Anna Hazare

Enthralled by the great sage's life and by his dictum that the noblest thing a man can do is work for the good of others, Hazare avidly began reading religious texts and biographies of social reformers. And after his escape from the Sabre jets at Khemkaran, Hazare became a vegetarian, gave up cigarettes and liquor, and vowed to remain a bachelor devoting himself to public service.

Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare (Marathi: किसन बापट बाबुराव हजारे) (born 15 January 1940), popularly known as Anna Hazare (Marathi: अण्णा हजारे), is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized 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 Government of India, in 1992.

On April 5 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.

Anna Hazare was born in Bhingar village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state in western India to Baburao Hazare and Laxmi Bai, an unskilled labourer family who owned five acres of land. He has two sisters. Due to adverse conditions in 1952 they had to move to their family home in Ralegan Siddhi. He was raised by his childless aunt in Mumbai but could not continue beyond VII standard and had to quit midway due to problems

He started his career as a driver in the Indian Army. He spent his spare time reading the books of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave that 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 was again involved in a road accident while driving.

After voluntary retirement from the army, Hazare came to Ralegan Siddhi village in 1975. Initially, he organized the youth of the village into an organization named the Tarun Mandal (Youth Association). He also helped forming the Pani Puravatha Mandals (Water Supply Associations) to ensure proper distribution of water.

Uprooting Alcoholism
As the next step towards social and economical change, Anna Hazare and the youth group decided to take up the issue of Alcoholism. It was very clear that there could be no progress and happiness in the village unless the curse of alcoholism was completely removed from their lives. At a meeting conducted in the temple, the villagers resolved to close down the liquor dens and ban the drinking of alcohol in the village. Since these resolutions were made in the temple, they became in a sense religious commitments. Over thirty liquor brewing units were closed by their owners voluntarily. Those who did not succumb to social pressure were forced to close down their businesses, when the youth group smashed up their liquor dens. The owners could not complain as their business was illegal.

Through the closure of liquor brewing reduced the alcoholism in Ralegan Siddhi, some villagers continued to drink. They obtained their liquor from neighboring villages. The villagers decided that those men would be given three warnings, after which they would be physically punished. Twelve men who were found in a drunken state even after initial warnings were tied to a pole with help of youth group and flogged. Anna Hazare says, “Doesn’t a mother administer bitter medicines to a sick child when she knows that the medicine can cure her child? The child may not like the medicine, but the mother does it only because she cares for child. The alcoholics were punished so that their families would not be destroyed.”

It is now twenty five years since such measure were used to cure the village of alcoholism. Along with the removal of alcohol from the village, it was decided to ban sale of tobacco, cigarettes and beedies. In order to implement this resolution, the youth group performed a unique "Holi" twenty two years ago. The festival of Holi is celebrated as symbolic burning of evil. The youth group brought all the tobacco, cigarettes and beedies from the shops in the village and burnt them in ‘Holi’ fire. From that day, no tobacco, cigarettes, beedies are sold in any shop at Ralegan Siddhi.

Lokpal Bill Movement
In 2011, Anna Hazare initiated a movement for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament. As a part of this movement, N. Santosh Hegde, a former justice of the Supreme Court of India and Lokayukta of Karnataka, Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court along with the members of the India Against Corruption movement drafted an alternate bill, named as the Jan Lokpal Bill (People's Ombudsman Bill) with more stringent provisions and wider power to the Lokpal (Ombudsman). Hazare has started a fast unto death from 5 April 2011 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, to press for the demand to form a joint committee of the representatives of the Government and the civil society to draft a new bill with stronger penal actions and more independence to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Ombudsmen in the states), after his demand was rejected by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh Before commencing his 'fast unto death' he stated, "I will fast until Jan Lokpal Bill is passed".

The movement attracted attention very quickly through various media. It has been reported that thousands of people joined to support Hazare's effort. Almost 150 people are reported to join Hazare in his fast. He said that he would not allow any politician to sit with him in this movement. Politicians like Uma Bharti and Om Prakash Chautala were shooed away by protesters when they came to visit the site where the protest was taking place. A number of social activists including Medha Patkar, Arvind Kejriwal and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Jayaprakash Narayan of the Lok Satta have lent their support to Hazare's hunger strike and anti-corruption campaign. This movement has also been joined by many people providing their support in Internet social media such as twitter and facebook. In addition to spiritual leaders Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Swami Agnivesh and former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev, many celebrities showed their public support through micro-blogging site Twitter. As an outcome of this movement, on 6 April, 2011 Sharad Pawar resigned from the group of ministers formed for reviewing the draft Lokpal bill 2010.Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi also supported support the anti corruption icon Anna Hazare and has urged cricket fans to carry flags and placards to IPL matches to express support to fasting Gandhian Anna Hazare and Jan Lokpal Bill; this was confirmed through micro-blogging site twitter.

The movement gathered quite a significant amount of support from India's youth visible through the local support and on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. There have also been protests in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad among other cities of India.

Awards Received by Anna Hazare
* 2008 - On April 15 2008, Anna Hazare received the World Bank's 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service: "Hazare created a thriving model village in Ralegan Siddhi, in the impoverished Ahmednagar region of Maharashtra state, and championed the right to information and the fight against corruption."
* 1992 - Padmabhushan award, by the Government of India
* 1990 - Padmashri award, by the Government of India
* 1986 - Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award by the Government of India on November 19, 1986 from the hands of Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.
* 1989 - Krishi Bhushana award by the Government of Maharashtra.

Felicitations: He was felicitated by the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation on 15 January 1987 and by the Pune Municipal Corporation also.