ARVIND KEJRIWAL APPEALS TO PM MODI: PUT IMAGES OF DIRTIEST LAKSHMI-GANESHA ON CURRENCY NOTES TO BRING ECONOMY ON TRACK

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take into account putting the images of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi on Indian banknotes in order to "improve the economic situation of the country."

Kejriwal said in his address: "Today I appeal to the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Indian currency there is a photo of Gandhi ji, let that be, on the other side of currency, a photo of Shri Ganesh Ji and Lakshmi ji should be put. "As I said we have to make lot of effort to improve the economic situation of our country. But also with that, we need blessings from Gods and Goddesses. The whole country will get blessings if on currency notes, there is a photo of Ganesh Ji and Lakshmi ji on one side and Gandhi ji on other side." 

"If Indonesia can do it; choose Ganesh Ji, so can we... I will write to the centre tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to appeal for it... we need the almighty's blessings apart from the efforts to settle the economic condition of the country," Kejriwal said.

Lord Ganesha is depicted on the 20,000 rupiah note in Indonesia.

For the week ending on October 14, India's foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 4.5 billion from the previous week to a USD 528.367 billion low, which is a more than two-year low.

The country's foreign exchange reserves were valued USD 532.868 billion the previous week, according to data from the RBI.

According to data from the RBI, the largest component of India's foreign exchange reserves, its foreign currency assets, fell by USD 2.828 billion to USD 468.668 billion over the course of the week.

The value of gold reserves decreased by USD 1.5 billion during the course of the week to USD 37.453 billion.

The value of India's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the IMF declined by USD 149 million to USD 17.433 billion during the week under consideration, according to figures from the RBI. Because of the RBI's anticipated market intervention to safeguard the depreciating rupee against a strengthening US dollar, the reserves have been decreasing for a number of months.

For the record, the Indian rupee also declined and recently hit fresh record lows over the past few weeks as the US dollar surged relative to major world currencies.