India, July 2 -- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a major reform to improve the quality of rice distributed under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and other welfare schemes, benefiting more than 80 crore people across the country.
For the first time in nearly three decades, the government has revised the quality specifications of rice supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Under the new norms, raw rice distributed under PMGKAY will contain a maximum of 10% broken grains, compared with the earlier limit of 25%, while parboiled rice will have a maximum of 5% broken grains, down from 16%.
Procurement of the improved-quality rice will begin immediately and will be rolled out in ...