Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Nepal government preparing to launch new Rs 100 denomination banknotes featuring Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah.
Fact
No, Nepal government decided to print a new map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura on its northwestern frontier.
A video claiming that the Nepal government is all set to issue 100-rupee banknotes featuring the image of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah is going viral on TikTok.
Earlier on May 3, Nepal’s Cabinet decided to print new Rs 100 currency notes bearing a new map incorporating the disputed territories of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. The decision has been denounced by India’s External Affairs Minister S Jayashankar saying that Nepal’s action won’t change things on the ground. Both Nepal and India have been laying claim to the contentious territories on the northwestern tip of Nepal.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @pardesi.kanxo66 posted a video showing a 100-rupee note featuring an image of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Nepal government prepares to issue this note [The banknote seen in the picture]. Hail with new Nepal hail with Balen supporters.”
The video posted on May 3 has garnered 14.7k likes, 542 users have shared it and 361 users have commented on it. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newshchecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker searched for news regarding Nepal government’s preparation to issue 100-rupee banknotes featuring Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balen Shah. However, the search didn’t yield any results.
We only found several articles and videos about the government’s decision to issue 100-rupee notes bearing a new map of Nepal that includes Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.
On digging further, we found that the other major decision regarding bank notes was made in August 2010 when the government decided to remove the king’s face from bank notes and replace it with the world’s highest peak Mt. Everest. The decision was taken two years after Nepal became a republic in 2008.
We then checked the website of Nepal’s central bank and searched if there is any specimen of 100-rupee note with portrait of mayor Balen but it was of no avail.
Further, we reached out to the deputy spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Dilli Ram Pokhrel, who confirmed that the government has not made any preparation to issue 100-rupee banknotes with the photo of Kathmandu’s mayor Shah on it.
Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the image carried in the image carried in the viral video is edited.
Conclusion
No, the Nepal government has not made any decision or preparation to issue a bank note featuring Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah. The viral video is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Nepal Ratra Bank
Direct contact with NRB Deputy Spokesperson Dilli Ram Pokhrel
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
