LETTER TO EDITOR
While coins are now as much plenty in circulation that many vendors give coins easily, yet most retailers have made it a practice to give candies and chocolates in place of coins even though they have sufficient coins in their cash-boxes. It is a noble way to earn extra profit through such forced sale of unwanted items devised in the days when coins were in scarcity.
Central government should made a planned strategy whereby coin-bags of rupees one and five may be always available in all bank-branches having facility to hold coin-bags. Since coins of ten-rupee denominations have not attained popularity, further minting in this denomination may be stopped for time-being. Instead smaller-sized plastic notes as promised quite a few years ago in Lok Sabha may be issued in ten-rupee denominations. Stress may be given on minting coins only in denominations of rupees one and five, stopping minting of two-rupee coins also because presently with two-rupee coins in plenty as compared to rupee-one coins, consumers have to leave one-rupee balance with shopkeepers or to accept candy because of poor availability one-rupee coin. One-rupee coins can fulfil purpose of two-rupee coins as well because of less weight and multiplicity of payment-options. However huge wastage of funds on printing of one-rupee notes suddenly re-issued after a gap of two decades just for bureaucratic craze of getting their signature on notes, should be avoided by immediate stopping their printing.
Forcing unwanted items in place of coins can then be made offence under law.
MADHU AGRAWAL
(Guinness Record Holder for letters in newspapers)
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk
DELHI 110006 (India)