Indians Fight Corruption With Zero-Rupee Notes
Source: theepochtimes.com
It looks like a 50-rupee note, but it’s more like a slap in the face to corrupt officials.
Where a bribe is expected, the Indian anti-corruption organization 5th Pillar is encouraging citizens to pass over zero-rupee banknotes it has created. The notes read “I promise neither to accept nor give bribe.”
They are made to look like 50-rupee notes, the notes that incidentally carry the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on them. The 50s are replaced by zeros, and the note also reads, “eliminate corruption at all levels.” It is printed in different languages for different locales in India.
The first 25,000 notes were printed in 2007 in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu State. The success of the campaign inspired 5th Pillar to expand into all the other states. To date, the organization has printed nearly half a million notes.
“Zero rupee has turned out to be a very successful way to do well in situations when a conductor, a police [officer], or [another] official makes you bribe him,” said 5th Pillar president Vijay Anand in an interview recorded on the organization’s website. “Facing corruption, anyone can freely express his ‘no’ in this way.”
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Read the full article at: theepochtimes.com
