Meet Udaya Kumar, designer of ‘ ₹’ (rupee) symbol and son of a former DMK MLA
Tamil Nadu Government Chooses Tamil Letter ‘ரூ’ Instead Of ‘₹’ Symbol In Budget Logo: The Tamil Nadu government has replaced the ₹ symbol with the Tamil word ரூ before presenting the state budget. ரூ means Rs in the Tamil language. The Tamil Nadu government is going to present the state budget on Friday, March 14. Regarding this budget, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin shared a video on X on Thursday. In this video, the ரூ symbol in the Tamil language has been used instead of the official symbol of the rupee ₹ in the budget logo. Sharing this video, CM MK Stalin wrote in Tamil that this budget aims to ensure the comprehensive development of Tamil Nadu for the benefit of all sections of the society.
After this video of the Tamil Nadu government surfaced, the controversy increased. There is already a rift between the Tamil Nadu government and the central government over the new education policy and the three-language formula. Now, the budget video has fueled this controversy. Let us see what the history of the ₹ symbol is and why it is in controversial now.
DMK leader’s son created the symbol
The DMK government of Tamil Nadu has objections to the ₹ symbol. This is why ரூ was used in its place before the budget. However, the important thing is that it was designed by Udayakumar Dharmalingam, son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam. The government had organized an open competition for the symbol of the Indian currency rupee. 3331 people created logos and sent them to the government. Out of these, five people were finalized, and finally, the ₹ symbol was chosen.
Who Is Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam ?
The Indian rupee symbol was created in 2010 by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, who is presently a professor at IIT Guwahati. That was fifteen years ago. His father, N Dharmalingam, was a former DMK MLA who served in Tamil Nadu’s Rishivandiyam seat, hence he comes from a political family.
In terms of financial transactions and economic power, the Indian rupee symbol stands for India’s worldwide identity. Udaya Kumar, a design postgraduate from IIT Bombay, conceptualised the symbol, which was selected from thousands of entries submitted in an open competition conducted by the Ministry of Finance.
At this time, DMK leader N Dharmalingam had said that he is proud of his son and that this is a proud moment for the Tamil people. This logo is made by combining the Devanagari letter ‘र’ and the Roman letter ‘R’, which is inspired by the Indian tricolor and was designed to make it look different from other currencies. The line in the ₹ symbol is a symbol of equality and the tricolor. Uday, who created this logo, is an educator and designer. He is an Assistant Professor at IIT Guwahati.
P Chidambaram had unveiled it
The people of the Indian currency rupee were unveiled by Tamil Nadu’s big leader P Chidambaram. At this time, DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu and there was a Congress government at the center. Even today, these two parties are in alliance. Both of them also fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together. However, now, MK Stalin has used the Tamil word ரூ instead of this symbol. BJP and other parties have targeted DMK on this.
BJP leader K Annamalai wrote “The DMK government’s state budget for 2025-26 replaces the rupee symbol designed by a Tamil, which was adopted across India and incorporated in our currency. Thiru Udaya Kumar, who designed the symbol, is the son of a former DMK MLA. How stupid can you be, Thiru MK Stalin?”
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