Not easy to handle new notes: Visually disabled

Mumbai, April 20

Visually disabled persons, those suffering from various degrees of blindness, are finding the new currency notes “unfriendly” because these are difficult to recognise by touch.

Lack of adequate embossing or engraving on the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes makes it difficult to differentiate and recognise them for someone with impaired eyesight, said an official of National Association for the Blind (NAB) here. As per the State Development and Finance Corporation for the Disabled, there are 5.74 lakh persons with visual disability in Maharashtra.

Joaquim Rapose, national association for the blind national secretary, said, “The government data says there are 80 lakh people in the country who are visually disabled. Unfortunately their issues and woes are not taken into consideration when printing new notes.” 

“The old notes had proper embossing. The visually disabled persons could differentiate them. With new notes, the size is changed and there are no visually disabled-friendly markings,” Rapose said.

Dr Sam Taraporewala, head of the department at Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged here, said, “Unlike European countries or the US, we still do not have currency recognisers (note-reading machines). It is true that the new currency notes have been creating a problem for the visually disabled persons.”— PTI