Nepal to imprison, fine people writing on currency notes
Kathmandu, Aug 9 : Any damage caused to currency notes and coins by tearing, burning, writing and drawing lines on them will be a crime in Nepal as per a new law coming into force from August 17.
As per the Criminal Procedure Code Act 2017, those damaging currency notes and coins through the aforementioned acts could face imprisonment up to three months and a fine up to 5,000 Nepali rupees ($45).
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, in a directive on Wednesday asked the banks and financial institutions to ensure implementation of the law through their staffers, Xinhua news agency reported.
In a separate notice, the central bank also reminded the general public about the legal provisions.
Laxmi Prapanna Niraula, chief of the Currency Management Department at the NRB, said on Thursday that the implementation of the law would help prolong the life of currency notes which in turn would help the NRB in making some savings.
It is the first time that the law has made a provision for penalizing those who write or draw lines on the currency notes. Earlier, only those responsible for making and circulating counterfeit currencies in the market faced a penalty.
The NRB prints bank notes through security printing presses in different countries every year.
According to the NRB, notes worth 458 billion Nepali rupees ($4.15 billion) were currently in circulation in the market. Thirty per cent of these were believed to be dirty due to drawn lines or written words.
"Using those notes in the market however will not be illegal for now," said Niraula. In order to increase the stock of clean notes in the market, the Nepali central bank has not been sending dirty notes in the market.
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ICAR ex-chief, Padma Shri awardee Subbanna Ayyappan found dead in Cauvery river
Mysuru, May 11 (PTI): Former Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Padma Shri awardee, Subbanna Ayyappan, has been found dead in the Cauvery river near Srirangapatna, Police said. People found his body floating in the river on Saturday and it was retrieved, they added.
Ayyappan (70) was an agriculture and fisheries (aquaculture) scientist, and was the first non-crop scientist to head the ICAR.
According to police, his two-wheeler was found on the river bank and it is suspected that he might have jumped into the river.
However, only investigation can determine the cause of his death, police said.
Ayyappan was a resident of Vishweshwara Nagar Industrial Area of Mysuru, and his family filed a complaint with the Vidyaranyapuram Police Station in Mysuru, stating that he had gone missing on May 7.
He used to do meditation often at the Saibaba ashram located on the banks of the Cauvery River in Srirangapatna, police said.
Ayyappan, who is credited for playing a role in India's 'Blue Revolution', is survived by his wife and two daughters.
