New Delhi: A school science teacher based in Kolkata has started a campaign to put woman on Indian currency notes.
The teacher, Poonam Singh, has submitted a petition on Change.org besides creating a blog and launching a Twitter campaign urging the government to use prominent women on India's currency notes.
The campaign is also asking people to suggest names of women they would like to see on Rs 100 note.
Poonam has shortlisted Freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali, freedom fighter and social activist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, woman empowerment activist Pandita Ramabai, first woman to practise law in both India and Britain Cornelia Sorabji, freedom fighter and political activist Bhikaji Cama and social reformer Savitribai Phule as the candidates.
Poonam says that her campaign was inspired by a similar one in the US earlier this year.
“If we want to change things for Indian women, there may be no single magical solution. But perhaps to highlight the work of Indian women, past and present, in contributing to Indian society would be a beginning? We would like to hold their lives up as role models for our current and future generations to look up to,” Poonam says in the petition on Change.org.
Poonam believes that this would empower woman as currency is the token of economic power, “And what better way to achieve this, than to put these faces on a common everyday object, like a currency note? As this also happens to be a token of economic power, it has a symbolic purpose too.”
33 people have so far voted in favour of the campaign and the support is increasing.
You can sign the petition https://goo.gl/PsCwyz if you think one of these woman deserve to be on the Rs 100 note.
