The recent hunger strike against corruption by Anna Hazare has received tremendous support from masses far and wide. PRIYANKA AGARWAL talks about some others who have taken up similar causes in the past.
“THE accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” – Bess Myerson, Former Miss America
The above quote is very true. It is our own indifference and inaction that has propelled and fuelled the widespread corruption in our country. It is a vicious circle: first we close our eyes to what’s happening and then cry aloud when we experience it. Since it takes a great fight to come forward and wage a war, not many of us are game to the task. However, existing among us are a few great individuals who just cannot bear the plight of our motherland and hence step up to take action. We rightly call them social activists – the people who are here to actively make a change for and in our society.
Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption
One among these is a gem named Anna Hazare, who embarked on an indefinite fast from April 5 in Delhi to protest against the vice of corruption. He ended it on April 9, only once the government had agreed to listen to him.
He went on a fast to get the Jan Lokpal Bill enacted by ‘fasting unto death’. This bill holds the key to rid India of corruption by promising rapid action against every guilty party, whether minister or bureaucrat. The fasting crusade received support from thousands of citizens across the nation, with 5,000 people gathering at Jantar Mantar to showcase their solidarity. Finally, only when the government agreed to his demands, did he break his fast. “I have given up on my hunger strike, because the Government has issued a notification (on setting up of a committee to draft the Lokpal Bill),” he said.
Having served in the Indian army for nearly 15 years, Anna Hazare headed for his ancestral village Ralegaon Siddhi, located in Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra, in 1978. His endeavour to provide the best of modern developments to the village farmers bore fruit and he was hailed as their messiah. Anna Hazare didn’t stop at that though.
He formed the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (or the People’s movement against Corruption). He had already decided upon his weapon – hunger strikes. And how that weapon got results is indeed fodder for history. His fast forced the Sena-BJP State Government to remove two corrupt ministers in 1995-96. It also compelled the Congress-NCP Government of Maharashtra to conduct an inquiry against four ministers in 2003. His hunger strike in 2006 against certain amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act too is a landmark event. Such is the perseverant and valiant side of Anna Hazare, the man who won the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan. He credits his tryst with activism to his reading the philosophies of Swami Vivekananda, Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi during his army days.
Mahatma Phule
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was a well-known social activist and reformer in the 19th century. His relentless activism had brought about historic reforms in the fields of education and agriculture. He also strove to eradicate the caste system and uplift the social status of women. In fact, he even educated his wife Savitribai Phule before going on to open the first school for girls in the country in 1848. He was the founder of the Satya Shodhak Samaj (or the Society of the Seekers of Truth), an organisation formed to protect the low class Shudras from exploitation and ill-behaviour by the upper class Brahmans. Mahatma Phule also supported widow remarriage and got a special shelter built for housing widows. He allowed everyone, especially the backward classes, to make use of the water from his well.
Shahu IV
Shahu IV was the first Maharaja of the Kolhapur princely state. But he strove hard for the betterment of the lower classes. In fact, he subsidised education in the state (and made it free later on) as well as arranged for suitable employment opportunities. Thus, he was the pioneer of one of the earliest Affirmative Action programmes. Shahu Maharaj also worked towards eliminating child marriage, and encouraging widow remarriage and inter-caste nuptials. He ensured that non-Brahman youths too were trained as priests. But the custom was discontinued after his death as it met with staunch opposition from all corners. To commemorate Shahu Maharaj, a stamp depicting him was issued by the Indian Postal Department.
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave was aptly called Gandhiji’s spiritual successor. A personal invitation by Mahatma Gandhi led him to reside at Bapu’s ashram and he got deeply involved with its activities such as teaching, spinning and community service. In 1923, he introduced Maharashtra Dharma, a Marathi monthly that had his essays on the Upanishads. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was also an active participant in the Quit India Movement.
However, the historic moment of his life was the Bhoodan (or the Land Gift) Movement launched by him in 1951. Under that, rich landowners could voluntarily give a proportion of their land to the lower classes. In 1976, he went on a fast to protest the slaughtering of cows. He was posthumously felicitated with the Bharat Ratna in 1984.
Baba Amte
Considered one of India’s greatest social activists, Murlidhar
Devidas Amte, lovingly known as Baba Amte, devoted his entire life to care for leprosy patients. In fact, he went a step ahead and allowed leprosy experiments to be conducted on his own body! He set up his project for the cause at Anandwan, near Nagpur, primarily to dispel the injustices meted out to leprosy sufferers. Apart from this, he launched the Bharat Jodo (or Unite India) Movement in 1988 to bring about peace and awareness on environmental issues. He left Anandwan in 1990 to live near the river Narmada and fight for the local residents living there. Baba Amte was honoured with several awards, including the Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and the Gandhi Peace Prize. He passed away on February 9, 2008.
