Zero Rupee Note - Can it stamp out corruption??

Imagine that you are going to a government office to get some paper cleared & the lazy guy out there refuses to clear your documents & asks you to come back in another few days, weeks or months. You know that he expects you to pay bribe and you really don’t know what to do. So how would you handle such a situation? You want to yell at him, but you don’t know how to express your anger. Here is a solution proposed by a Chennai based NGO.

Fifth Pillar India, an NGO set up to fight corruption, has printed over 200,000 zero-denomination notes that resemble Indian currency and has begun distributing them around the country. The zero rupee note, which resembles an original rupee note, is a sign of unwillingness to bribe. It has the picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it with a pledge "I promise to neither accept nor give bribe" printed both in English and Tamil. It also resolves to 'eliminate corruption at all levels.' The idea is whenever an official asks you for a bribe, just give him the zero rupee note and hope that he'll get the message. It’s to help the corrupt officer understand the message that there's even an oath that's printed on the note. The note is being translated into other languages as well.







Rupees - Front











Rupees - Back






While this is undoubtedly a strange, innovative and daring measure taken by 5th Pillar, it is going to be a herculian task and practically difficult to uproot corruption parallely from all levels. They need a firm support from the public. I have myself been a witness of acute bribery while applying for my passport, getting travels tickets and so on.. An immediate target should be the traffic policemen who demand a whooping sum of money, most of the times unrelated to the offense.

I just hope this helps in bringing out a change!

Links:
Fifth Pillar India
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