Why is ration rice of such bad quality?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Hello folks, you're tuned in Finshots Daily. In today's episode, we'll tell you how the government is trying to improve the quality of the food grains distributed through India's Public Distribution System or PDS, and why that alone won't be enough to fix the deeper problems within it.
But before we begin, here's a quick note from Team Ditto. This weekend, we're hosting a free 2-day Insurance Masterclass that helps you build real financial security by understanding health and life insurance the right way. Well, the Masterclass is completely free, and you can head to the link in the description to register while your seats last. Okay, let's start with the story.
In a small town where I live, mornings often begin with the sound of a woman cycling through the neighborhood, calling out, pool, pool, Bengali or even Hindi for flowers. Let's call her Nandini.
Some days, we buy flowers from her, and we've been doing that for a few years now. Naturally, we've gotten used to exchanging a bit of small talk every now and then. Our local ration shop is also just 10 steps away from our home. So during the first week of every month, Nandini collects her share of rice and leaves it at our place. That way, she can finish her morning round of flower sales first and then pick up the rice on her way back home. But over the years, I've often noticed that the rice doesn't look particularly clean. Every now and then, there are a few uninvited insects crawling around it. So one day, I asked her about its quality. Her answer genuinely surprised me. She said that her family rarely consumes the rice that she gets from the ration shop. Instead, she takes it to a local rice dealer and exchanges it for a better quality rice. Of course, since the rice she wants is more expensive than the subsidized ration rice, she gets a smaller quantity in return. But as she puts it, that's still enough to reduce her family's monthly food expenses. Now, the story I just told you isn't an isolated incident. It's the reality for many underprivileged households across India.
And while this practice is illegal, it is surprisingly common in many states, with ration shop dealers and rice traders often working in a nexus that profits from the vulnerabilities of people like Nandini.
And the reason we're talking about this now is because a few days ago, the government announced that it would improve the quality of rice distributed under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other welfare schemes by reducing the amount of broken rice in it. Broken rice is simply a by-product of the rice milling process. And the more broken rice a batch contains, the cheaper it is. That's why it helps keep procurement costs low for the government's public distribution system. Right now, the raw rice distributed under these schemes can contain up to 25% broken rice, while parboiled rice can have up to 16%.
But from the cariff marketing season 2027-28, which begins in October, the rice procured by the government will be allowed to contain only up to 10% broken rice in raw rice and 5% in parboiled rice. That's genuinely a welcome move because better quality rationed rice not only improves the diets of over 80 crore beneficiaries under the PMG-KY alone, but also diverts the portion of broken rice that's no longer included in PDS rice, about 8-9 million tonnes, towards ethanol production. And although diverting broken rice to ethanol remains a contentious issue because of the obvious public backlash, all of this could save the government around 2,161 crore rupees. But here's the thing, folks. This is only one piece of the puzzle. Reducing the amount of broken rice by itself doesn't address the deeper problems within the PDS that may be compromising the quality of food that crores of underprivileged Indians rely on every day. Nor does it address the leakages and inefficiencies that could be wasting taxpayer money along the way. Okay, just look at how food grains are stored and handled in FCI warehouses. On paper, Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, that's FSSAI guidelines, require food grains to be stored in clean premises away from dirt, waste, weeds and grassy areas. Warehouses must be cleaned regularly and treated for pests. Sounds like the bare minimum, right? But, a 2022 CAG audit of 18 FCI warehouses in Karnataka painted a very different picture. More than half the warehouses were uncleaned or cleaned regularly and lacked proper pest control. Grains were stored in poorly maintained facilities, some were simply kept on floors, stray animals roamed around the stocks, ventilation and fire safety were inadequate, and nearly 74% of sanctioned staff positions were lying vacant.