the humble pie

The Humble Pie Towards the nineteenth century, the pie was the smallest minted coin in India. It constituted 1/3 rd of a pice and was officially termed 1/12th of an Anna. 3 pies made a pice; 4 pice made an anna and 16 annas made a rupee. One rupee, thus consisted of 192 pies. (No wonder arithmetic daunted the faint-hearted then!!) In the wake of the second world war, India witnessed an inflationary situation as well as a scarcity of metals that had to be imported. It was in this context of rising prices that the minting of the copper pie was discontinued after 1942. Ten years later,there was a proposal by the Mint Master that the pie be reintroduced as a part of the coinage of Republic India. The proposal, however, was very gently squashed by the then Finance Secretary, Shri K.G. Ambegaokar on cost-benefit considerations. Ambegaokar, later also served as Governor of the Bank for about one month in 1957. C.D. Deshmukh, the former Governor of the Bank was then the Finance Minister. He as "Minister" wrote the last word ending the saga of the humble pie. Ambegaokar stated "Much as I admire the valiant efforts made to rescue the 'picayune coin', I must, I am afraid, albeit with a heavy heart, write The Epitaph of the Pie Low and high We all will sigh When the poor little pie Bids her last goodbye. But her cost is so high; And what can she buy? What trade can she ply? She needs must eat the humble pie; So let us not vie To keep alive the pie And without a plaintive cry Peacefully let her die. If you want the reason why There need not be hue and cry Remember she'll in honour lie With the silver rupee high! Will the "Minister" say the last word? (K.G. Ambegaokar) Secretary July 12, 1952 In the note, C D Deshmukh concurred stating Let not the 'press' of men Disturb a museum piece When life's extinct, oh then The pie shall lie in peace. C.D. Deshmukh July 13, 1952

Hi Sunkan
That was an informative and humorous snippet. I have this George Coin in my small old-coin collection. I plan to print this snippet and file it in the coin album, should make it more interesting !
Thanks
VS

Yes,Sunkan,very humourous indeed
Regards,
Meenu