Indian 50 paise coins-I

50 paise, 2008

The latest 50 paise coin has a Bharatnatyam mudra design on the reverse. Many people do not accept 50 paisa as a legal tender these days and most people are not even aware that this 50 paisa coin exists.

50 paise: Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi(1917-1984) was the prime minister of India for three terms, from 1966 to 1977; and fourth term from 1980 to 1984, when she was assasinated in the wake of operation blue star.

She is the only female prime minister of India till date, and was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. She married Feroze Gandhi (no relation to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also called Mahatma Gandhi). She was brought up in a politically strong and influential household, and after the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri, she was thrust into the foremost ranks of congress by the congress president K.Kamaraj. She made politically correct moves and very influential, so she came into power. But some inabilities and some inefficiencies led to the enforcing of the emergency in the late 1970s. This caused her to be out of power for three years. She also devalued the rupee from 4 Re to a dollar to 7 Re/dollar, and charges of corruption were proved against her, but she refused to resign.

In 1984, some extremists in Punjab were in the holy shrine of Darbar sahib in Amritsar, and she went through with the hard military operation against those people, forgetting about the place and the civilian pilgrims there. This operation was named 'operation bluestar', and was the cause of her assasination at the hands of two of her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.

50 paise: fisheries

This 50 paise coin shows the four headed lion symbol and the denomination on the reverse. We can also see "satyamev jayate" in Hindi. This phrase means 'truth alone triumphs'. This was a question to Jamal Malik in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which recently won as many as eight oscars.

The obverse of this 1986 fifty paise coin commemorates the fisheries industry of India. India is a peninsula and has a very long coastline. A large number of people earn their livelihood through fishing, and this also provides for the food of thousands of people in India. The fishing industry of India has grown five-fold since its independence in 1947. The inscription in Hindi says "matsya udyog" which means fisheries industry.

Fifty paise , 1970

This is the 50 paise coin of 1970. The reverse reads "pachas paise" which means fifty paisa, and also "rupaye ka adha bhag" which means 1/2 part of a rupee. The obverse shows the country and the four headed lion symbol.

Indian 50 paise coins-II

50 paise: Jawaharlal Nehru(English)

50 paise: Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi)

The Jawaharlal Nehru 50 paisa coin had two versions: one having the name written in Hindi, and the other in English. This is the second version.

The Hindi inscription reads 'Jawaharlal Nehru', who was the first prime minister of republic India. He is usually depicted wearing a cap.

Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889[1]. – 27 May 1964) was a major political leader and pivotal figure in the Congress Party, and the first and longest-serving prime minister of independent India, serving from 1947 to 1964. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is also referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit," Sanskrit, "scholar", as honorific) and in India, as Panditji (-ji, honorific suffix).

The son of the wealthy Indian barrister and politician Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left-wing of the Indian National Congress at a remarkably young age. Rising to Congress President under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic, radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire, and was eventually recognised as Gandhi's political heir. A life-long liberal, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed.

Nehru raised the flag of independent India in New Delhi on 15 August 1947, and served as Prime Minister. Nehru's appreciation for parliamentary democracy coupled with concerns for the poor and underprivileged enabled him to formulate policies that often reflected his socialist leanings. Both as prime minister and as Congress president, Nehru pushed through the Indian Parliament, dominated by members of his own party, a series of legal reforms intended to emancipate Hindu women and bring equality. These reforms included raising the minimum marriageable age from twelve to fifteen, empowering women to divorce their husbands and inherit property, and declaring illegal the ruinous dowry system. His long tenure was instrumental in shaping the traditions and structures of independent India. His daughter Indira Gandhi and grandson Rajiv Gandhi served as the Prime Ministers of India.

50 paise, 1992

This 50 paise coin shows the denomination country and the four headed lion symbol on the reverse, and the date, mint mark, country, a map of India, and the Indian Parliament on the obverse.

The Indian parliament has two houses, namely the Lok Sabha and the Rajya sabha. The Lok Sabha is also called "house of the people" or the lower house. The members are elected directly by the people from different consitutencies, and these elected members choose or elect the prime minister of India. There can be at most 552 members in this house. The Rajya sabha is also known as the "council of states" or the upper house. Its members are indirectly elected by members of the legislative assemblies of the different states. The Rajya Sabha has 250 members in all. Elections to it are scheduled and the chamber cannot be dissolved. Each member has a term of 6 years and elections are held for one-third of the seats after every 2 years. The members of the Rajya sabha have to be distinguished members are essentially distinguished personalities in their respective fields.

fifty paise, 1972

Indian 50 paise coins-III

50 paise: 50th year of independence

The reverse shows the denomination, the country, and the four headed lion symbol at the top.

