The Reserve Bank of India suggests coming out with a mobile application to help visually impaired individuals in order to identify Indian currency notes.
At the present, banknotes in the values of Rs 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 2,000 are in circulation, besides Re 1 notes give out by the Indian Government.
Intaglio printing created identification marks for assisting the visually challenged in identification of value of banknotes are present in the notes of Rs 100 and exceeding. The RBI has asked propositions from technology firms in order to develop the mobile application.
The request for proposal issued by the central bank stated, “The application should be able to identify denomination of legal tender banknotes of Mahatma Gandhi Series and Mahatma Gandhi (New) series by capturing the image of the notes placed in front of mobile camera or scrolled across it.”
Similarly, the mobile application should be searchable through voice option in all app stores, it further said.
The RBI said, “The mobile application should be able to identify the bank note denomination in 2 seconds or less.” It also further added that the app should also work in offline mode deprived of internet connection.
In addition, the mobile application intends to make available multi-lingual support as well as audio notifications. The application is anticipated to upkeep Hindi as well as English language as a minimum, it said.
Cash set up the most important mode of transaction in the nation. As on March 31, 2018, there were around 102 billion pieces of banknotes in circulation having a value of Rs 18 lakh crore.
There are nearly 80 lakh blind or visually impaired people in the nation, who are to be expected to get benefit from the inventiveness of the central bank.
In June, 2018 the central bank had also professed that it would search the viability of evolving an appropriate device or instrument for helping the visually impaired in the identification of Indian banknotes.
Also, on March this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also told the Bombay High Court that it was in the procedure of evolving a mobile application in order to help the visually impaired identify the denomination of currency notes.
RBI’s counsel senior advocate Shyam Mehta stated a bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar that the RBI had established a four-member proficient committee last month to develop such software.
The proposal was made in acquiescence with a preceding order of the court. The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the National Association of the Blind (NAB), that claims that the new currency notes and coins were hard to differentiate by touch, and looking for instructions to comprise distinguishing features in the new coins and currency notes.
On the other hand, since such marks often disappear with use, the new software, which is going to be accessible on most mobile devices for free of charge, is going to be of much help for the visually impaired, the RBI counsel said.
The bench also recommended that the authorities must look out the currencies of western nations in order to check the features that are involved to help the visually challenged.
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