I just remembered that today is April 1, 2007 - popularly known as All Fools' Day ! However, and this is no hoax, something important happened today in India back in 1957. Decimal coinage was introduced and the old 'annas' and 'paise' were gradually phased out starting first April. Instead of 16 annas to a Rupee and 4 paise to an anna, it was now 100 'naya' (new) paise to a Rupee. The naya paisa was also gradually removed from circulation as it did not buy much and the metal value (it was pure copper) was higher than its value as a coin. This, of course, quickly started off a cottage industry with enterprising people melting down the coins to get copper metal for sale. Some other changes were that 4 anna coins became 25 paise and 8 annas 50 paise coins. Other coins introduced were the 5 and 10 paisa coins. With inflation rising in the country, even 25 paise coins are hard to find these days and 5 and 10 paisa coins have totally disappeared.
The decimal system of coinage was quickly accepted by the country as, of course, it was more convenient than the old system. Today, that system is just a memory.
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