Q1.
Take any Indian currency note and observe it carefully. Then, fill in the table below.
Activity 3 table, page 80 — blank as printed. The book also shows the front and back of a specimen note above it.
| What to Observe | What You Found |
|---|---|
| Value of the note | |
| Colour of the note | |
| Number of languages | |
| Languages written on the note and their order | |
| Name of the monument | |
| Symbols seen on the note | |
| Image of animals which could be found | |
| Any message written on the note | |
| Anything else |
Answer
The note pictured on page 80 is a ten-rupee note. Here is the table filled in for it. If you take a different note, only the value, colour and monument change — everything else stays the same.
| What to Observe | What You Found (₹10 note) |
|---|---|
| Value of the note | ₹10 — ten rupees. It is written in figures and in words, in Hindi and in English. |
| Colour of the note | Chocolate brown |
| Number of languages | 17 in all — Hindi and English on the front, and 15 more in the language panel on the back |
| Languages written on the note and their order | Front: Hindi, then English. Back panel, in this order: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. |
| Name of the monument | The Sun Temple of Konark, in Odisha — you can see its great stone wheel |
| Symbols seen on the note | The rupee symbol ₹; the National Emblem (three lions on a round base); the round spectacles of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan; the Reserve Bank of India seal; the Governor's signature |
| Image of animals which could be found | The lions of the National Emblem. On the round base below the lions there is also a horse and a bull. The Konark carving on the back has animals in it too. |
| Any message written on the note | The guarantee line — I promise to pay the bearer the sum of ten rupees — signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Beside the spectacles is the Swachh Bharat line, Ek kadam swachhata ki aur (a step towards cleanliness). |
| Anything else | Mahatma Gandhi's portrait; a second, smaller Gandhi that appears only when you hold the note up to the light (the watermark); the year of printing; the note's serial number; raised printing so that a person who cannot see can feel the note |
How to look at your own note, step by step:
- Put the note flat on the desk, front up. Read the value in figures and in words.
- Find the three lions. That is the National Emblem.
- Turn it over. Find the picture of the monument, and the panel of small scripts.
- Count the languages in the panel. Do not forget Hindi and English on the front.
- Now hold the note up towards a window or a lamp and look through it. A second Gandhi appears, and so does the number of the note.
- Run your thumb over the front. The raised bits are for people who cannot see.
Why so many languages on one small note: A note travels everywhere. A note printed in Delhi may be spent in Kerala the next month. Printing the value in seventeen languages is a way of saying that the note — and the country — belongs to everyone equally.
Did you know? The MANI app (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) was made by the Reserve Bank of India. A person who cannot see points a phone camera at a note, and the app says the value aloud and makes the phone vibrate.