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
“Smart PDS is a transformative reform in food distribution that ensures transparency, efficiency and portability of services. With this shift, over 25 lakh ration card holders and approximately 1.02 crore ration beneficiaries in J&K will experience a seamless and more accountable system,” the Minister said.
The meeting was told that under the Smart PDS system and under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) the beneficiaries from Jammu and Kashmir can now avail their entitled ration PAN India and vice-versa.
Similarly, it was also informed that all the feeding of the Smart PDS is under the testing phase and optimisation for the unique needs of Jammu and Kashmir and would also include various categories like SAAY, NFSA and PMSES. The automation shall democratise the entire PDS system, and beneficiaries can use applications like Mera Ration and Annapurna to get real-time information about their ration quota.
It was also given out that all the ration distribution shall be based on Aadhar-enabled POS machines of L1 configuration, which are 4 G-enabled. This shall help the department in improving the storage efficiency, economise transportation and provide effective services to the Consumer. It was also clarified that all the other allied services like ration distribution, Ayushman card will not be affected by this transition.
The Minister directed the concerned officers to expedite testing, ensure training of FPS (Fair Price Shop) dealers and launch public awareness campaigns ahead of the rollout. He emphasized that the success of Smart PDS depends on its accessibility to even the remotest parts of the Union Territory.