Dr. Kiran Bedi
One of India’s most dynamic activists, Dr. Kiran Bedi was the first Indian woman to join the Indian Police Services (IPS). She had also acted as the Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi and Deputy IG in the insurgency-prone part of Mizoram. What makes her stand apart is the concept of ‘jail reforms’ that she introduced. Under this, she taught yoga and meditation to prisoners and arranged for redressal of their complaints. She established two voluntary organisations, viz. Navajyoti and India Vision Foundation, for the betterment of drug addicts and the underprivileged. Dr. Kiran Bedi has received numerous laurels for her work, including the Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Woman of the Year Award for 1980, the Pride of India award, as well as a UN medal.
Nafisa Ali
Former Miss India Nafisa Ali may be known for her roles i
n Bollywood films, but her contribution to society is what is more characteristic of her. She strove for the welfare of the Indian army jawans, while her husband served there. She also acted as the Executive Member of Umang Charitable Society and the Chairperson of Action India Trust (which works towards AIDS awareness). However, her most noteworthy contribution till date is the Orissa Cyclone Relief founded by her in the wake of the Orissa cyclone of 1999. Under this, she participated in relief measures for the cyclone affected. Likewise, she was also there for the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims. She has made documentaries on various topics like communal harmony, AIDS awareness, etc. Nafisa Ali is also the founder of ‘Ashraya’, a shelter for HIV-positive people.
The media does its bit
Anna Hazare has been fasting against social vices for decades; but the fame and reach of his hunger strike this time attracted millions of citizens to his cause. Thanks to the power of the social media, an unprecedented number of people in India and abroad expressed their wholehearted support towards the initiative. For instance, social networking site Facebook hosts more than 100 Anna Hazare fan pages! And some of them managed to get over 200,000 ‘likes’ in just one day! Another networking site, Twitter, had words such as #AnnaHazare and #JantarMantar as the top trending topics last week. Besides this, hundreds of videos were posted on YouTube. Not just the Indian news channels, but the international media too broadcasted the hunger strike. In short, the power of the Internet and social networking sites, besides the conventional media, did the trick this time.
“THE accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” – Bess Myerson, Former Miss America
The above quote is very true. It is our own indifference and inaction that has propelled and fuelled the widespread corruption in our country. It is a vicious circle: first we close our eyes to what’s happening and then cry aloud when we experience it. Since it takes a great fight to come forward and wage a war, not many of us are game to the task. However, existing among us are a few great individuals who just cannot bear the plight of our motherland and hence step up to take action. We rightly call them social activists – the people who are here to actively make a change for and in our society.
Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption
One among these is a gem named Anna Hazare, who embarked on an indefinite fast from April 5 in Delhi to protest against the vice of corruption. He ended it on April 9, only once the government had agreed to listen to him.
He went on a fast to get the Jan Lokpal Bill enacted by ‘fasting unto death’. This bill holds the key to rid India of corruption by promising rapid action against every guilty party, whether minister or bureaucrat. The fasting crusade received support from thousands of citizens across the nation, with 5,000 people gathering at Jantar Mantar to showcase their solidarity. Finally, only when the government agreed to his demands, did he break his fast. “I have given up on my hunger strike, because the Government has issued a notification (on setting up of a committee to draft the Lokpal Bill),” he said.
Having served in the Indian army for nearly 15 years, Anna Hazare headed for his ancestral village Ralegaon Siddhi, located in Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra, in 1978. His endeavour to provide the best of modern developments to the village farmers bore fruit and he was hailed as their messiah. Anna Hazare didn’t stop at that though.
He formed the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (or the People’s movement against Corruption). He had already decided upon his weapon – hunger strikes. And how that weapon got results is indeed fodder for history. His fast forced the Sena-BJP State Government to remove two corrupt ministers in 1995-96. It also compelled the Congress-NCP Government of Maharashtra to conduct an inquiry against four ministers in 2003. His hunger strike in 2006 against certain amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act too is a landmark event. Such is the perseverant and valiant side of Anna Hazare, the man who won the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan. He credits his tryst with activism to his reading the philosophies of Swami Vivekananda, Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi during his army days.
Mahatma Phule
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was a well-known social activist and reformer in the 19th century. His relentless activism had brought about historic reforms in the fields of education and agriculture. He also strove to eradicate the caste system and uplift the social status of women. In fact, he even educated his wife Savitribai Phule before going on to open the first school for girls in the country in 1848. He was the founder of the Satya Shodhak Samaj (or the Society of the Seekers of Truth), an organisation formed to protect the low class Shudras from exploitation and ill-behaviour by the upper class Brahmans. Mahatma Phule also supported widow remarriage and got a special shelter built for housing widows. He allowed everyone, especially the backward classes, to make use of the water from his well. Shahu IV
Shahu IV was the first Maharaja of the Kolhapur princely state. But he strove hard for the betterment of the lower classes. In fact, he subsidised education in the state (and made it free later on) as well as arranged for suitable employment opportunities. Thus, he was the pioneer of one of the earliest Affirmative Action programmes. Shahu Maharaj also worked towards eliminating child marriage, and encouraging widow remarriage and inter-caste nuptials. He ensured that non-Brahman youths too were trained as priests. But the custom was discontinued after his death as it met with staunch opposition from all corners. To commemorate Shahu Maharaj, a stamp depicting him was issued by the Indian Postal Department. Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave was aptly called Gandhiji’s spiritual successor. A personal invitation by Mahatma Gandhi led him to reside at Bapu’s ashram and he got deeply involved with its activities such as teaching, spinning and community service. In 1923, he introduced Maharashtra Dharma, a Marathi monthly that had his essays on the Upanishads. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was also an active participant in the Quit India Movement. However, the historic moment of his life was the Bhoodan (or the Land Gift) Movement launched by him in 1951. Under that, rich landowners could voluntarily give a proportion of their land to the lower classes. In 1976, he went on a fast to protest the slaughtering of cows. He was posthumously felicitated with the Bharat Ratna in 1984.
