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known as 5th Pillar created the zero-rupee note as a means for
Indians to register their refusal to participate in bribery. Closely patterned after the nation's fifty-rupee notes, these documents instead included anti-corruption slogans "Eliminate corruption at all levels" and "I promise to neither
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administration, municipal government, electricity supply system, government hospital system, ration card system, water supply system, and system of assessing individual income taxes as corrupt. Fully 45% of survey respondents believed that there was corruption as well in the primary school system.
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The 2005 study exposed chronic graft problems, with substantial numbers of survey respondents reporting direct experience in being forced to pay bribes to the police (80%), land administration (48%), and judiciary (47%). Majorities of survey respondents characterized the police, judiciary, land
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driver was pulled over by a policeman in the middle of the night who said he could go if he was "taken care of". The driver gave him the note instead. The policeman was shocked but smiled and let him go. The purpose of this is to instill confidence in people to say no to bribery."
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These zero-rupee notes were designed for use by Indian citizens who have been requested to pay bribes in order to obtain services that are legally free or who are hit with illicit surcharges on such routine government transactions as obtaining a
204:. Buoyed by the success of the campaign, additional printings followed and use of the zero-rupee note spread across the nation. From their inception through August 2014, 5th Pillar distributed over 2.5 million zero-rupee notes.
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In addition to registering the individual's protest, zero-rupee notes provide corrupt officials with a sign that efforts are ongoing to fight systemic government corruption. Use of the notes is intended to shame or scare
98:. A 2005 study published by Transparency International India indicated that as many of 62% of Indian citizens had first-hand experience of having paid a bribe or used an illicit "contact" to get a government job done.
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Bribery—the offering or solicitation of items of value to influence the actions of a government official—is recognized as a pervasive problem in India, with the 2010 report by anti-corruption watchdog organization
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and the director of
Association for India's Development, Inc. US, is credited with originating the concept of the zero-rupee note in 2001. Upon returning to India for a visit, Bhagat was frustrated by the petty
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demands of government officials that were part of daily life and conceived of the idea of a zero-rupee note as a polite way of declining participation. The charity 5th Pillar put Bhagat's idea into practice.
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known as 5th Pillar which has, since their inception in 2007, distributed over 2.5 million notes as of August 2014. The notes remain in current use and thousands of notes are distributed every month.
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According to 5th Pillar, Indian citizens pay approximately £3 billion (about $ 4.9 billion) in bribes each year—a figure considered to be substantially understated by many government insiders.
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The 2005 Transparency
International India study was the largest study of the Indian bribery problem ever undertaken, with 14,405 respondents from 20 states contributing. The survey focused on
315:[http:/ 2010 Results], Transparency International, www.transparency.org/ Entry of India in the Search function of the Results by Country list generates the rank of 87th, with a score of 3.3.
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This concept for use in the fight against corruption has recently been adopted from 5th Pillar to few other nations suffering from endemic government bribery problems including
138:. Such currency devices enable the citizen to register their opposition to the illegal request in a tangible form, "paying" the official with these valueless alternative notes.
141:"The note is a way for any human being to say no to corruption without the fear of facing an encounter with persons in authority", 5th Pillar said in an official statement.
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President of 5th Pillar, Vijay Anand, expressed satisfaction with the program's efficacy: "People have already started using them and it is working. One
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While the zero-rupee notes appear similar to a genuine Indian fifty-rupee note, they are not issued by the Indian government and are thus not
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As of 2015, 5th Pillar expanded the zero-rupee note concept beyond India to other country currencies, on the website ZeroCurrency.org.
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5th Pillar began the campaign in the spring of 2007 with a first printing of 25,000 notes that were distributed in the Indian city of
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experienced by common citizens in daily life, rather than upon the large-scale corruption of the rich and powerful.
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in return for services which are supposed to be free. Zero-rupee notes, which are made to resemble the old 50-
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Banknote imitation issued in India as a means of helping to fight systemic political corruption
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into honest behavior by reminding these officials that laws against bribery exist.
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The old 50-rupee banknote of India, serving as a template to the zero-rupee note.
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India
Corruption Study 2005: To Improve Governance: Volume I – Key Highlights
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454:"A Zero Contribution: An Unconventional Way to Combat Petty Corruption"
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5th Pillar, india.5thpillar.org, retrieved May 12, 2011.
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Zero-rupee notes have been issued in five of the 22
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500:5th Pillar Zero Rupee Note official web page
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96:Corruption Perceptions Index
411:National Geographic staff,
370:India Corruption Study 2005
352:India Corruption Study 2005
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508:– Archive 20 November 2012
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368:Centre for Media Studies,
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23:Zero-rupee note – obverse
417:The Bangladesh Chronicle
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130:accept nor give bribe."
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175:Circulation and legacy
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85:Corruption in India
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547:Banknotes of India
470:"Zero Rupee Notes"
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532:Protests in India
187:professor at the
181:Indian expatriate
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303:Footnotes
225:Malayalam
194:extortion
183:who is a
474:Archived
332:Archived
261:See also
64:banknote
41:banknote
372:, p. 8.
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221:Kannada
202:Chennai
185:physics
74:History
248:Mexico
229:Telugu
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168:laws.
57:bribes
542:Rupee
252:Nepal
244:Benin
240:Ghana
236:Yemen
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