PARBOILED RICE

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 23, Apr 2022

Why in News?

The Centre has said it will stop the purchase of excess parboiled rice, of which Telangana is a major producer.

• The demand for parboiled rice has come down in recent years.

What is parboiled rice?

It is rice that has been partially boiled at the paddy stage, before milling. Parboiling of rice is not a new practice, and has been followed in India since ancient times.

How is it prepared today?

There are several processes for parboiling rice. For example:

1. CFTRI, Mysuru,uses a method in which the paddy is soaked in hot water for three hohours. The water is then drained and the paddy steamed for 20 minutes. Also, the paddy is dried in the shade.
2. Chromate soaking process:It uses chromate, a family of salt in which the anion contains both chromium and oxygen, which removes the odour from the wet rice.

All processes generally involve three stages — soaking, steaming and drying. After passing through these stages, the paddy goes for milling.

What are the benefits?

• Parboiling makes rice tougher. This reduces the chances of the rice kernel breaking during milling.
• Parboiling also increases the nutrient value of the rice.
• Parboiled rice has a higher resistance to insects and fungi.

Disadvantages:

• The rice becomes darker and may smell unpleasant due to prolonged soaking.

Besides, setting up a parboiling rice milling unit requires a higher investment than a raw rice milling unit.

FACTS FOR PRELIMS

NATPOLREX-VIII:

• It is the 8th edition of the National Level Pollution Response Exercise.
• Conducted by Indian Coast Guard (ICG) off Mormugao harbour, Goa.
• The objective of NATPOLREX-VIII is to enhance the preparedness and response capability of all the stakeholders in combating marine spills.
• It aims at validating the procedures and guidelines as contained in the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) at the national and regional levels.

Vagsheer:

• Vagsheer, the sixth submarine of the P75 project of the Indian Navy was launched recently.
• It is the last of the Scorpene class submarines made under the P75 project.
• Under P75, INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj and INS Vela have been commissioned. Sea trials are on for Vagir.

Vagsheer is named after the sand fish, a deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean. The first submarine Vagsheer, from Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 26, 1974, and was decommissioned on April 30, 1997.

What is a ‘Poison Pill’ defence?

Twitter has countered Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company for more than $43 billion with a corporate tool known as a poison pill, a defensive strategy familiar to boardrooms trying to fend off takeovers but less familiar to everyday investors.

• This defense mechanism was developed in the 1980s as company leaders, facing corporate raiders and hostile acquisitions, tried to defend their businesses from being acquired by another enterprise, person or group.
• A poison pill is a maneuver that typically makes a company less palatable to a potential acquirer by making it more expensive for the acquirer to buy shares of the target company above a certain threshold.