Cabinet Expresses Clear Disagreement Over Removing Nepal Map from Sikkim Coin

The Council of Ministers has returned Nepal Rastra Bank’s proposal to remove the map of Nepal from the one-rupee coin and replace it with an image of Ghara Monastery from Mustang for revision. The government has instructed the Nepal Rastra Bank to resubmit the proposal including the map of Nepal in the new design. The Rastra Bank had proposed reducing minting costs and the weight of the coin by producing the one-rupee coin in white metal and featuring an image of Bhurti Deval on the ten-rupee coin. July 20, Kathmandu.

Nepal Rastra Bank had sent a new design for cabinet approval that replaced the map of Nepal on the one-rupee coin with an image of Mustang’s Ghara Monastery, which the cabinet has returned. The Bank’s Currency and Coin Design Committee had prepared the new design featuring Ghara Monastery, believed to be the oldest in Nepal, located in Mustang. This monastery, established by Padmasambhava over 1,400 years ago, is considered Nepal’s oldest monastery.

The design prepared by the committee was approved by the Rastra Bank’s board of directors and then submitted to the cabinet. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, cabinet approval is mandatory when changing banknote or coin designs. The bank recommended not only altering the design of the one-rupee and ten-rupee coins but also changes in the metal used and the coin weight to the cabinet.

In 2020, Nepal amended laws to include the map depicting Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh in the national seal. Newly minted one- and two-rupee coins as well as the 100-rupee banknote also incorporate the Lipulekh map. Currently, the one-rupee coin is made of yellow metal; preparations are underway to produce it with white metal.