Nepal’s central bank on Thursday introduced new Rs 100 currency notes that now show a revised national map which includes Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura, regions which India maintains it to be its own.

The move brings to the fore a long-running border disagreement. India earlier denounced Nepal’s 2020 map change as a “unilateral act” and said that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims cannot be accepted, as reported by PTI.

The Lipulekh Pass is located in the far western area near Kalapani, a region claimed by both countries. India considers Kalapani to be part of the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, while Nepal says it falls under the Dharchula district.
 
The Nepal Rastra Bank’s newly printed Rs 100 note carries the signature of former governor Maha Prasad Adhikari and marks its issue year as 2081 BS, which is 2024. The updated design includes the national map adopted during the K P Sharma Oli-led government, which in May 2020, received parliamentary approval to add Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura.
 
When asked about the revision, an NRB spokesperson said that the map had already been shown on previous Rs 100 notes and has now been updated according to the instructions of the government, as cited by PTI.

Nepal’s new Rs 100 note displays Mt Everest on the left and features a watermark of the national flower, the rhododendron, on the right. A light green outline of Nepal is visible in the centre, along with the Ashok Pillar printed with the words, “Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.”

The back side of the note shows an image of the one-horned rhino, along with a security thread and a raised black dot to help visually impaired users recognise the note.
 
Among Nepal’s different currency denominations such as Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 500, and Rs 1,000, only the Rs 100 note carries the national map, while the others do not show it. Nepal shares more than 1,850 km of boundary with five Indian states, Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.