THE paisa or any coin in terms of paisas as part of a rupee does not exist. The currency in terms of paisa is not there but often expressed in figures as an amount of value. A cheque is sometimes issued by a bank showing figures of rupees followed by some paisas. Such a cheque can be deposited in a bank but how can it be cashed?

However, if one wants to cash it in, I do not know how one would receive the full value written on the cheque would one receive. In any case, cheques showing paisas are accepted only by commercial banks but not by any government organisations.

I do not understand why paisa is not dropped completely. Japan, a highly advanced country, works with yen, only one unit of currency. Why can’t we work in terms of rupee alone?

S. M. Wasim

Lahore

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017