Bank of England assures Hindu group on 'non-veg' notes issue
The Hindu Council UK has said the Bank of England has assured them that concerns over use of animal fat in new £5 notes were being treated with "utmost seriousness". Further, the bank also assured that new £20 notes would be launched only after consultation. The council raised concerns over use of tallow made from beef fat in the notes.
From Aditi Khanna London, Feb 19 (PTI) One of the UKs leading umbrella group for Hindus has said the Bank of England has assured them that concerns over the use of animal fat in the new five-pound notes were being treated with "utmost seriousness" and the new 20 pound notes would be launched only after consultations. Hindu Council UK held a number of meetings with the central banks representatives to explain that as Hindus see the cow as a symbol of grace and veneration, the use of tallow made from beef fat in the notes went against their beliefs. "Over the last couple of months, the Hindu Council UK has been in communication with the Bank of England (BoE) and raised the concerns of the Hindu Community, Hindu Temples and Hindu Organisations in the UK. "The Bank of England assured that they were treating those concerns with the utmost seriousness and wanted to understand better what impact the use of small traces of animal-derived products in polymer banknotes may have within the community before making any further statement on the issue," Hindu Council UK said in a statement this week. The BoE had announced recently that it would not be withdrawing the polymer notes and that new 10-pound notes made of the same material would also go ahead for their launch later this year. However, it would launch a consultation before issuing similar new 20-pound notes. 