Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 5 Paise 1979, KM# 22, India, Republic, International Year of the Child
  • 5 Paise 1979, KM# 22, India, Republic, International Year of the Child
Description

UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child. The proclamation was signed on January 1, 1979 by United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. A follow-up to the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the proclamation was intended to draw attention to problems that affected children throughout the world, including malnutrition and lack of access to education. Many of these efforts resulted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

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 5 PAISE

Reverse

Emblem on the square within a circle, flanked by sprays. Date below. Mintmark (if any) under the date.

बच्चे की मुस्कान-राष्ट्र की शान
HAPPY CHILD-NATION'S PRIDE
1979

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Aluminium
Weight 1.5 g
Diameter 22 mm
Width -
Height -
Thickness -
Shape square
Alignment Medal
Mints
Calcutta Mint (no mintmark)
Hyderabad Mint (★)
Mumbai Mint (B)
Mumbai Mint (♦)

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