History of Paise or coins in India.....

COINS OF INDIA.......

Its a drama in the Indian shops or buses almost everyday, to ask for exact change for the purchase. Coins are actually small denominations of the Indian rupee. todays youth might have only seen 50, 1, 2, 5 and 10 rupee coins. But India has also had 1,2,3,5,10 paise coins. Its history is a quite interesting one. Below I have described it.....  

After Independence India followed a non-decimal coinage. One rupee was divided into 16 ANNAS or 64 PICE and every  ANNA therefore equal to 4 pice. In 1957, India shifted to the decimal system, but even after that both system was in circulation. To distinguish between them, the coins minted between 1957 and 1964 were called "Naya Paisa", NAYA in hindi means NEW. The coins of the following denominations were in circulation 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 (naya)paise and one rupee. One rupee was called pre-decimal coins. Hence, pre-decimal coins of one, half and quarter rupees were in circulation after decimalisation. 

The word "naya"'s sage was stopped in 1964 and in the same year a new denomination the 3 paise was introduced and in 1968 a 20 paise coin was minted. Both these coins did not gain much popularity. 

Therefore the 1, 2 and 3 paise coins were phased out gradually in the 1970s.

In 1982  2 rupee coins were introduced to replace 2 rupee notes. The 2 rupee coin was not minted again till 1990 as it was only being experimented, after which it was minted every year.

Stainless steel coins of 10, 25 and 50 paise was introduced in 1988 and in 1992.  Also a one rupee coin smaller and lighter than the older rupee was made of stainless steel. 

In 1992, a 5 Rupees coin made of Cupronickel was introduced. 

In 2006, 10 Rupees coin was minted for the first time. 

The higher denomination coins were introduced due to increasing demand for change and increasing cost of printing 2, 5 and 10 rupees banknotes.

                                      

Saint Alphonsa birth centenary commemorative coin

Saint Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, or Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception:

 (*) From 19 August 1910 – 28 July 1946. She is now being regarded as a saint who was once a Syro-Malabar Catholic Franciscan Religious Sister. The Catholic Church has canonized her as a saint, and she is the first person of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by them, and she is also the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the Saint Thomas Christian community.

 (*) In the year 1923, her feet were burnt when she fell into a pit of burning chaff; local people describe this as a self-inflicted injury as she wanted to become a Religious sister but her foster mom had arranged for a marriage. This accident left her permanently disabled for life.

 (*) She died at the age of 35, on 28th July 1946,  and was buried at St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Bharananganam, Travancore, Kerala, India.

 (*)Sister Alphonsa then taught at St. Alphonsa Girl's High School, but was often sick and unable to teach.

 (*) Immediately upon her death, Claims of her miraculous intervention began , and mostly involved the children of the convent school where she used to teach. Hundreds of such claims have been recorded out of which 2 cases were submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as proof of her miraculous intervention. The continuing cures are chronicled in the magazine "PassionFlower". 

 (*) To honour a Saint of Indian origin, RBI in the year 2009 released commemoration coin    
       which is shown below:

Year:

2009

Diameter & Weight:

23 mm & 6.00 Gm

Shape & Metal:

Circular & Nickel Brass

Mint Mark:

Star

HOMAGE TO INDIRA GANDHI 1917 - 1984

Indira Gandhi was a Legend.
Her full name was Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi. She was born on 19 Nov 1917 and became the Third Prime Minister of India. She was elected  four terms as Prime Minister from 1966–77 and again from 1980 until her assassination in the Year 1984. She was voted the greatest Indian Prime Minister in a poll organised by India Today In 2001. In the year 1999 She also came first in the "Woman of the Millennium" poll organised by the BBC.She was Assassinated on 31 October 1984, by two of her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, who shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister's residence at 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. They shot her when she was walking past a wicket gate guarded by Satwant and Beant. Beant Singh shot her three times using his side-arm and Satwant Singh fired 30 rounds. Gandhi was cremated on 3 November near Raj Ghat. The site where she was cremated is today known as Shakti Sthala. 

In the memory of such a great woman RBI had Released the Following coin:
5 RUPEE COIN 1917-1984

Metal: Cupronickel
Weight: 5 gms
Diameter: 24 mmSHAPE-Circular
OBVERSE:
1. Ashoka Lion Capital
2. Denomination 5 Rupees below
REVERSE :
1. Indira Gandhi
2. Dated 1917-1984 

Reserve Bank Of India Platinum Jubilee 1935-2010

Reserve Bank Of India Platinum Jubilee 1935-2010 - Hyderabad Mint

I wish to talk about this coin first as a regard to RBI.

This coin was released by RBI in the year 2010. It was released to Celebrate 75 years or platinum jubilee for Reserve Bank of India. RBI. India's central banking institution is called The Reserve Bank of India , which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee or money. It was established on 1st April 1935 during the British Raj after the first world war.  As per the guidelines of Dr. Ambedkar in front of the Hilton Young Commission,  RBI was conceptualized.Its basic functions is to regulate the issue of bank notes, keep reserves to secure monetary stability of India, and generally to operate the currency and credit system in the best interests of the country. 

To honour such an institution the following commemorative coin was released in the year 2010.

Year Released:

2010

Diameter of the coin:

25 mm

Coins Shape:

Circular

Mint Mark:

Star (Hyderabad)

Weight:                     4.85 Grams

Metal:                         Stainless Steel

First Day of Blogging.....

Today is the first day of my blogging....
I am extremely exited to explore my blogging desires from today.
I had created this blog to talk about Coins, Commemorative coins of India, Stamps released by Government of India & also International coins and stamps.
Basically I have collected so many coins and stamps along with my father Mr.Nagarajan, who has a burning desire to collect every type of coin and stamp. I was inspired by him, now I also follow his footsteps,  along with collecting I wish to share my knowledge with everyone and I wish to awaken every youth about the importance of stamps and coins.
A coin collector is called A Numismatist
A stamp collector is called a Philatelist.