Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great.The World Bank estimates over $1 trillion of the Earth's economy is bribes. Luckily, Vijay Anand, and the people of zerocurrency.org, have begun to reduce that number through financial non-violence. Meet the 'zero rupee':
When asked for a bribe, you hand over this zero-rupee note which looks like real currency but says "Eliminate corruption at all levels. I promise to neither accept nor give bribes." And it works! One official in Tamil Nadu was so stunned to receive the note that he handed back all the bribes he had solicited for providing electricity to an entire village.
Vijay says: "Corruption starts before birth here. Parents have to pay a bribe to the nursing staff to even know the sex of the baby. (If it is a girl child you pay less, if its a boy child you pay a little more bribe.) That is where it begins for an Indian citizen. And after getting discharged from the hospital, (come the bribes for) obtaining of the birth certificate. Then when (they) got to school, obtaining admission requires another bribe..." and so on.
This non-money?...
It is worth the paper its printed on.
And so much more.
update:
* They've now printed over 7 million of these bills.
In more than half the world's currencies.
The U.S. sample:
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Nanc - Wow, that is utterly amazing. The zero rupee. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteAnd a deft bit of using the paper theme too.
Good stuff!
Interesting concept. Are these 0 rupee notes really available for general public? Good initiative by Vijay Anand but remain to be seen if that really check corruption. People have gottten too shameless?
ReplyDeletePapering the world without greasing any palms... great beginning, great post. A lot to think about.
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen & Meryl and TF
ReplyDeletebtw TF? You can actually use your own computer to print them, if you like.
Go here, its on Belize, but just go to the box and pick a country. Click to enlarge the image, and you can re-size and print these non-currency notes yourself.