Times
of India: Nagpur: Saturday, 11 April 2015.
Did you know
you could date cheques according to Indian national calendar, too? If not,
don't be ashamed. It turns out, neither do banks. Banks, including the public
sector ones, routinely reject cheques and other instruments if they bear dates
according to Indian national calendar. The practice continues despite the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) specifically saying such cheques should be
accepted.
TOI has
copies of some cheques bearing Indian calendar dates that were not honoured by
PSU banks. Information sought from RBI through Right to Information (RTI) query
filed by city-based activist Abhay Kolarkar clarifies that all nationalized
banks should accept cheques drawn and signed in Hindi without any additional
formality. RBI had issued a circular on July 31, 1992, directing the banks to
accept cheques having national calendar dates. The bank governing body stated
there was no prohibition under any central act to use any date other than the
British calendar dates. "The relevance of putting a date on the cheque is
to ascertain whether the cheque is current or stale. A cheque written in Hindi
and bearing a date in Hindi as per national calendar is valid and ought to be
accepted by the banker," said the circular.
RTI activist
and national calendar activist Abhay Marathe said, "Despite the government
issuing GRs, our national calendar remains neglected and most people are not
even aware of it. Dishonouring cheques dated as per the national calendar is
insult to Indianness." Another national calendar activist Girish Datar
said that the national calendar did not get its due from the people as well as
government. "Though many patriotic citizens use dates as per Indian
National Calendar, they face great difficulties as banks refuse to accept such
cheques. Information sought in RTI from various banks revealed that though the
training modules of banks contain information about this provision, the staff
remain totally unaware of it," he claimed.
This was
borne out when TOI talked to four branch managers of city-based public sector
banks. None of them was aware of the provision. "We will check the RBI
circular and get back to you," was their common reply. A senior official
from RBI, on condition of anonymity, said bankers refuse to accept national
calendar dates as, "They don't want to rack their brains on conversions
and thus prefer the normal Gregorian calendar."
Aurangabad-based
retired civil engineer Pradeep Mannikar, who has also developed a software to
convert the national calendar dates, told TOI the conversion was quite easy.
"A standardized table is available for the purpose. My software is also
uploaded on Google drive and could easily be accessed," he added.
What is
Gregorian calendar?
Named after
Pope Gregory XIII who introduced it in 1582, it is internationally accepted and
the most widely used in the world. It is a solar calendar and a regular
Gregorian calendar year consists of 365 days.
Indian
National calendar
The Indian
National Calendar of Saka calendar is the official civil calendar of India.
After Independence, it was felt by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru that the country should have its own unique calendar as there were a
plethora of traditional calendars and almanacs in existence in various parts of
the country. To make a single unifying calendar, a standard was needed for
which a Calendar Reforms Committee was formed in 1955 under the chairmanship of
renowned astrophysicist Meghnad Saha and the national calendar was introduced.
Conversion
The national
calendar is lunisolar and is 78 years behind Gregorian one and has traditional
Indian months. As per the national calendar, the current year is 1935. Experts
say a conversion table is available to calculate the corresponding dates of
Gregorian calendar from national calendar.
RBI rule
In its
circular dated July 31, 1992, RBI states there is no prohibition under any
central act to use any date other than the British calendar dates and a cheque
written in Hindi and bearing a date in Hindi as per national calendar is valid
and ought to be accepted by the banker.
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