Who is Anna Hazare ?........A personal Experience

Who is Anna Hazare?
1. Who is Anna Hazare? 

An ex-army man. Fought 1965 Indo-Pak War

2. What’s so special about him?  He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahamad Nagar district, Maharashtra

3. So what? This village is a self-sustained model village. Energy is produced in …the village itself from solar power, biofuel and wind mills. In 1975, it used to be a poverty clad village. Now it is one of the richest village in India. It has become a model for self-sustained, eco-friendly & harmonic village.

4. Ok,…? This guy, Anna Hazare was awarded Padma Bhushan and is a known figure for his social activities.

5. Really, what is he fighting for? He is supporting a cause, the amendment of a law to curb corruption in India.

6. How that can be possible? He is advocating for a Bill, The Jan Lokpal Bill (The Citizen Ombudsman Bill), that will form an autonomous authority who will make politicians (ministers), beurocrats (IAS/IPS) accountable for their deeds.

7. It’s an entirely new thing right..? In 1972, the bill was proposed by then Law minister Mr. Shanti Bhushan. Since then it has been neglected by the politicians and some are trying to change the bill to suit thier theft (corruption).

8. Oh.. He is going on a hunger strike for that whole thing of passing a Bill ! How can that be possible in such a short span of time? The first thing he is asking for is: the government should come forward and announce that the bill is going to be passed. Next, they make a joint committee to DRAFT the JAN LOKPAL BILL. 50% goverment participation and 50% public participation. Because you cant trust the government entirely for making such a bill which does not suit them.

9. Fine, What will happen when this bill is passed? A LokPal will be appointed at the centre. He will have an autonomous charge, say like the Election Commission of India. In each and every state, Lokayukta will be appointed. The job is to bring all alleged party to trial in case of corruptions within 1 year. Within 2 years, the guilty will be punished. Not like, Bofors scam or Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, that has been going for last 25 years without any result.

10. Is he alone? Who else is there in the fight with Anna Hazare? Baba Ramdev, Ex. IPS Kiran Bedi, Social Activist Swami Agnivesh, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and many more. Prominent personalities like Aamir Khan is supporting his cause.

11. Ok, got it. What can I do? At least we can spread the message. How? Putting status message, links, video, changing profile pics. At least we can support Anna Hazare and the cause for uprooting corruption from India. At least we can hope that his Hunger Strike does not go in vain. At least we can pray for his good health. Thanks for reading.

This is a post that was sent to me by one of my army friends....It is a first person account from Air Marshall Raghu Rajan  who met him in his own village years back, and came back impressed. 


It reads  as.....

I met Anna Hazare,in1998,during a visit as an Air Cmde from DSSC,alongwith my friends,Ravi Burli and Kalaichelvan.We were then in Ahmednagar at the Armd Corps Centre and school.Having arranged a vehicle to take us to Ralegaon Siddhi,we drove along the Nagar-Pune road,till a friendly ex-army sub directed us.As we entered RS,the road was lined with trees on either side!


The road then took a dip and we entered a verdant village,full of greenery .


We met Anna rebuilding the temple with other villagers.My idea was to find out how a Naik ASC driver,could have transformed a village,steeped in the making of hooch,to this green village,and had been awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.


When Anna arrived in his village,everything was in his  words,imported.The villagers were busy collecting wood to burn and heat the still,and when they started removing th temple wooden beams,it was the last straw!He had Rs20,000/ as his commuted pension,and he used this to buy bricks to replace the beams ans make the walls stronger.The villagers were ashamed at this,and joined hands.He identified water availability as the crux,and with the advice of the Irrigation dept,he made a series of check dams,using chain-link pieces and stones,to hold the small runoffs,till the base,where he built a concrete dam to hold the water during the rains.

His efforts were so successful,that in one year,the water table rose by 12 ft,and water from then on was available to the village on a perennial basis.He then convinced the villagers to adopt-Nasha Bandhi,Nas Bandhi,Chara Bandhi(they were to cut the grass and feed it to the cattle,instead of letting them roam at will and denude the hillsides of precious grass),100% literacy,no caste discrimination and care for the girl child!Water made Ralegaon Siddhi self sufficient in grain,fruits(they started selling Mangoes, Chikoos, Bananas,Papayas etc),and in his words,the GDP of each villager to Rs 3000/.

They built a double storey building for their residential school,were no student would be failed-a revolutionary idea!
When an SC person was facing financial difficulties,he mustered funds,got the person out of trouble,and even collected funds to arrange for his daughter's marriage!


When I asked why I did not see a domino effect,he put it to leadership.He told me that he did not marry,as it would have diverted his attention from bringing up the village-it took 20 years of hard toiling effort.He did not accept any financial help from my side,as he said that it would lower him in his eyes-he had refused to accept 1000$ from a German TV unit for that same reason.


When we left,I saluted him,as I felt deeply humbled in the presence of a man who had achieved so much, in his life
That is Anna Hazare.........................................................