Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 10 Paise 1981, KM# 36, India, Republic, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Day
  • 10 Paise 1981, KM# 36, India, Republic, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Day
Description

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. Since 1981, World Food Day has adopted a different theme each year in order to highlight areas needed for action and provide a common focus. 1981: Food comes first.

Obverse

Depicts the State Emblem of India surrounded by the country name, denomination below.

The State Emblem of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, preserved in the Sarnath Museum near Varanasi, India. A representation of Lion Capital of Ashoka was officially adopted on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic. The emblem appears on all Indian currency.

The actual Sarnath capital features four Asiatic lions standing back to back, symbolizing power, courage, confidence and pride, mounted on a circular base. At the bottom is a horse and a bull, and at its centre is a wheel (Dharma Chakra). The abacus is girded with a frieze of sculptures in high relief of The Lion of the North, The Horse of the West, The Bull of the South and The Elephant of the East, separated by intervening wheels, over a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration.

In the emblem finally adopted, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view. The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus, with a bull on the right and a galloping horse on the left, and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left.

भारत INDIA
पैसे 10 PAISE

Reverse

A man standing with wheat sheaf on the shoulder and a woman standing with a fruit basket. Date below. Mintmark (if any) under the date.

विश्व खाद्य दिवस
WORLD FOOD DAY
1981

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Aluminium
Weight 2.3 g
Diameter 26 mm
Thickness 1.92 mm
Shape wavy (scallop, sun-shaped)
Notches 12
Alignment Medal
Mints
Calcutta Mint (no mintmark)
Mumbai Mint (B)
Mumbai Mint (♦)

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