"Zero rupees" against corruption

In India, nearly every public service costs an additional inofficial commission. Bribery is most common in dealings with police officers, public officials and court officials, says Anupama Jha from Transparency International. Up to 95 per cent of all Indians have to line the pockets of public servants to get what they need.

Corruption increases poverty

"Corruption affects people all over the country and different strata of society," says Jha. "But what is really a matter of great concern for all of us is that corruption increases poverty. People living below the poverty line are affected most adversely, because corruption results in deepening poverty."

Transparency International found out that India’s poor paid nearly 200 million dollars in bribes for basic services in the year 2008. Jha says they had to bribe government officials to get access to "education, primary education, hospital, the public distribution system, water, electricity, the national rural employment guarantee scheme and the whole lot of services which ordinarily they should have got for free."

The "Right to Information Act" grants Indian citizens access to government files free of charge. But most people don’t know about their rights, say NGOs – and they have taken the fight against corruption into their own hands.

Paying zero bribes

"5th Pillar" is one of them. Two years ago the organization started to print notes which resemble the common 50 rupees note, but their value is zero. On the front side these "zero rupee notes" read: "I promise to neither accept nor give a bribe." Nearly one million copies have been distributed.

These notes can be used when an official demands a bribe. Vijay Anand, president of the anti-corruption group, remembers the case of a student called Marie, who was riding her scooter in the south Indian town of Pondicherry:

"She was stopped by the traffic policeman, who demanded a bribe of 50 Indian rupees. And this is in spite of Marie having a licence and the documents intact. Marie said, I don’t think I have to pay anything because I have all my documents in place, but I can definitely give you a zero rupee note. And the moment she handed over the zero rupee note, the policeman blushed and let her go."

The zero rupee notes carry an information about 5th Pillar - which is why many officials become insecure when confronted with them, says Vijay Anand: "They learn that the citizens are becoming impatient and unwilling to pay bribes any more and they also learn about the organization and we make sure that we conduct a large public campaign in the media. So when the next time a citizen goes with a zero rupee note, they don’t even rise an eyebrow, they do the job immediately."

More "zero" banknotes needed

5th Pillar activists also conduct information campaigns in schools. But there is still a long way to go. One million zero rupee notes is a very small number considering that India’s population amounts to more than a billion people. And 5th Pillar is running out of money to print more of the valuable zero-value notes.

Author: Ana Lehmann
Editor: Grahame Lucas