CHENNAI: Thanks to Aadhaar, the demographic and biometric authentication process has helped remove the names of 1.4 crore people from the public distribution system database in the state as they appeared on more than one ration card. The duplications were rectified after seeding of Aadhaar numbers in the government database for universal PDS.About 10 lakh duplicate PDS cards were also eliminated during the exercise, said a policy note tabled by R Kamaraj, food and consumer protection minister, in the state assembly. “Names of these people appeared in one or more cards and they were enjoying subsidized commodities. After seeding of unique numbers to the database for the distribution of smart cards, the number of people came down from eight crore to 6.6 crore in our database,” said a senior government official.“The eligible cards have now come down to 1.96 crore,” he said. Under PDS and special PDS, essential commodities are sold at subsidized rates, while rice is supplied free of cost.