The Reserve Bank of India has been facing criticism from
disability rights activists and people with visual impairments regarding the
inaccessibility of new currency notes. Petitions have been filed and the bank
is under pressure to make the required changes .
Considering the fact that India has the largest population of people
with visual impairments, around 80 lakh people, the inaccessibility
of currency is not a small problem.
People with visual impairments use their hands to touch, feel the notes and
the marks, lengths and width of the currency helps them in differentiating
between them.
However, in the new currency notes, the dimensions and tactile marks of the
various denominations are not identifiable making it almost impossible for
blind people to differentiate between them.
Cash transactions have become challenging for blind people as they cannot
identify the value of a currency, says Vishal Jain, President Blind
Graduates forum of India (BGFI).
Technology can be a useful option to identify currency and we appreciate
RBI to factor a few of the suggestions provided by Blind Graduates Forum of
India on technoligy solutions. However it can never be the only solution in
Indian scenario. Currency should be designed to make it identifiable
without the need for any additional tool or Technology. Representatives of
blind community have been closely interacting with RBI since 2010 and the
need for minimum of 10 mm size variation along with easily perceptible
tactile marks has been expressed as one of the key priorities. Surprisingly
RBI has not lived up to its commitment even after acknowledging the problem
and the need. Hence blind graduates forum of India, an NGO has filed a PIL
with an appeal to make all modes of making monetary transactions accessible
for blind. The PIL has been filed after several meetings with RBI and
attempts with the Finance ministry on accessible Indian currency.
Vishal Kumar Jain, President Blind Graduates forum of India –
BGFI
This led the BGFI to file a petition seeking to make all modes of making
monetary transactions accessible for blind. The PIL was filed after several
meetings with RBI and attempts made with the Finance
Ministry regarding accessible Indian currency, adds Jain.
Since it is not feasible to recall the currency notes at this stage, the only
solution at present is to find a way to enable the people with visual
impairments to use the existing notes. The RBI seems to believe that the
solution lies in technology. It will focus on developing a device that will
help visually impaired people to identify notes and has invited tenders for
software or hardware solutions.
Mumbai-based lawyer Amar Jain, who is visually impaired, is
among those who has been fighting to make the new currency notes accessible.
“The RBI is now taking action under pressure and it is unfortunate that the
currency notes were not made accessible in the first place. However, we hope
that this will be taken as a lesson by the authorities and in future such
mistakes will not be repeated.”
For it to be truly effective, the device should be able to detect the
banknotes in no longer than two seconds, should read the denomination in
English or Hindi, work without net connection, have a handy design and work
on battery. These are some of the conditions set by the RBI.
Although there are some existing options such as smartphones apps that can
identify a note value, these are not available to everyone due to limited
technology reach, poor distribution network and low awareness.
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Source: https://newzhook.com/story/20950
