"Artificial enlargement” says India as Nepal issues Rs 100 notes with map comprising disputed areas

Nepal's central bank on Thursday issued new Rs 100 denomination bank notes that have a revised map of the country, including the controversial Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura territories, termed as “artificial enlargement” by India. The new note from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) bears the signature of previous Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. The date of issuance of the bank note is mentioned as 2081 BS, which denotes the previous year, 2024. During the Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli-led government, Nepal had updated the map, comprising Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiyadhura territories, through a Parliament endorsement in May 2020. Clarifying the matter regarding the updated version of map, an NRB spokesperson said that the map is already there in the old Rs 100 bank note and it has been revised as per the government's decision. Among various denominations of bank notes such as Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 500, and Rs 1,000, only the bank note with Rs 100 denomination bears the map of Nepal, others do not, he clarified. India maintains that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to it. India had in 2020 reacted sharply, calling Nepal's revised map a “unilateral act” and cautioned Kathmandu that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.

Nepal's new Rs 100 bank note has Mt Everest on its left side while there is a water mark of Rhododendron, the national flower of Nepal, on the right. There is a faint green colour map of Nepal printed in the background at the centre of the bank note. The Ashok Pillar is also printed near the map with the text “Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha.” On the back side of the bank note, there is a picture of one horned rhino. The bank note also has a security thread and an embossed black dot, which helps blind people to recognise it. Nepal shares a border of over 1850 km with five Indian states - Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.