“I promise to neither accept nor give bribe…”

A corruption monitor has launched a campaign challenging India’s culture of bribery by issuing “zero rupee” banknotes that activists are handing out to corrupt government employees.

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The zero rupee note, which closely resembles the Indian 50-rupee note, including the image of Mohandas Gandhi, carries the slogan “eliminate corruption at all levels”, with the usual promise of redemption by the Reserve Bank of India being replaced by the pledge, “I promise to neither accept nor give bribe”.

The Fifth Pillar, the non-governmental organisation based in Washington that is behind the campaign, said that by offering the zero rupee notes, apart from embarrassing bribe-seeking officials, the group aims to popularise the message that in no situation will Indians pay bribes.

“The zero rupee note has proven to be very successful in challenging corrupt ‘bakshish-demanding’ train ticket examiners, police officers and other public service officials in our novel anti-bribe campaign involving the people,” said Vijay Anand, the president of Fifth Pillar’s Indian headquarters in Chennai.

“On one recent night, virtually for no reason, one auto-rickshaw was stopped by a policeman who sought some amount of bribe to let him go. The driver quickly handed out a zero rupee note instead. The policeman was taken aback, but smiled and let the auto-rickshaw driver go,” Mr Anand said.

Continue Reading this to find more interesting happenings with this note..