Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
Hazare was born on 15 June 1937. Hazare started his career in the Indian Army as a driver in 1963. He took voluntary retirement from the army in 1978 and went to his native village. In 1980, the Grain Bank was started by him at the temple in his village and later milk production was promoted. It was Anna Harare’s moral leadership that motivated and inspired the people of his village to shun un-touchability and discrimination against the Dalits. Hazare campaigned between 1998 and 2006 for amending the Gram Sabha Act, so that the villagers have a say in the development works in their village. In 1991 Hazare launched the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA) - the People's Movement against Corruption. In May 1997 Hazare protested against alleged malpractices in the purchase of power looms by the Maharashtra Government and was imprisoned in the Yerawada Jail to serve a three-month sentence from September 1998. The sentencing came as a huge shock at that time to all social activists. Leaders of all political parties except the BJP and the Shiva Sena came in support of him.
In 2003 corruption charges were raised by Hazare against four NCP ministers of the Maharashtra Congress-NCP coalition government. He started his fast unto death on 9 August 2003 and ended on 17 August 2003 after Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde formed a one-man commission headed by Justice PB Savant to probe his charges. Three trusts headed by Anna Hazare were also indicted in the P. B. Savant commission report. Rs 220,000 spent by the Hind Swaraj Trust for Anna Harare’s birthday celebrations was concluded by the commission as illegal and amounting to a corrupt practice.
In the early 2000s Hazare led a movement in Maharashtra state which forced the state government to pass a stronger Maharashtra Right to Information Act. This Act was later considered as the base document for the RTI Act 2005. On 20 July 2006 the Union Cabinet amended the Right to Information Act 2005 to exclude the file noting by the government officials from its purview. Hazare began his fast unto death on 9 August 2006 against the proposed amendment. He ended his fast on 19 August 2006, after the government agreed to change its earlier decision.
Anna fought hard for a law whereby a government servant must clear a file within a specified time and that transfers must take place only after three years. After many years of relentless efforts of Anna, finally on 25 May 2006 state government of Maharashtra issued a notification announcing that the execution of the special act, The Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act 2006, aimed at curbing the delay by its officers and employees in discharging their duties. This act provides for disciplinary action against officials who move files slowly and enables monitoring officials who stay too long in a post, or in a department, and for involvement in a corrupt nexus.
In 2007, Anna Hazare opposed the Maharashtra Government’s policy to promote making liquor from food grains in Maharashtra. Hazare was on fast for five days at Shirdi in March 2010 and ended only after government promised to review the policy. Among the beneficiaries of that policy were BJP leader Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Palwe and her husband Charudatta Palwe. Anna filed a PIL against the Government. Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court refused to hear a Public Interest Litigation.
In 2011, Hazare initiated a Satyagraha movement for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal bill in the Parliament. Hazare began his fast unto death on 5 April 2011 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 stronger anti-corruption bill. On 8 April 2011 the Government of India accepted all demands of the movement. On 9 April 2011 Gazette notification was issued on formation of a joint committee. On 9 April 2011 Hazare ended his hunger strike and set a deadline of 15 August 2011 to pass the Lokpal Bill in the Parliament and if not will call for a mass nation-wide agitation.
During the meeting of the joint drafting committee on 30 May 2011, the Union government members opposed the inclusion of the prime minister, higher judiciary and the acts of the Parliament Members under the purview of the Lokpal in the draft bill. Anna Hazare and other civil society members decided to boycott the meeting of the joint Lokpal Bill drafting committee scheduled on 6 June 2011 and sent a letter to the chairman of the committee, explaining reasons for their absence at the meeting and also asked government to make its stand public on the contentious issues related to the proposed draft legislation. They also decided that the future meetings will be attended only if they were telecast live. Anna Hazare threatened to go on indefinite fast from 16 August 2011 if the Lokpal Bill is not passed by then.
On 28 July 2011 the Union Cabinet approved a draft of the Lokpal Bill, which keeps the Prime Minister and Judiciary from the ambit of the proposed Lokpal. Hazare rejected the government version by describing it as “cruel joke’’. On 16 August 2011, Hazare was arrested four hours before the planned indefinite hunger strike and was sent to Tihar Jail. Government agreed to release Hazare from jail and allow him to begin a public hunger strike of fifteen days. On 20 August 2011 Hazare left the Tihar Jail for the Ramlila Grounds and began his fast there.
(Source: Google Search Engine)
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