Every person has Indian currency i.e. notes. Using notes ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 2,000. But, do you know that once a note of 0 rupees (Zero Rupee Notes) was also printed in the country.
A note of zero rupees which had no value. Not only this, this note was not only printed but also distributed among the people. Why there was a need to print a zero value note and when and who printed it?
In fact, in the year 2007, 5th Pillar, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Chennai had printed a note of zero rupees. No guarantee was given on this note by the government or the Reserve Bank, nor was it put into circulation.
Despite this, by distributing the notes to thousands of people, the NGO had given a special message to the public. This note was printed in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu.
Corruption was rampant in the government offices of the country. Wherever there was any work, it could not be done without an offering. Due to which the condition of the general public was miserable. In such a situation, zero rupee notes were printed with the aim of rooting out corruption.
5 Pillar printed zero rupee note. After this, wherever a bribe was demanded, this zero rupee note was handed over. The appearance of the zero rupee note was exactly like that of 50 rupees. On this, an oath was written at the bottom, ‘I will never take or give bribe.’
The NGO first printed 25 thousand such notes and distributed them in Chennai. Later this campaign was run till 2014 and during this period the NGO distributed about 25 lakh notes with zero rupees across the country. Its purpose was that the public should use this money when asking for bribe.
