No more polishing of rice, please!

Millers all over the country feel no qualms about polishing rice because the slim, shiny and glossy look of the grain has higher sale value. However, it gives a false impression of better quality of the staple. But it is an outright double cheating of its consumers: first, duplication of the commodity on sale and then making the staple less nutritious.  An FE report on the subject has highlighted not only the unhealthy aspect of the widely prevalent practice but also the substantial loss that it causes to the economy. The report says, unhealthy milling system, i.e., polishing, has been causing wastage of 5.17 million tonnes of rice every year, while the country has to import 1.0-1.5 million tonnes annually to bring about parity between demand and supply in the domestic market. According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), if half of the wasted rice could have been saved, the country had no need for import.

It is pretty well known that local millers polish rice to make it finer and market the same in different names such as 'miniket' , 'nazir shail' but there is no such rice varieties, according to the DAM. The DAM, reportedly, has recently sent a letter to the ministries of agriculture and commerce stating the huge quantity of rice wasted in the process every year as well as the health hazards from such rice varieties and urged for necessary actions to bring an end to the deplorable practice. Millers are polishing rice varieties like BRRI 28, 29 and others to give those a finer shape and look. Many northern region traders are also selling polished rice in the name of Jeerashail, a local variety of finer quality.

While wasting such an enormous quantity of the main staple is most outrageous, the harm to public health from polished rice is no less a serious concern. The milling process now widespread across the country leaves the all important grain shorn of all its nutrition, says nutrition experts. A whole grain has three major components - bran (the outer covering), endosperm (the middle layer) and germ (the innermost layer).The bran and germ make the most nutritious part of any grain. Specially, the bran has high amounts of fibre, vitamin, minerals, and antioxidants. It is an essential source of dietary fibre, protein, minerals and essential fatty acids. The fibre also plays a major role in the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases.  During the process of polishing, grains undergo treatments that strip them of all these nutrients. The only part that remains after polishing is the endosperm, which is primarily rich in carbohydrates and devoid of any nutrients.

Given the ill effects of rice polishing in terms of massive wastage and health hazards, the authorities should have paid due attention to the matter much earlier and stopped the senseless tinkering with food grains once and for all. Now that the DAM has raised the issue, the government must enforce legal compulsion on millers to retain the original shape and look of rice while husking. A countrywide campaign has also to be launched in order to make people aware of the perils of consuming so-called finer rice.