When Vijay Anand moved to the US from India to start his own software company, he realised how much more he could achieve when he didn’t have to deal with corrupt officials.“It got me thinking about how citizens in India could fight the corruption that affects them every day.” In 2006 he founded the NGO 5th Pillar; the following year he returned to his home state of Tamil Nadu armed with a brilliant idea which he would use to launch 5th Pillar and to fight corruption: the Zero Rupee note.

Corruption has been endemic in many developing countries since the end of Colonial rule. We report here on India because there is significant activity occurring in the country to address government corruption, not outwardly prevalent under British rule. India now tops the list of “black money” countries – money that has been acquired illegally. Some unique approaches are being used to finally change the status quo in India as corruption threatens its long term grown as a nation.

5th Pillar, an Indian NGO, came up with the idea of printing a zero rupee currency note as a tool to help Indians achieve the goal of zero corruption. The note is a way for people to say NO to corruption without the fear of facing an encounter with persons in authority.

The Anti Corruption movement, 5thPillar recently began distributing “Zero Rupee” notes to Indian citizens to give to any civil servant they come across that asks for a bribe. Corruption in the form of bribery is commonplace in India particularly in Chennai where the campaign began, and the Zero Rupee Note serves as a protest of this trend.

CHENNAI: The Right to Information (RTI) Act was introduced because people should have the right to information on how public money was spent, said speakers at the inauguration of service centers of 5th Pillar, a non-government organization working to eliminate corruption in the country

I want to make a small difference by helping India be a corruption-free nation,” says Preethi, a 24-year-old engineer from Salem, Tamil Nadu, who works also as a volunteer at the non-governmental organization 5th Pillar.