A Hindu Organization Is Urging Reserve Bank Of Australia to Print 'Beef-Free' Currency
A Hindu organization in Australia is urging the Reserve Bank of Australia to print "beef-free" currency notes, as it hurts religious sentiments of Hindus.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is currently printing $20 and $100 “Next Generation” banknotes which are expected to be issued in 2019 and 2020. Newly designed banknotes are being introduced into the country, with the new $5, $10, and $50 notes already in circulation.
This move from the Hindu community comes after it was revealed that cow fat is being used in the production of the new notes.
Tallow, which is a hard and fatty substance made from rendered animal fat, was used in the past to make candles and soap. This agent is still used in bank notes to make them “anti-static” and to neutralize trace additives. Polymer banknotes are made from plastic pellets that are melted down, blown into a huge bubble, then pressed down again and cooled until they form a polymer film.
The Bank of England had confirmed that they do, infact, use tallow. But it wasn't only the Bank of England which uses tallow; Australia does too.
In Hinduism, the cow is a symbol of life and is sacred. Hindus also refrain from eating beef.
The President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, wrote an letter to the Reserve Bank of Australia to 'show respect to the feelings of Hindus and come up with a banknote production process which did not use beef as an ingredient.'
"Consumption of beef is highly conflicting to Hindu beliefs and it is certainly banned from entering Hindu religious centers. Cow, the seat of many deities, is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism," Zed states in the letter.
Rajan Zed also urged RBA Governor Philip Lowe to seriously look into this issue and even asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene.
"RBA should have been wise and literate enough to look into the religious sensitivities of its consumers before investing so much money and effort into the production of polymer banknotes," Zed further added in his letter.
There are more than 440,000 Hindus in Australia, according to 2016 census data. It is the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.