Vijay Anand

Vijay Anand (Tamil: விஜய் ஆனந்த்: 1969 - ), is a social reformer and anti-corruption crusader keen on promoting cleanpolitics. He is the co-founder and President of 5th Pillar, a citizens coalition against corruption. He launched "Freedom from Corruption" campaign in 2007, printed and distributed more than 2.5 million copies of the Zero Rupee Note(ZRN), a powerful but non-viloent weapon of non-cooperation against corruption.

Early life

Vijay Anand was born on March 7, 1969 in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. He joined Government College of Technology (GCT) Coimbatore, India for his Bachelor of Engineering. Later, Started an IT consulting firm (Ripple Korp) in United States. He is also founder of Dreams India, a media company headquartered in Chennai, India that produces feature films, short films, documentaries and music videos, with a counterpart operation under the title Dreams Unlimited from Washington DC.

5th Pillar

Vijay Anand co-founded 5th Pillar, an organization to Encourage, Enable and Empower Every Citizen of India to Eliminate Corruption at All Levels of Society.

• Panelist and Speaker at the 14th IACC- International Anti Corruption Conference held at Bangkok, Thailand(09 -13 November „10) hosted by Transparency International in collaboration with UNDP. Spoke on

1. Legal Redress for Victims of Corruption: Enhancing the role of civil society in corruption related litigation and
2. People Count: -Citizen Empowerment, Grass-Roots Action, Corruption Disruption

Delegate from India at 13th IACC held by Transparency International, the UN and allied organizations at Athens, Greece in October „08

• Panelist and Speaker at 11th PopTech conference in Camden, Maine, USA (October ‘10). Addressed a network of visionary thinkers and leaders from around the world, in science, technology, entrepreneurship, and social sectors engaging them in a boundary-defying conversation about the nature of creative change.
• Panelist and Speaker at Council of Europe's Summer University of Democracy, at Strasbourg, France (July „10). Spoke on Crisis of Leadership to 600 students of Political sciences, journalism and international affairs from 47 European countries
• Featured Panelist and Speaker at the Brainstorming India Conference held at Stanford University, California, USA. (May „10)
• Panelist & Speaker at the United Nations' Convention Against Corruption- 3rd Conference of State Parties and Civil Society Organizations held at Doha, Qatar (November „09). Spoke on Media Relations and Good Practices in Anti-corruption Awareness raising campaigns.
• Invited Speaker at three TED conferences (www.ted.com) an international concept that strives to high light “Innovative ideas worth spreading” held at Kakinada(2010), Chennai(2010) and in Hyderabad(2009).
• Launched Freedom from Corruption campaign in 2007, printed and distributed more than a million copies of the Zero Rupee Note (ZRN), a powerful but non-violent weapon of non-cooperation against corruption. The ZRNs have empowered millions of citizens to boldly Say NO to BRIBE to obtain their fundamental rights, certificates and the related work done in government offices.
• Continues to travel to different parts of India addressing students, villagers and different sections of society to prepare them for the War against Corruption. He has addressed more than 1000 meetings covering colleges, schools and NGOs to sensitize students and the public on the evils of corruption. Trained all participants on usage of the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005 & other innovative methods to tackle corruption.
• President of Tamil Sangam of Greater Washington (2007–2008), a non-profit organization that aims to preserve and promote the rich heritage of the Tamil-speaking population of Washington DC, and to foster understanding, friendship, goodwill and appreciation between Tamil-speaking people and various cross-sections of the people of Washington DC. Member of the organization since 1998.
• Rallied for the plight of the Indian H2B Immigrant workers who were een card and citizenship. Facilitated community support, legal assistance and political lobbying for the victims, that led to issuance of T-Visa (For Trafficking Victims) in the latter course of time.
• Co-founder & Chairman of AIMS India Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to bring people together towards rural empowerment and sustainability for the lofty purpose of effecting a positive transformation in India and to achieve a vision of economically self-sufficient, socially harmonious & politically clean country that serves as a beacon of light to the rest of the world. Organized Tsunami camps by enlisting student volunteers from various colleges in Tamil Nadu to participate in the rehabilitation efforts.
• Actively involved in Indian organizations in Washington DC -

1. Joint Secretary of India Cultural Coordination Committee(ICCC),
2. Board of Director of National Federation of Indian-American Association (NFIA)

• Organized and co-hosted several national conventions, multi-city talks of prominent personalities from politics, social and government sector among the Indian community in the US, especially in New York and Washington DC including-

1. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India
2. Mr. P. Chidambaram, former Finance Minister of India
3. Mr. Elango Rangaswamy, Local body Chief & Founder-Panchayat Academy
4. Mr. M. B. Nirmal, an Ashoka fellow and founder of EXNORA,
5. Dr. M.S Udhayamoorthy, founder of MSE(People Power Movement) to garner Indian Diaspora support towards various developmental issues and motivate them towards social activism & social change among the citizens in India.

Personal life

Vijay Anand is the son of two retired professors from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He schooled from Carmel Garden Matriculation Higher Secondary School in 1986, and later on graduated from Government College of Technology(GCT), Coimbatore in Instrumentation & Control Engg. He runs an IT consulting business in Washington DC metro area.

See also

• 5th Pillar- A Citizens Coalition Against Corruption
• Zero Currency- A web portal to encourage a global Zero Currency campaign against corruption.
• Zero Rupee Movement- Zero Rupees. Zero Bribes. Zero Corruption.

External links

• Time Of India news about Vijay Anand (2)