In a significant move, the Nepali government has approved a redesign of its one-rupee coin, removing the country’s controversial map that included disputed territories Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani. The Council of Ministers approved the minting of new designs on the one-rupee and two-rupee coins by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), sources said as quoted by news agency PTI.ย
What is the redesign?
While the two-rupee coin still has the previously approved map, the one-rupee will shrug off the controversial map and instead replace it with the image of the Lo Ghyakar Monastery, which is considered to be one of the oldest monasteries in Nepal. Hence, it will no longer carry Nepal’s revised political map, the one that formally incorporated the disputed territories of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani.ย
Why are the coins changing?
Meanwhile, the NRB spokesperson Guru Prasad Paudel reasoned the change as part of a broader spectrum to modernise Nepal’s coin usage, making coins smaller, lighter, and cheaper to produce. The NRB stated that the redesign is driven by technical and manufacturing reasons, and not politics. Moreover, the size of the one-rupee coins will be reduced from 4 grams to 3.2 grams, and the size of the two-rupee coin will be brought down from 5 grams to 3.8 grams.ย
Kathmandu’s move can be seen as an attempt from Nepal to revitalise ties with India. By removing the map from the widely circulated one-rupee coin while retaining it on the less commonly used two-rupee coin, Nepal appears to be signalling a willingness to ease tensions without formally withdrawing its territorial claim. Recently, RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane met BJP national president Nitin Nabin in the national capital last month, which also signalled a move to improve ties.
What is the territorial dispute? Here’s a glimpse
The territorial dispute between India and Nepal is about a 370-square-kilometre area in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district near the India-Nepal-China tri-junction and stems from differing interpretations of the 1816 Sugauli Treaty.
Nepal maintains that the Kali River originates at Limpiyadhura, placing Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani within its territory. India, however, contends that the river’s source lies near Kalapani village and has exercised administrative and security control over the area through the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) since 1962.
Nepal Opposition slams the move
Senior Nepali Communist Party leader Bhim Rawal criticised the decision sharply. “If the government led by Prime Minister Balen Shah has indeed decided to remove the map of Nepal, including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, from the one-rupee coin and replace it with the image of the Lo Ghyakar Monastery, it will constitute another serious anti-national decision and a blow to Nepal’s territorial integrity,” Rawal said.
ALSO READ |ย Nepal’s Gen Z protests return: Why PM Balen Shah is facing backlash | EXPLAINED