Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare (born June 15, 1938?, Bhingar, near Ahmadnagar, India) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official corruption. In addition to organizing and encouraging grassroots movements, Hazare frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes—a tactic reminiscent, to many, of the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Hazare was born to a farming family and grew up in the village of Ralegan Siddhi, near Ahmadnagar in what is now west-central Maharashtra state. He joined the army in 1963, becoming a driver. While stationed on the border with Pakistan in 1965 during the Indo-Pakistani War, he narrowly survived an attack by Pakistani forces that killed many other soldiers in his unit. Several years prior to that incident, Hazare had discovered the writings of the Hindu leader Vivekananda, under whose spiritual philosophy he began contemplating the meaning of life. He eventually determined to use his post-military life to improve the common welfare. He remained in the army until 1978, when he became eligible for retirement with a pension that would enable him to pursue his activism.

After his military service Hazare began a rural development project in Ralegan Siddhi, which suffered from poverty, drought, unemployment, and crime. Working with the villagers, Hazare started a water conservation program that included land forestation and building weirs, which greatly improved the water supply. The initiative continued with agricultural reforms to improve crop yields and increase available farmland. Eventually, full employment was restored, and the village was able to become self-sufficient in the production of grains. With their greater economic security, residents undertook a number of further improvements, donating their labour to erect a school, a temple, and other buildings. In addition, they established a number of social welfare projects and cooperatives. The transformation in Ralegan Siddhi came to the notice of state officials, who used the program as a model for similar efforts in dozens of villages across Maharashtra.

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In 1991 Hazare turned his attention to the ongoing problem of government corruption in Maharashtra as well as at the federal level, particularly because of the hindrance it posed to rural development. He established the People’s Movement Against Corruption, which found evidence that a large number of forestry officials had been bilking the state government. The government, however, proved reluctant to punish those involved. In protest, Hazare began a hunger strike that, together with other forms of activism, spurred the government eventually to remove hundreds of corrupt functionaries from their positions.

His experience battling bureaucracy encouraged Hazare to begin campaigning in Maharashtra in 1997 for a “right to information” law. Such a law—long promised and even drafted by the government but never enacted—would provide citizens with the ability to petition public authorities for information about the workings of their government and would establish the government’s legal responsibility to give a timely response. Hazare and others made efforts for years to raise public awareness on the issue, but without tangible results. Thus, in July 2003 he again began a public “fast unto death” to increase the pressure on authorities. Twelve days later the draft legislation was enacted. The Maharashtra law served as the model for the national Right to Information Act that was passed by parliament in 2005.

Hazare continued to push for greater government accountability. In 2010 the government drafted a version of a national law, long called for by activists, that would establish a national citizen’s ombudsman to investigate corruption. Hazare and his associates, however, believed that the legislation, called the Jan Lokpal Bill (or Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill), did not give the ombudsman enough powers to make it effective. Activists wanted the ombudsman to be able to investigate corruption at all levels. In April 2011 Hazare began another hunger strike to further these demands, and after several days the government agreed to consult with anticorruption activists on the law. The bill that was presented to parliament in early August, however, left out several key demands, including the stipulation that the watchdog organization be empowered to investigate and prosecute cases involving the prime minister, senior members of the judiciary, and members of parliament. Instead, the latter offices were exempted, and the ombudsman’s office was empowered only to make recommendations. To protest the perceived weakness of the draft legislation, Hazare announced on August 16 that he would begin another public hunger strike of indefinite length; shortly afterward he was arrested and jailed to prevent him from fasting more than three days without a permit. After negotiating with the police, an agreement was reached that allowed Hazare to fast for up to 15 days as part of a public protest in a park in Delhi. In the end, Hazare’s fast lasted 13 days. He halted it after the parliament passed a resolution agreeing in principle to several key demands, including that the Lokpal be allowed to investigate top officials and that an anticorruption unit be established in every Indian state.