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Indian rupee gets a symbol, joins elite currency club
Jul 15th
Indian Rupee Symbol
The Indian rupee will soon have a unique symbol — a blend of the Devanagri ‘Ra’ and Roman ‘R’ — joining elite currencies like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.
The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet today — reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene.
“It’s a big statement on the Indian currency… The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Though the symbol will not be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, it would be included in the ‘Unicode Standard’ and major scripts of the world to ensure that it is easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media.
Among currencies with distinctive identities, only the pound sterling has its symbol printed on the notes.
Unicode is an international standard that allows text data to be interchanged globally without conflict. After incorporation in the global and Indian codes, the symbol would be used by all individuals and entities within and outside the country.
The symbol will be adopted in a span of six months in the country, and within 18 to 24 months globally, Soni said, adding that it will feature on computer keyboards and softwares for worldwide use.
Soni said that the symbol, which reflects the Indian ethos and culture, would help distinguish the currency from the rupee or rupiah of other countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Besides this, state governments would be asked to proactively promote the use of the new symbol, she added.
Kumar’s entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh.
“It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters — capital ‘R’ and Devanagri ‘Ra’ which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences… My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between,” a visibly-happy Kumar said.
The jury, which had sent the five short-listed entries for the cabinet’s approval, was headed by a Reserve Bank Deputy Governor.
Indian Currency to have a symbol like dollar and euro
Jun 24th
The Indian rupee is all set to join the elite club of major currencies — dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen — to have a unique identification symbol, with the Union Cabinet expected to take a call on the matter on Thursday.
The proposal, said to be prompted by the growing influence of the Indian economy in the global arena, involves a shortlist of five symbols for the Indian rupee drawn up the finance ministry, reflecting the Indian ethos and culture. Sources pointed out that the Cabinet was expected to give its nod to a symbol reflecting the Devnagari (Hindi) alphabet standing for “R” with two lines (number 2 in the given images).
The rupee is only referred to by the abbreviation ‘Rs’ or ‘Re’ or sometimes as INR while major foreign currencies have their own distinct symbols, in addition to their abbreviations — USD etc. The same abbreviated forms — ‘Rs’ or ‘Re’ — are also used in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The decision to have a symbol for the Indian rupee was taken by the government last year. The finance ministry wanted the symbol to represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country and called for entries from the public.
The five shortlisted designs are simple, easy to write and are designed to appeal to the Indian and international community. The shortlisted designers were asked to present their designs to a seven-member jury, comprising officials from the government and RBI and representatives from institutes like National Institute of Design, Lalit Kala Akademi, J J Institute of Applied Art and Indira Gandhi National Centre.
Indians better than British students, even in English
Mar 29th
LONDON: It’s official. Indian students are better than their British counterparts in schools, even in subjects like English.
Government figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families have revealed Indian and Chinese students get top grades than British children in every school subject at the secondary examination.
Thirtyone per cent of Indian students and 55 per cent of Chinese pupils who took General Certificate of School Education exams last year achieved an A, according to the new figures released.
Among white British pupils the figure was 16 per cent. For black African pupils it was 14 per cent, for Pakistani 13 per cent and black Caribbean 8 per cent, leading newspaper the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The figures also show that, as well as forging ahead in maths, Indian and Chinese pupils outperform white British pupils in English.
The Chinese pupils were most likely to get As, with 29 per cent getting the top mark in English, compared with 21 per cent of Indians, 15 per cent of white British, 11 per cent of black Africans and 9 per cent of Pakistanis.
Significant differences in achievement are also seen in geography, history, chemistry, biology, physics, French and religious education, the statistics have revealed.
Bristol University researchers suggested the attainment differences were down to contrasting attitudes to education between ethnic minority and white communities.
Dr Deborah Wilson pointed to high aspirations among immigrant communities, who “almost by definition” are “keen to get on in life”. “With qualifications linked to social progress, it makes sense to focus particular effort at that point,” she said.
[Original story published here]