Short answer: Jains do eat rice, but with the clear understanding that some himsa (violence) happens in growing and harvesting. Jain dharma asks us to minimize, not make zero, the harm needed for survival.

Why rice is allowed (and roots are avoided)

• Minimize-harm principle (ahimsa): For laypeople, food-related himsa done without cruelty and kept to the bare minimum is permitted. Rice is chosen because, compared with roots/tubers, it involves less total injury to life.
• One-souled vs common-bodied plants: Grains like rice come from pratyeka-vanaspati (one soul per body). Root vegetables are sadharan-vanaspati, where countless souls share one body; uprooting them harms innumerable lives at once. Hence roots are avoided, grains are allowed.
• Stage of life: Rice is typically harvested when the crop is fully ripe and drying; the life-potential is already waning. Using well-dried/aged grain further reduces harm compared to pulling out living roots.
• Practical safeguards: Jains cook fresh by day, filter water, avoid sprouts/soaked grains that can germinate, and many avoid greens in certain periods—All to further reduce unseen himsa.

Monks vs householders

• Monks follow much stricter vows (no storing, no night-eating, no sprouts, extreme care with water/food handling). Lay Jains (shravak/shravika) keep anuvratas (small vows) and are permitted simple grains like rice prepared with due care.

Digambar and Shvetambar

• Both traditions agree on the principle: avoid maximum-harm foods (like root vegetables) and permit cereals/pulses taken with care. Local/seasonal disciplines (e.g., during Chaturmas) can vary, but the core reasoning is the same.

If you’d like a simple overview of “why not roots” and “how we minimize harm in food,” see:

• Why we avoid root vegetables
• How can we eat if there is life in plants?