Anna Hazare always draws the attention of the people in the nation through his protests and movements for poor people. Hazare has raised his voice for many causes like village development, agrarian problems, farmers’ debt, etc.
Recently, he grabbed the headlines again by sitting on an indefinite hunger strike starting March 23, 2018, to exert pressure on the government which has not been able to implement the Lokpal to investigate cases of corruption. The other motive of this strike was to ensure better production costs for farm produce.
The Jan Lokpal Bill (or the Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill), as suggested by Hazare, intended to appoint an independent body to investigate corruption cases. This bill was one of the most widely-discussed and debated topics in India. He has tried every possible way to put pressure on the government for setting up the Lokpal at the Centre and the Lokayuktas in the states. Not only this, he has also demanded the proper implementation of Swaminathan Commission Report.
In 2011, Hazare’s struggle finally led to the passage of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. But even after this agitation, all the hard work has seemingly gone in vain as the act has not been properly implemented.
This time, after sitting on a dharna at Rajghat, he marched to Shaheedi Park – and from there, he and his supporters went to Ram Lila Maidan. Hazare ended his fast on the sixth day, after talking with Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Gajendra Singh. He further added that if all our demands were not taken into consideration, then he would start his strike again.
A version of this post was first published here.