There existed host of little things which yielded big pleasure !- salaries have increased, so also the purchasing power of the people – not to speak of the price increase and inflation. Till a couple of decades ago, the salary day represented the most awaited day of the month – on that day morning each Office would draw cash from Bank [Insurance coverage for cash in transit drawn for wages – from the Bank premises to the Insured premises and extending to cover that unpaid cash that remained in the cashier’s till or office locker]. The smell of hard currency, especially a new note would enthuse many. There were some who relished the salary cover taking it home and starting the month only after some offering to God out of the earned salary; there were some who started their expenses with a savings and there were some who had their covers re-written to narrate a different tale back home !! In good olden days, there were coins of smaller denomination of – 1,2,3 5, 10, 20 and 25 paise. Honestly, how many children or those born in the present century, would have seen those coins or handled them !!... from 30th June 2011, coins of denomination of 25 paise (and below !!) ceased to be legal tender. The Government of India has the sole right to mint coins. The responsibility for coinage vests with the Government of India in terms of the Coinage Act, 1906 as amended from time to time. The designing and minting of coins in various denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India. Coins are minted at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore(Kolkata), Saifabad(Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP). There is a statue called Indian Coinage Act 1906, which was legislated to consolidate and amend the law relating to Coinage and the Mint. The coins are however, issued for circulation only through the Reserve Bank in terms of the RBI Act. The rupee notes [paper currency] are issued in the denomination of : 1000; 500; 100; 50; 20; 10; 5;2 & 1 ..... ..... as most would know – the One rupee note is different from others. Other than the fact that Re 1 note bears the signature of Secretary of Ministry of Finance – all other currency notes of India have that of Governor of RBI – all notes other than One rupee note have printed on them – ‘Guaranteed by the Central Government’’ and “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of .... Rupees” ........ Recently, there was some discussion on whether Govt. Of India can continue to print Re.1 currency note, which was put to rest by Law Ministry statement that Government of India has all the powers to print currency notes of this denomination. After a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. Firstpost reports that the note was released at Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, on March 6 by Mehrishi. Other currency notes in India bear the signature of RBI governor. The colour of one Rupee Currency Note is predominantly pink green on obverse and reverse in combination with others. On the obverse, the note carries bilingual signature of Mehrishi. Earlier last week, RBI had said that it will soon put into circulation one rupee currency notes and would be legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011. Alongwith the circulation of new Re 1 notes, the existing currency notes of the same denomination will also continue to be legal tender. The re-launched one rupee notes will be made up of 100 percent cotton rag content. It will weigh 90 grams per square metre and have thickness of 110 microns. As watermarks, it will bear Ashoka Pillar symbol in the window without words 'Satyamev Jayate', carry a hidden numeral in the center while hidden word Bharat (in Hindi) will be on the right hand side of the note. In November 1994, printing of Re 1 note was stopped mainly due to higher cost and for freeing capacity to print currency notes of higher denomination. Printing of Rs 2 and Rs 5 notes too were discontinued in 1995. Since then, only coins have been issued for these denominations. ~ will Rs.2 & Rs.5 notes also be back in action ? With regards – S. Sampathkumar
11th Mar 2015.
