‘Note-identifying app for blind to be offline’

Mumbai: No Internet connection will be required for the proposed mobile application (app) to help visually impaired persons identify currency notes, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the Bombay high court Friday.

Reserve Bank of India counsel Venkatesh Dhond told the court that a beta version of the app will be released on November 1.

“After receiving feedback from the concerned parties, a final version of the app will be released. The app will not require an Internet connection,” he said.

On Thursday, the court sought to know how the RBI’s proposed app would help visually impaired persons identify currency notes in a place like Kashmir where restrictions had been imposed on communication.

A division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing a petition filed by the National Association of the Blind (NAB), claiming that the new currency notes and coins issued by the central bank were posing difficulties for visually impaired persons in terms of identification and distinction.

The Union Government Mint informed the bench Friday that new coins in denominations of Rs 20, Rs 10, Rs 2 and Rs 1 had special marks that would help visually impaired persons identify them.

The new coins would be released in the market by November, the court was told. These coins were submitted to the bench for inspection and also to a few visually impaired petitioners present in court. Upon the petitioners being able to identify the coins successfully, Chief Justice Nandrajog said, "We are moving in the right direction.”

However, the Bombay high court noted that the size of the coins was getting smaller. “The coins are getting smaller by the day. The new rs 20 coin looks like a Rs 1 coin. The new Rs 1 coin looks like the one paisa coin we had in the past,” Chief Justice Nandrajog observed.

The bench of Chief Justices said that the size and other features of the Indian currency notes and coins should not change.