Recently the group of Hindus in UK had being fighting against the use of animal fat in the new £5 denomination notes under the petition named as “Remove Tallow from Bank Notes” which gained support of over 100,000 people. Hence Bank of England had to get on their knees and assures Hindu Community that this matter will be treated with “Utmost Seriousness.”
The Hindu Council UK stated, “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.”
There had been a huge protest against the new £5 denomination notes and £10 notes which will be circulated in coming future. This protest was not restricted to only Hindus but also by Vegans, Vegetarians and other religions who do not accept animal killing as a human deed.
The new £5 and upcoming £10 notes contains Tallow (a hard fatty substance made from rendered animal fat, used in making candles and soap.) and Hindu Community in UK has faith in the practice of non-violence.
Moreover the Temples all around UK has completely banned the donations given in £5 denomination notes. The temple authorities says, “As a consequence of not allowing the 5 pound notes in the Temple environment, many of the temples had seen a huge decrease in their Temple economy, which relies totally on donations in order to operate.”
Looking at the current chaos environment, Bank of England has to reconsider the use of tallow in Pound Sterling notes. However £10 will be released with the same ingredients as £5 notes.
Hence the Hindu Council UK was pleased that the Bank of England had acknowledged the concerns and halted the issuing of the new 20 pound notes until a full consultation is done. In addition, the Bank of England had also ensured the Hindu council that they are working with polymer suppliers to investigate alternatives, including some that are plant-based, for the future.
