Good to see an Indian fight for a cause. But this fight is not new. Hazare has some other outstanding contributions to his credit which should be well known.
Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare, is a pre-eminent Indian social activist who is especially recognised for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 1992.
Anna Hazare started his career as a driver in the Indian Army in 1963. He spent his spare time reading the works of Vivekananda, Gandhi, and Vinoba Bhave; they inspired him to become a social worker and activist. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, he was the only survivor in a border exchange of fire, while driving a truck. During the mid-1970s he survived a road accident while driving.
After voluntary retirement from the army, Hazare came to Ralegan Siddhi village in 1975. Initially, he organised the youth of the village into an organisation named the Tarun Mandal (Youth Association). He also helped to form the Pani Puravatha Mandals (Water Supply Associations) to ensure proper distribution of water.
Other than these he also contributed immensely in the following areas:
- Uprooting alcoholism
- The Watershed Development programme
- Milk production
- Education
- Removal of untouchability
- Collective marriages
- Development of Gram Sabha
- Right to Information movement
On 5 April 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices. The fast led to nation wide protests in support of Hazare. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, the day after all of Hazare's demands were agreed by the government of India and the government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee (of government and civil society representatives) to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.
