States free to choose PDS or NIC platform: Thomas

Setting at rest the clash over ‘Aadhar’-based reforms in the public distribution system (PDS) and the one on the National Informatics System (NIC), the food ministry on Thursday said states had the freedom to choose their platforms. “States have raised this issue during the conference and have been told they are free to adopt any method to computerise and modernise their PDS system,” food minister K V Thomas told reporters. The dispute arose after states started modernising their PDS operations through the NIC, before the Nandan Nilekani-led committee floated the centralised PDS network.