Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on October 2 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist. In India, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, October 2, is a national holiday. Globally, Gandhi's birthday is celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence.

August 15, 1947. India officially achieved independence from British rule. However, the division of the subcontinent between India and Pakistan was a great disappointment to Gandhi, who had long worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. Riots between Muslims and Hindus over the issue of partition broke out in many areas. Gandhi once again turned to nonviolence, fasting until rioters in Delhi promised peace. Achieved Indian independence By 1920, Gandhi was India's dominant political figure, wielding widespread influence over the Indian people. The Indian National Congress (Congress Party) became a mass organization led by Gandhi in non-violent activities. These included boycotts of British goods as well as British legislatures, courts, offices and schools. In 1930, Gandhi launched the Salt March to protest the British salt tax. This march was one of Gandhi's most successful campaigns. However, by 1934, he became disillusioned with the infighting among Congress Party members. He turned to building the country "from the bottom up". By emphasizing rural education, social equality, and cottage industry, Gandhi believed that India could become peaceful and self-sufficient. India's final struggle for independence began in 1942. Gandhi demanded the immediate withdrawal of British troops from India, known as the Quit India movement. Over the next five years, Gandhi fought to help Muslim, Hindu, and British leaders negotiate Indian independence. He was unable to stop the Mountbatten Plan, which divided the subcontinent between a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority East and West Pakistan. On August 15, 1947, India gained independence. Gandhi made efforts to stop the riots between Hindus and Muslims that followed. On January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by a Hindu extremist dissatisfied with Gandhi's efforts at reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims.

Many famous photographers, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographed Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime. However, the most widely circulated image of Gandhi is his portrait on official Indian banknotes. As the Father of the Nation, his appearance on the national currency following the creation of independent India in 1947 seemed an obvious choice. But it was not until several decades later, only in 1996, that it became a permanent feature on Indian legal tender notes. Each denomination is issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – India's central bank and the agency responsible for regulating the Indian banking system. As Gandhi's birthday approaches, we look at the origins of the portrait, the symbol it replaces and other hints that appear on Indian banknotes. Origin of Gandhi's image on Indian currency The portrait of Gandhi visible on the banknotes is not a caricature. This is an excerpt from a photograph taken in 1946, where he stands next to British politician Lord Frederick William PethikLawrance. The photo was chosen because it best represents Gandhi's smile: the portrait is a mirror image of the cropped portion.

In the 1990s, the RBI believed that the traditional security features of banknotes were inadequate due to advances in copying techniques such as digital printing, scanning, photography and xerography. It is thought that inanimate objects are easier to forge than human faces. Gandhi was chosen because of his national appeal, and in 1996, a new 'Mahatma Gandhi series' was launched by the RBI to replace the old Ashoka mainstay notes. Several security features have also been introduced, including window security chains, hidden images, and an intaglio feature for the visually impaired.