Dear Friends :
High inflation and underlying strength of the nation’s currency is often directly related to the strength of the country’s coinage.
So when the annual food inflation touched a high of 14.44% in the month of Dec. 2010, the then finance minister Mr. Mukherjee was visibly worried. Many observers sensed the futility of small coins at a time when prices were sky-rocketing.
It was not surprising then , the government had to phase out coins of 25 paise denomination and below from June 30, 2011.The “chavanni” (Indian term in Hindi for the four anna coin, as well as the 25 paise coin) was officially passed into antiquity on this historic date and has ceased to be in circulation.
We could buy a lot of things with this coin in the 1970s and 1980s. “stories” which we narrate fondly to youngsters today (particularly to those who have not seen these little “discs”).This same coin which could buy us a sight-seeing trip into the zoo or a bus-ride across town or a pop-corn packet ,large enough for two , to be munched while seeing a movie in a theatre , (remember, there was no T.V. or DVDs then), in any part of the country , or buy you so many things then like an ice-cream bar ,or a sandwich , a full glass of fresh sugarcane juice or a glass of lassi (sweetened buttermilk) etc. And for millions of Indians addicted to Pan, a fully loaded betel leaf for chewing (“paan “in Hindi), So much so that we could spend our whole day with confidence if we had a cahvanni in our pocket while going to school.
The beginning of the journey for the 25 paise coins began in 1957, in its avatar (incarnation) as the 25 “naye paise”. After India became free in 1947, for first 3yrs from 1947 to 1950 was a transition period when the Rupee was consisting of 192pies. This period is called as “Frozen Period” where the same colonial monetary system was followed.
The first Republic India’s monetary system was introduced in 1950 which was known as “Anna Series”, it was a derivative of the earlier system. The denominations then used to be One Rupee (Ek Rupayya), Half Rupee (Aadha Rupayya), Quarter Rupee (Char aana), Two Anna (Do Aana), One Anna (Ek Aana), Half Aana (Aadha Aana),and One Pice (Ek Paisa) which was a bronze coin.
The move towards decimalization was afoot for over a century. However, it was in September, 1955 that the Indian Coinage Act was amended for the country to adopt a metric system for coinage. The Act came into force with effect from 1st April, 1957. The rupee remained unchanged in value and nomenclature. It, however, was now divided into 100 'Paisa' instead of 16 Annas or 64 Pice. This was termed as “Decimal series”. For public recognition, the new decimal Paisa was termed 'Naya Paisa' till 1st June, 1964 when the term 'Naya' was dropped finally.
The demise of “chavanni” ie 25 paisa along with the other sub 25 paisa coins leaves only the 50 paise coin in the circulation. Let’s see when the turn of this long lived “Athanni” is.
The following coins displayed in this collage was inadvertently found in my house while cleaning and clearing off old stuff. The bunch of coins of various denominations of 1,2,3,5,10,20,25 were apparently kept in a box, by my mother for so many years.
A real pot of gold I would say.
Coins displayed In the image :-
The top most coin of 1 paisa is a 1957 minted nikel, next to that is 2 paise coin of 1960.
The second top row is 1, 2, & 3 paisa coin of 1971/72 when the inflation shot upto roof and the cost of mint became higher than the cost of metal content of the coin, these coins were minted with aluminium magnesium content. This was introduced in 1964 onwards & was known as Aluminum series.
The third row is showing 5,10, & 20 of 75,89,82 series again minted with aluminum magnesium content.
The last one is a “Chavanni” 25 paise coin now defunct minted in 1980, incidentally the back of it showing a woman at work at a harvest thresher and the slogan “Gramin mahilaon ki pragati” in Hindi and “Rural women’s Advancement” in English. Indian coins with social messages as the Government was laying stress on Integrated Rural Development programmes (IRDP) in the early eighties , particularly, for women.
Please start collecting your 50 paisa coins, before they go extinct.
Article by
Shekhar Bopardikar.