This coin was minted in the commemoration of the completion of fifty years of independent India. India got its independence in 1947, and this coin was minted fifty years after that, ie in 1997. The Hindi inscription reads "swatantrata ka 50van varsh", which means the 50th year of Indian independence. The same is written in English as well. The figure shows Mahatma Gandhi leading many Indians in the Indian freedom struggle. In particular, it depicts the event of Dandi march. The British had imposed a tax on salt, and Gandhi decided to do a salt satayagrah.

The Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of non-violent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule after Purna Swaraj, the declaration of independence by the Indian National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt tax free, with growing numbers of Indians joining him along the way. When Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion of the march on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians. This event was very significant in India's struggle for independence.

The image shown on the coin's obverse, the Dandi March , has also been immortalized in various places as a statue, or rather a series of statues of Mahatma Gandhi and his followers.

50 paise: national integration

The reverse shows the denomination, country and the four headed lion symbol. The obverse shows the map of India, and a map within it. The small dots on the left are the Lakshadweep Islands, and the line of dots below the "national integration" inscription and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Hindi inscription above the map reads "rashtriya ekta" which means national integration. The date can be seen at the bottom. 

See also: National integration UNC set

50 paise: 50 years of RBI

The reverse shows the denomination, country, the four headed lion symbol, and "satyamev jayate" is written in Hindi. It means : truth alone triumphs. This was a question to Jamal Malik in the movieSlumdog Millionaire, for which he took an audience poll. The movie recently won as many as eight Oscars.
The reserve Bank is the Federal Bank of India and performs the following functions:
1)Monetary Functions in India: Formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy – to ensure price stability and optimum flow of credit to productive sectors.
2)Regulatory and supervisory functions in India: Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system operates - to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public.
3)Management of Foreign Exchange in India: Manages the Foreign Exchange - to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.
4)Issuance of currency in India: Issues and exchanges or destroys unfit currency and coins - to cater the public with adequate quantity of supplies of good quality currency notes and coins. 5)Developmental functions in India: Performs a wide promotional functions to meet national objectives.
6)Other Related Functions: Banker to the Government of India: performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments; also acts as their banker.
The inscription at the bottom on the obverse reads "swarna jayanti" which means golden jubilee. The same is written in English as well. The Reserve Bank of India can be read in English and Hindi both. The Reserve Bank was established in 1935, and completed its 50 years in 1985. The symbol on the obverse shows a lion and a palm tree. This symbol is the mascot of the Reserve Bank of India. This symbol was adapted from the lion and palm tree was taken from the golden mohur (15 rupees) of William iiii. The mohurs of William iiii were the first proof coins minted in India. 

Indian 50 paise coins - IV

50 paisa: Mahatma Gandhi birth centenary, 1969

50 paise: grow more food

The reverse shows wheat ears. Wheat is the staple food crop in India. The writing in Hindi reads adhik ann ugao which means grow more food.

50 paise: 25 years of independence

On the reverse we can see a woman with a man holding the Indian flag, and in the background there is the Indian parliament. The writing on the right reads 25veen swatantarya jayanti meaning the 25th year of the Indian independence. India got its independence in 1947 and this coin was released in 1972, 25 years after the independence.

Indian coin set circa 1950s

Half anna, 1950

One anna , 1950

2 anna, 1950

1/4 rupee, 1955

Written at top: char ana meaning four annas

1/2 rupee, 1955

1 rupee, 1950

1 rupee, 1954

When India became a republic in 1950, the anna series was adopted for coinage purposes. 1 rupee consisted of 16 annas. As you can see clearly in this series, the denomination keeps on decreasing by a factor of two: one rupee, half rupee, quarter rupee(4 annas), two annas, one anna and half anna. All the fractions were consistently minted , with the one anna and two anna coins of 1955 coming under the category of low mintage coins; and are therefore rare and also having very high value. This design of one rupee was minted only in 1950 and1954, and that too only in the Bombay mint. After that one rupee coin came out only in 1962. The anna series was discontinued in 1955 and it was replaced by the naya paisa series in 1957. The designers had experimented with a one rupee coin reading "sau naye paise" meaning 100 new paise in 1960. Only 3 such pieces are known to have been minted and 1 such coin recently sold at an auction for 2.2 lakh rupees.