PADDY PROCUREMENT POLICY

Recently, the Centre announced to stop the purchase of excess parboiled rice after which Telangana Chief Minister and members of his Cabinet staged a dharna demanding a uniform paddy procurement policy.
The dictionary meaning of ‘parboil’ is ‘partly cooked by boiling’.
Thus, the expression parboiled rice refers to rice that has been partially boiled at the paddy stage, before milling.
Parboiling of rice is not a new practice, and has been followed in India since ancient times.
However, there is no specific definition of parboiled rice of the Food Corporation of India or the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, uses a method in which the paddy is soaked in hot water for three hours, in contrast to the more common method in which paddy is soaked for 8 hours.
The water is then drained and the paddy steamed for 20 minutes. Also, the paddy is dried in the shade in the method used by the CFTRI, but is sun-dried in the common method.
The Paddy Processing Research Centre (PPRC), Thanjavur follows a method known as the chromate soaking process.
It uses chromate, a family of salt in which the anion contains both chromium and oxygen, which removes the odour from the wet rice.

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages?

Advantages:

Parboiling makes rice tougher which reduces the chances of the rice kernel breaking during milling.
Parboiling also increases the nutrient value of the rice.
Parboiled rice has a higher resistance to insects and fungi.

Disadvantages:

The rice becomes darker and may smell unpleasant due to prolonged soaking.
Besides, setting up a parboiling rice milling unit requires a higher investment than a raw rice milling unit.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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