Tags:
Journalism of Courage
You might be tempted to ask: does the rupee really need a symbol? Or: is the sign any good? But neither of those is the right question. The right question is: might the rupee need a symbol? And the answer is: if India works its advantages right,then yes. The new symbol,chosen through competition,is now known. It was designed by an IIT post-graduate student,D. Udaya Kumar; its a half-R or full,Devanagari Ra with a couple of parallel horizontal lines at the top,one cutting the half-Rs upper curve. Yes,it was predictable given the parameters of the competition which specified that it be based on the Devanagari Ra and given,too,the tendency for currency symbols across the world to feature two parallel lines,apparently to convey a soothing impression of stability. But predictability,for something that is expected to be visible,usable,and easily adoptable by all of us,is hardly a fault. Though the majority of Indias population thats unaccustomed to the Devanagari script might well raise their eyebrows at the Mulayam-like insistence that the symbol for their currency be necessarily based on a letter theyve never seen before.
Nevertheless,this is a sign of ambition of the sort that Official India too rarely displays. Nobody yet has claimed that the lack of a symbol slows down typesetting or visual identification of the Indian rupee. But backing Indias economy means creating excess capacity in the expectation that people will rise to meet it,a sentiment that Indias government too rarely expresses. In anticipating a need for something of this sort,we have for once created capacity in advance even if,quite literally,symbolically. The reaction to the announcement shows how much a forward looking attitude is appreciated: globally,for example,rupeesymbol was the top trending subject on Twitter.
Yes,the rupee is bubbling under,about to break out but only if we let it float.