High inflation and underlying strength of the nation’s currency is often directly related to the strength of the country’s coinage.
So when the annual food inflation touched a high of 14.44% in the month of Dec. 2010, the then finance minister Mr. Mukherjee was visibly worried. Many observers sensed the futility of small coins at a time when prices were sky-rocketing.
It was not surprising then , the government had to phase out coins of 25 paise denomination and below from June 30, 2011.The “chavanni” (Indian term in Hindi for the four anna coin, as well as the 25 paise coin) was officially passed into antiquity on this historic date and has ceased to be in circulation.
We could buy a lot of things with this coin in the 1970s and 1980s. “stories” which we narrate fondly to youngsters today (particularly to those who have not seen these little “discs”).This same coin which could buy us a sight-seeing trip into the zoo or a bus-ride across town or a pop-corn packet ,large enough for two , to be munched while seeing a movie in a theatre , (remember, there was no T.V. or DVDs then), in any part of the country , or buy you so many things then like an ice-cream bar ,or a sandwich , a full glass of fresh sugarcane juice or a glass of lassi (sweetened buttermilk) etc. And for millions of Indians addicted to Pan, a fully loaded betel leaf for chewing (“paan “in Hindi), So much so that we could spend our whole day with confidence if we had a cahvanni in our pocket while going to school.
The beginning of the journey for the 25 paise coins began in 1957, in its avatar (incarnation) as the 25 “naye paise”. After India became free in 1947, for first 3yrs from 1947 to 1950 was a transition period when the Rupee was consisting of 192pies. This period is called as “Frozen Period” where the same colonial monetary system was followed.
The first Republic India’s monetary system was introduced in 1950 which was known as “Anna Series”, it was a derivative of the earlier system. The denominations then used to be One Rupee (Ek Rupayya), Half Rupee (Aadha Rupayya), Quarter Rupee (Char aana), Two Anna (Do Aana), One Anna (Ek Aana), Half Aana (Aadha Aana),and One Pice (Ek Paisa) which was a bronze coin.
The move towards decimalization was afoot for over a century. However, it was in September, 1955 that the Indian Coinage Act was amended for the country to adopt a metric system for coinage. The Act came into force with effect from 1st April, 1957. The rupee remained unchanged in value and nomenclature. It, however, was now divided into 100 'Paisa' instead of 16 Annas or 64 Pice. This was termed as “Decimal series”. For public recognition, the new decimal Paisa was termed 'Naya Paisa' till 1st June, 1964 when the term 'Naya' was dropped finally.
The demise of “chavanni” ie 25 paisa along with the other sub 25 paisa coins leaves only the 50 paise coin in the circulation. Let’s see when the turn of this long lived “Athanni” is.
The following coins displayed in this collage was inadvertently found in my house while cleaning and clearing off old stuff. The bunch of coins of various denominations of 1,2,3,5,10,20,25 were apparently kept in a box, by my mother for so many years.
A real pot of gold I would say.
Coins displayed In the image :-
The top most coin of 1 paisa is a 1957 minted nikel, next to that is 2 paise coin of 1960.
The second top row is 1, 2, & 3 paisa coin of 1971/72 when the inflation shot upto roof and the cost of mint became higher than the cost of metal content of the coin, these coins were minted with aluminium magnesium content. This was introduced in 1964 onwards & was known as Aluminum series.
The third row is showing 5,10, & 20 of 75,89,82 series again minted with aluminum magnesium content.
The last one is a “Chavanni” 25 paise coin now defunct minted in 1980, incidentally the back of it showing a woman at work at a harvest thresher and the slogan “Gramin mahilaon ki pragati” in Hindi and “Rural women’s Advancement” in English. Indian coins with social messages as the Government was laying stress on Integrated Rural Development programmes (IRDP) in the early eighties , particularly, for women.
Please start collecting your 50 paisa coins, before they go extinct.
Article by
Shekhar Bopardikar.
