Today, there is no person ignorant of ANNA HAZARE, a very prominent social activist who is currently fighting against corruption in India. Anna’s Non-Violent strategy commands great leadership among his supporters who are now curious to know how a second Gandhiji emerged to be.
NAME: Kisan Baburao Hazare , popularly known as Anna hazare.
DATE OF BIRTH: 15TH June, 1937.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Bhingar in Bombay province in British India. (presently Maharashtra)
AGE: 73 YEARS
ANNA’S CAREER
He joined the military in 1962, at the age of 25. It was a time when large scale recruitment was being undertaken for the army, in South Asia . After a year’s training, he worked as a military driver in the Indian army, in 1963. During these 15 years, Anna was lived a meaning and purposeful life .
HOW & WHEN WAS HE INSPIRED?
During a war against Pakistan, Anna narrowly escaped death in air strikes and also survived a road accident. Tthese incidents made Anna take an oath to serve humanity.At that time Anna was 38 years.
ANNA’S ROLE MODELS.
In a busy New Delhi railway station , Anna accidentally came across a book “Call to Youth for Nation Building” written by Swami Vivekananda. After reading the book Anna realized that serving people is equivalent to serving God and started spending time with the poor and listening to their problems and pains. He started to read many books about Gandhiji and Vinobha Bhave who were also their inspired to believe “the dream of India as a strong nation will not be realized without self reliant and self sufficient villages and this can be achieved only through social commitment and participation of the comman man” which is also the evident strategy taken up by Anna to fight corruption. Anna voluntarily retired at the age of 38 and returned to his village. He made revolutionary developments in his native village, RALEGAN SIDDHI. He transformed the drought-prone and impoverished village into a prosperous and model one, by encouraging sustainable farming, self dependent power generation and rural life, as envisioned by Gandhiji.
ANNA AS A SOCIAL ACTIVIST
Anna initiated and lead the following movements/activities as a social activist :-
- Prohibition on alcohol and tobacco in his home village(even now no form of tobacco and alcohol is sold there)
- Grain bank(to help people at the time of drought or loss)
- Watershed development program (to solve the problem of water scarcity and to provide water for irrigation)
- Milk production (undertaken as secondary occupation in his home village)
- Eradication of untouchability in his home village
- Collective marriages(undertaken to reduce the cost of marriages incurred if it is performed individually )
- Established a gram sabha in his village (raised voice against government that the villagers should be given a chance to talk in the developmental works taken up in their village by the government)
- Right to information movement (Anna believed that “all corruption can be ended only if there is freedom of information”. He took up a fast unto death to force the government to pass the Right to Information Act of Maharashtra State which later formed the basis for drafting the union act)
- Campaign against liquor from food grains (fought against government of Maharashtra asking it to stop encouraging production of liquor as it is against article 47 of Indian constitution which bans consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs in the country)
- Lokpal bill
- Anti corruption movement
PERSONAL LIFE
Anna Hazare leads a life of celebacy. He did not visit his home for the last few decades even though it is in the same village. Anna leads a life of utter simplicity. His source of income is only the pension he receives from the Indian Army. Anna Hazare lives in a single room in a temple in his village. The only assets which he owns are a plate to eat and a bed to sleep in.
HONORS THAT CAME HIS WAY
Anna Hazare was awarded the country’s third highest civilian award “Padma Bhushan” and country’s fourth highest civilian award “Padma Shri” in 1992 & 1990 respectively and there are many awards & honors given to him by the Maharashtra State and other societies and foundations.
Friends, let us all pray and support Anna Hazare to achieving the dream of every Indian, A corrupt-free Nation. And wish that his next mission of bringing back black money also succeed and make India no.1 in the world and remove the burden of paying heavy fro the shoulders of the comman man.
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