Nationwide ZERO BRIBE campaign with ZERO RUPEE NOTE, to fight corruption!

5th Pillar is planning a nationwide Zero rupee note campaign in multiple cities and districts where school and college students along with adult citizens would meet, greet and hand over Zero rupee notes to thousands of government staff across the nation, as a symbolic gesture of inviting them to join the fight against corruption. The United Nations has recognized December 9th as the International Anti-corruption Day, and it is in the preceding week that 5th Pillar coordinators and volunteers are gearing up to roll out a citizens campaign with the distribution of 5,00,000(five lakh) Zero Rupee notes to culminate the effort on Dec. 9th. The campaign is being planned in across 100+ districts of India, divided into an average of 5000 notes per district. Without both, the bribe-taker and the bribe-giver changing their mind, corruption or bribery in particular cannot be reduced significantly.

This campaign is an effort to 1)Empower the helpless bribe-giver to say 'NO' to bribery without fearing a backlash. 2) Enable the honest officials, some of who have in the past, come forward to display the Zero rupee note visibly on their table, or behind their seat, as though to announce that they have zero tolerance to corruption. 3) Instill a sense of shame and fear in the corrupt government employee's mind; fear for disciplinary action that can be initiated through the Vigilance Department if the citizen complains about the demand for a bribe. When more notes are distributed and more government staff display the note, and more service-seeking citizens hand it out during their visits to government offices, it builds an inconvenient pressure among corrupt sections of the government machinery. Over a period of sustained campaigns of the Zero rupee note distribution, we can achieve significant results -- with the number of bribe-givers reducing in large numbers, and the number of bribe-takers also converting themselves helplessly.

To carry out this campaign in the 100+ districts, we need to print 5,00, 000(five lakh) Zero rupee notes at the cost of 60 paise per copy, totaling to Rs.3,00,000(Rupees Three Lakhs Only). To activate the campaign no later than 1st December so as to reach our target numbers before 9th December, we would like to have the 5,00,000 notes printed and ready for distribution, at least by the 20th of November. In order to achieve these deadlines, 5th Pillar needs Rs.3,00,000 before 15th Nov., 2011. Thank you !