Kathmandu, December 26
We have notes of one rupee to one thousand rupees in circulation. In neighboring India, notes of one to two thousand rupees are in circulation. But at one time zero-rupee note was also printed in India. After all, why was there no valueless rupee note printed?
The picture of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation of India, was also printed on the note.
The zero note was just like any other common denomination note. But the difference was that the note was not printed by the Reserve Bank of India. The note was printed as an anti- corruption campaign.
The concept of printing zero-rupee notes was developed by a South Indian NGO. The note was launched in 2007 as a weapon against corruption. The NGO, based in Tamil Nadu, had printed about 500,000 zero-denomination notes. The note was printed in four languages including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and distributed to the people.
There were various messages written in the notes such as “Let’s end corruption against corruption, if anyone asks for a bribe, give these notes and tell us about the incident”. The note also contained a picture of Mahatma Gandhi and the email address of the NGO printing the note. The campaigners of the NGO also used to give zero weight notes to the employees asking for bribe. Due to which the zero rupee note became a symbol against corruption.
By Karuna Thapa
