Anna Hazare - Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare
He joins Indian army in 1963 when after Indo-China War of 1962 the Government of India had appealed to young Indians to join the Indian army. He was in army for 15 years. He was in army when Pakistan attacked India in 1965. On 12 november 1962 during the war one bullet was passed by his head.
Anna Hazare was very much influencef by the gentle thoughts of Swami Vivekananda. He makes his mind to take voluntary retirement from Army & serve the society.
After retirement he moved to his native place Ralegan Siddhi. There were water crises at Ralegan Siddhi. Hazare started a novel project of water management through watershed development in Ralegan Siddhi. This resulted in increase in the ground water level. After that, Hazare along with his team worked out the cropping pattern suitable to the quality of soil and the water volume available for farming. This was his first social revolution. Hazare’s Ralegan Siddhi became the first role model of an ideal village and has become a tourist spot for many visitors across the nation, since it shows the metamorphoses from the worst village to an ideal village. Visitors include politicians, researchers, social workers and students. Four postgraduate students have completed Ph. D. thesis on Ralegan Siddhi.
After this success Anna started a new venture in 1991 called Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA) or public movement against corruption. In concern with this Hazare returned the Padmashree Award to the President of India and also returned the Vriksha Mitra Award given by then prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Also he started indefinite hunger strike in Alandi. These steps awaken the govt & govt takes hard steps towards culprits.
Anna was not much satisfied with this judgment. He needs a concrete & permanent step against corruption. So he demanded for Right to Information Act.
Govt was not agreeing for it. So Hazare first agitated in the historical Azad Maidan in Mumbai in the year 1997. In the early 2000, Anna Hazare led a movement in Maharastra state, which forced the Government of Maharashtra to repeal the earlier weak act and pass a stronger act Maharashtra Right to Information Act, which was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government.
To create mass public awareness about RTI amongst the youth, Hazare traveled extensively throughout the state. Finally, again he went on an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan in the last week of July 2003. At last, the President of India signed the draft of the Right to Information Act after his 12-day-long hunger strike and ordered the state government to implement it with effect from 2002. The same draft was considered as the base document for the making of the National Right to Information Act-2005. After the implementation of the RTI Act-2005.
In 2011, Anna Hazare initiated a movement for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament. On April 5 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, 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 whole country was in support of the Anna. Govt recognized the importance of this movement and finally he agreed to make a committee to make the bill.
