Very rarely do we get people who believe in changing the system and give their entire lives to the cause, without any desire for power. If one has to name one such crusader today, it has to be Anna Hazare. A well known social activist, Anna has led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in his public life. A true Gandhian, Anna is a name that symbolises self-less service, utmost dedication to social cause and unshakable principles. He is our inspiration for the month.
Early Life
Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as “Anna” an adopted name, was born in 1937 in Bhingar, near Ahmednagar to a very poor family. Anna's father was an unskilled labour and with a big family of 2 daughters and 5 sons, was forced to move to Ralegan Siddhi, where they owned a small amount of agricultural land.
Since the village had no primary school, Anna moved to Mumbai with a relative, who took the burden of his education. Anna had to leave school after 7th grade as the relative became financially incapable of supporting his education. Anna started selling flowers at the Dadar railway station in Mumbai and gradually managed to own two flower shops in the city. He also became involved in vigilantism, joining groups who acted to prevent landlords' thugs from intimidating the poor out of their shelter. He later joined the Indian Army in April 1960 and served in the army for 15 years till 1975, initially as a truck driver and later as a soldier. During his service, Anna had two incidents which firmed his belief of his purpose.
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Anna was the sole survivor of an enemy attack while driving the truck. Anna had another escape in Nagaland when one night, underground Naga rebels attacked his post and killed all the inmates. He had a miraculous escape as he had gone out to return nature's call and hence turned out to be the lone survivor. These incidents made him think and he felt that God had kept him alive for a reason and thus he decided to dedicate his new life to people.
Work at Ralegan Siddhi:
After being honourably discharged from Military in 1975, Anna returned to his village, Ralegan Siddhi only to find it plagued by poverty, deprivation, alcoholism, crime, neglect and hopelessness. With little wealth, thanks to his gratuity, Anna set about using it to restore a run-down, vandalised village temple as a focal point for the community. Some youth also became involved in the work and he organised the group into a Tarun Mandal (Youth Association).
Anna decided to take up the core issue of alcoholism, which led to all forms of social evils in the village. A temple commitment was made to ban alcohol and close all liquor dens. This sort of the movement led ultimately to Ragegan Siddhi to become alcohol free. Next was the turn of tobacco which also led to success with no tobacco, cigarettes or beedies being sold in the village.
Anna continued with his transformatory work at the village in every aspect of life. One of his important works was to increase literacy rates and education levels in the village which he did with by a pre-school and a high school. In 1980, Hazare started the Grain Bank at the temple, with the objective of providing food security to needy farmers during times of drought or crop failure. Hazare's moral leadership motivated and inspired the villagers to shun untouchability and caste discrimination. He also worked actively construct a watershed embankments and associated works to increase the ground water levels. These efforts solved the problem of water scarcity in the village by increasing irrigated land from 70 acres to over 2,500 acres.
In many ways, Ralegan Siddhi was truly transformed and became a role model of a village across India.
Activism:
Anna's social work was now widely recognised and he soon had many followers. Anna began to took up social causes at a bigger level and started to put pressure on the government to make the necessary changes through his movements.
These include efforts to amend the Gram Sabha Act, so that villagers give a sanction in the expenditures for the village's development. Anna's was also instrumental in forcing the Maharashtra government to enact a revised Maharashtra RTI Act. This Act was later considered as the base document for the very important Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government. Anna was also a keen influencer to the government of Maharashtra to pass a law whereby prohibition would come into force in a village if 25% of the women in the village demanded it.
Anna Hazare gained nation wide popularity among with his active involvement in campaign for Lokpall Bill in 2011. His satyagraha movement was for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal bill in the Indian parliament.
A lot of action – protests, marches, arrests, hunger strike, back and forth by government happened in the pursuing months. The movement gained nation-wide following and attracted huge attention in the media, thousands of supporters and other social activists. The Lokpall Bill was eventually passed but the fight is still on on this front by Anna for stronger provisions and effective implementation. The movement also had a big impact on the political scene of the country.
Awards and Recognition
Anna Hazare has already left an undeniable mark on the minds of the citizens of the country. He is the activist who led movements to promote rural development, social justice, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life. His work on Watershed development movement, Anti-Corruption Movement and RTI have really impacted even us more than we know.
Over the years, Anna has received many prestigious national and international awards. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 1992. He has also received awards like CARE International Award by CARE (1998) and Integrity Award by Transparency International (2003) and Jit Gill Memorial Award by World Bank (2008). Two movies have been made on him – the Marathi film 'Mala Anna Vhaychay' (I want to become Anna) and 'Anna', a 2016 Hindi film.
Even today, Anna continues his grassroots movements, the crusade to build a more transparent, corruption free and strong India. Over the years he has been faced with many threats, government pressures, offers for political positions, monetary rewards, etc. He has not been above controversy, however, he has stood his path, rejecting everything except his own principles. Like a true Gandhian, he has been an inspiration on virtues of self-less service, being fearless, dedication to social cause and belief in truth and in self.
