5th Pillar's zero-rupee note (in Tamil, front and back:), intended as a means of protest for those too poor to pay a bribes: they're supposed to hand this over rather than actual currency.


This seems ill-conceived all around: a private protest likely to transform impersonal corruption into personal persecution (where shouting, say, at least can attract attention); an expensive surrogate for one of the few things the poor have (speech); a general approach to a problem that is everywhere specific; and so on. And, of course, who are these people too poor to pay a bribe but not too poor to print a jpeg from the web? Third parties might intervene by printing and distributing them to the poor — central banks for anticorruption. But who knows?
Also available in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayam.
( World Bank | Felix Salmon )p









