Bihar minister Lakhendra Kumar Raushan has questioned the quality of rice distributed to poor families through the public distribution system (PDS), calling for an investigation into procurement agencies, rice mills and possible gaps in monitoring. He raised the issue at a state-level vigilance committee meeting held at the Secretariat on Monday.
Raushan said the rice quality was so poor that even pigeons would not eat it, and questioned how beneficiaries could be expected to consume it. He cited the example of his family, saying pigeons refused rice bought from a person who had obtained it from a PDS dealer.
“The rice is so bad that even pigeons won’t eat it. How can the common man consume it?” Raushan said at the meeting, according to the report. His remarks put the quality of foodgrain supplied through the state’s ration distribution system at the centre of a wider discussion on the accountability of agencies involved in moving rice from procurement to beneficiaries.
The minister also questioned whether paddy procurement agencies and rice mills were returning rice in the required proportion after processing. Bihar has a stated target of procuring 35 lakh tonnes of paddy, and Raushan urged officials to investigate whether mill owners were returning rice corresponding to that target.
The meeting was chaired by food and consumer protection department minister Ashok Choudhary. Panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash and senior officials, including department secretary Abhay Kumar Singh, were also present.
Raushan called for a thorough probe into alleged loopholes in the PDS chain, from procurement and milling to distribution through ration dealers. He also urged the department to fix responsibility and prevent substandard grain from reaching ration card holders.
The concerns raised at the meeting relate to a core administrative challenge in welfare delivery: ensuring that foodgrain procured or processed through multiple agencies reaches beneficiaries in an acceptable condition. The report does not establish how widespread the alleged quality problem is, identify specific mills or dealers, or record the findings of any completed inspection.
The meeting nevertheless placed stronger monitoring and transparency in PDS implementation on the official agenda. The food and consumer protection department is expected to examine the concerns raised, investigate the procurement and milling process, and determine accountability for any substandard rice distributed to beneficiaries.
