Centre plans to distribute 37.5 mt of fortified rice by March 2024

The Centre plans to distribute 37.5 million tonnes (mt) of fortified rice through the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) and other welfare schemes (OWS) by March 2024, which, according to the 2020-21 foodgrain distribution plan, is equal to the entire quantum of rice allocated by the government.
 
According to a reply given in Parliament last week, in 2021-22, the Centre plans to distribute 3.5 mt of fortified rice through integrated child development services (ICDS) and Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN), which will be scaled up to 17.5 mt by March 2023 to include 291 aspirational districts alongside ICDS and PM-POSHAN schemes.
 
Thereafter, by March 2024, the entire TPDS and OWS will be covered by fortified rice in the country.
 
Fortified rice with essential nutrients was started on a pilot basis for three years in 2019-20 at a total outlay of Rs 174.64 crore.

 
The pilot focuses on 15 districts across 15 states — preferably one district per state.
 
Although the central government has been propagating rice fortification for the public distribution system as being an effective way in fighting malnutrition in kids and adults, some experts said it is a wrong approach and is a wasteful expenditure.
 
A few months back, around 18 sectoral experts in a paper argued that the programme of rice fortification ignores the central role of a balanced and diverse diet in terms of addressing nutritional problems.
 
Advocating extreme caution while going ahead with the programme, the authors said the new nutrient recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition show that a diverse natural diet is adequate to meet the normal micronutrient needs of the population.