INFORMATION ABOUT ANNA HAZARE Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare (Marathi: ) (born 15 January 1940), popularly known as Anna

nna Hazare (Marathi: ), 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. EARLY LIFE 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. IN THE INDIAN ARMY Anna Hazare 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. IN RALEGAN SIDDHI After voluntary retirement from the army, Hazare came to Ralegan Siddhi village in 1975. Initially, he led a movement to eradicate alcoholism from the village. Next, he motivated the residents of the village into shramdan (voluntary labour) to build canals, small-scale check-dams and percolation tanks in the nearby hills for watershed development; efforts that solved the problem of scarcity of water in the village that also made irrigation possible. He also motivated the residents of the village to build a secondary school in the village through voluntary labour. He helped farmers of more than 70 villages in drought-prone region in the state of Maharashtra since 1975. RIGHT TO INFORMATION MOVEMENT In the early 2000s, Anna Hazare led a movement in Maharastra state, which forced the Government of Maharashtra to repeal the earlier weak act and pass a stronger 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. It also ensured that the President of India assented to this new Act. PROTEST AGAINST CORRUPTION IN MAHARASHTRA STATE GOVERNMENT On 10 September 1998, Anna Hazare was sentenced to simple imprisonment for three months by the Mumbai Metropolitan Court during Shiv Sena-BJP rule in Maharashtra when a defamation suit was filed against him by then Maharashtra Social Welfare minister Babanrao Golap of Shiv Sena on 4 November 1997, for accusing of corruption. He was released following public uproar. [2][6] Hazare was released on bond of Rs 5000. This happened after Hazare forwarded documentary evidence to the then Maharashtra Governor P.C. Alexander about the alleged amassing of wealth by Golap who, as per Hazare, was a cinema black ticket tout before he became a minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government. He alleged corruption to the tune of 6 crore rupees in power loom purchase and the land deals by his wife and lashed out at the saffron alliance by pointing out a similar rags-to-riches story of Shashikant Sutar, another Shiv Sena minister. The sentencing came as huge shock at that time to all social activists. Leaders of all political parties except the BJP and the Shiv Sena, in particular V. N. Gadgil, spokesperson of the Congress party and former Member of Parliament (MP) from Pune - came in support of him

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).[10] 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 [11] Before commencing his 'fast unto death' he stated, "I will fast until Jan Lokpal Bill is passed".[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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 anticorruption 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,[15] many celebrities showed their public support through micro-blogging site Twitter.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] There have also been protests in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad among other cities of India. BACKGROUND OF THE MOVEMENT The movement started due to the resentment because of the serious differences between the draft Lokpal Bill 2010 prepared by the government and the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the members of this movement,[19] which has received significant public support: Differences between Draft Lokpal Bill 2010 and Jan Lokpal Bill Draft Lokpal Bill 2010 Jan Lokpal Bill Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by LS Speaker or RS Chairman. Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body. Its part is only limited to forwarding its report to the "Competent Authority" Lokpal will be much more than an Advisory Body. It should be granted powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty. Lokpal will not have any police powers. It can not register FIRs or proceed with criminal investigations. Lokpal will have police powers. To say that it will be able to register FIRs. CBI and Lokpal will have no connection with each other. Lokpal and anti corruption wing of CBI will be one Independent body. Punishment for corruption will be minimum 6 months and maximum up-to 7 years. The punishment should be minimum 7 years and maximum up-to life imprisonment. Lokpal will not be a monopoly for particular area.

AWARDS AND HONOURS 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."[20] 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.