Two
senior officials posted at Security Paper Mill (SPM) in Hoshangabad district of
Madhya Pradesh were suspended on Friday over production of millions of
defective Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes.
Around 80,000 defective Rs
500 notes and 10,000 defective Rs 1,000 notes produced by the mill has already
hit the market, triggering panic among citizens. Security threads are missing
in these notes, said an official at Hoshangabad mill. Magnetic security thread
with inscriptions 'Bharat' and 'RBI' is the most distinguishing feature in an
Indian currency note and prevents counterfeiting.
Union Finance Ministry has also demanded a report from the Madhya
Pradesh government. A five-member team has been constituted to probe the matter
and plug the loopholes which allowed the unethical act to be committed in the
first place.
Meanwhile, the RBI
has instructed banks to accept the fake notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, in which
the magnetic thread (situated at the back part of note, in the white patch) is
missing. The notes shall be readily be replaced so that the common people are
not harassed.
Introduced in year 2000, the 1000-rupee notes contain a
readable, security thread alternately visible on front with inscriptions
'Bharat' (in Hindi), '1000' and 'RBI'. This thread was missing in those notes.
According to
sources, the total amount of fake currency notes printed at the SPM could be
around 300 million.
Some of the measures taken by the
government to prevent counterfeiting include:
1. Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) has formed a special FICN Coordination Centre (FCORD) to share
intelligence or information among different security agencies within India and
abroad.
2. A Terror Funding & Fake Currency Cell in
the National Investigative Agency (NIA) will focus on terror funding & fake
currency cases. The MHA has directed the law-enforcement agencies of the
states, central armed police forces, ministry of civil aviation and the bureau
of civil aviation security to augment security.
The RBI has launched a
multimedia, multi-lingual awareness campaign, initially through Doordarshan
channels, titled “Paisa Bolta Hai“. The short film tries to inform the common
man about the measures of examining bank notes.
Watch it here:
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