Do you know that now India has a ‘Zero Rupees Note’ and it has been made for the corrupt officials who ask for the bribe? Martin Luther King once very famously said, “The silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people”. Here is the story of Vijay Anand, the founder of Five Pillars who came up with this idea to eliminate the corruption from the society.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”] The 5th Pillar is a NGO founded by Vijay Anand to help in eradicating of corruption from the society and day-to-day lives. The NGO with a sole purpose of fighting with the corruption in the country is exiting since 2006. The idea of forming Five Pillars was to http://www.5thpillar.org/ beyond the four pillars (legislature, executive, judiciary and press) of the society and working towards the forming of a better society and corruption free governance system in India.
According to the sources, in 2007, Vijay returned to his home in Tamil Nadu with a rather brilliant plan to fight a corrupt society – The Zero Rupee Note. This Zero rupees notes were printed to empower the common man, who suffers the most in this corrupt atmosphere and always suppressed by the corrupt officials. “The idea of the note was to tell people that they no longer needed to be afraid of those in power, and to make them realize that they had nothing to lose and that for the first time, they were not alone in the fight,” said the source.
The 5th Pillar, with the help of volunteers, started distributing the Zero Rupee notes at local market places, bus depots and railway stations to raise awareness about the campaign and reminding common folk of their rights as citizens of the country. They set up information desks at various places distributing the notes along with pamphlets.
Here is the story narrated by the founder of the Fifth Pillars, “On 22 April 2011, I took an auto to Chennai Domestic Airport to board a flight at 10:40 AM. The auto I was traveling on was stopped at the entrance of the Airport and I was asked to walk with my luggage all the way to the domestic airport. It was a long walk from the entrance and as I had my luggage, I asked the policeman the reason for him to stop all the vehicles at the entrance. I got a very “standoffish” reply from him saying that he is not the person to be questioned and he is simply following the instructions given to him by the Airport manager. I got out from the auto and handed over a Zero Rupee Note to him explaining that he can use it when someone asks him for a bribe when he needs to get an electricity or water connection for his residence.
He looked intrigued by the note and I went on to tell him that when he hands this Zero Rupee Note to any authority he would get his services without having to pay the bribe and if there is some resistance or unwarranted delay he can contact the address indicated at the back of the Zero Rupee Note and action would be taken right away. I told him that we have chapters in all the districts of Tamil Nadu and also in major cities in India, and we would inform the vigilance department if we receive the complaint from the public and follow up on the action.
The policeman said that the auto can go inside and drop the passenger in the Domestic Airport entrance. This is a victory for the Zero Rupee Note and I feel happy to know that we are able to get our rights without having to indulge in confrontation and by just handing over Zero Rupee Note and creating awareness that we have an organization to back up against corruption and bribery.”
The 5th Pillar plans to keep expanding, to make sure that the Zero Rupee note reaches every oppressed Indian and corrupt official in the country. Over 3 million of these notes have been distributed across the country. It’s the perfect non-violent weapon of non-cooperation, the perfect way to make the corrupt self-introspect. Empowering the voiceless and the powerless of the country. [/su_expand]
HERE IS THE VIDEO OF VIJAY ANAND
[su_expand more_text=”SHOW MORE” less_text=”SHOW LESS ” height=”0″ link_style=”button” link_align=”center” more_icon=”icon: arrow-down” less_icon=”icon: arrow-up”] [su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/57016873″]
[/su_expand]