Baba Amte Considered one of India’s greatest social activists, Murlidhar
Devidas Amte, lovingly known as Baba Amte, devoted his entire life to care for leprosy patients. In fact, he went a step ahead and allowed leprosy experiments to be conducted on his own body! He set up his project for the cause at Anandwan, near Nagpur, primarily to dispel the injustices meted out to leprosy sufferers. Apart from this, he launched the Bharat Jodo (or Unite India) Movement in 1988 to bring about peace and awareness on environmental issues. He left Anandwan in 1990 to live near the river Narmada and fight for the local residents living there. Baba Amte was honoured with several awards, including the Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and the Gandhi Peace Prize. He passed away on February 9, 2008.
Dr. Kiran Bedi
One of India’s most dynamic activists, Dr. Kiran Bedi was the first Indian woman to join the Indian Police Services (IPS). She had also acted as the Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi and Deputy IG in the insurgency-prone part of Mizoram. What makes her stand apart is the concept of ‘jail reforms’ that she introduced. Under this, she taught yoga and meditation to prisoners and arranged for redressal of their complaints. She established two voluntary organisations, viz. Navajyoti and India Vision Foundation, for the betterment of drug addicts and the underprivileged. Dr. Kiran Bedi has received numerous laurels for her work, including the Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Woman of the Year Award for 1980, the Pride of India award, as well as a UN medal. Nafisa Ali
Former Miss India Nafisa Ali may be known for her roles i
n Bollywood films, but her contribution to society is what is more characteristic of her. She strove for the welfare of the Indian army jawans, while her husband served there. She also acted as the Executive Member of Umang Charitable Society and the Chairperson of Action India Trust (which works towards AIDS awareness). However, her most noteworthy contribution till date is the Orissa Cyclone Relief founded by her in the wake of the Orissa cyclone of 1999. Under this, she participated in relief measures for the cyclone affected. Likewise, she was also there for the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims. She has made documentaries on various topics like communal harmony, AIDS awareness, etc. Nafisa Ali is also the founder of ‘Ashraya’, a shelter for HIV-positive people. The media does its bit
Anna Hazare has been fasting against social vices for decades; but the fame and reach of his hunger strike this time attracted millions of citizens to his cause. Thanks to the power of the social media, an unprecedented number of people in India and abroad expressed their wholehearted support towards the initiative. For instance, social networking site Facebook hosts more than 100 Anna Hazare fan pages! And some of them managed to get over 200,000 ‘likes’ in just one day! Another networking site, Twitter, had words such as #AnnaHazare and #JantarMantar as the top trending topics last week. Besides this, hundreds of videos were posted on YouTube. Not just the Indian news channels, but the international media too broadcasted the hunger strike. In short, the power of the Internet and social networking sites, besides the conventional media, did the trick this time.
Do your bit
India is home to plenty of voluntary organisations that have done a lot for our society. So, if you too are keen to bring about a positive change, here are the details of some of these organisations for you:
SammaaN Foundation: This NGO aims at education, training and financial backing of the underprivileged. It also strives for providing livelihood opportunities for the rickshaw-puller class. Other causes include women empowerment, health improvement, children’s education and micro credit. Contact SammaaN at 0612-3260433 or info@sammaan.org.
Goonj: The mission of this NGO is to provide clothing to the downtrodden. Its main activities include collecting old clothes and winter wear, and flood relief material. In fact, it had recently launched the ‘Ek Jodi Kapda’ campaign. You can get in touch at 011-26972351, 41401216 or mail@goonj.org.
Deepalaya: This NGO strives for the poor and the underprivileged, especially children. Other causes include education, training, health, rural development and gender equality. Deepalaya can be reached at 011-28520347, 011- 28522263, 011-28525326 or support@deepalaya.org.
HelpAge India: This body aims to arrange for resources for the senior citizens of our nation. It also works towards spreading awareness in the society about the concerns of the elderly. You can reach the NGO at 011 41688955-56 or headoffice@helpageindia.org.
India is home to plenty of voluntary organisations that have done a lot for our society. So, if you too are keen to bring about a positive change, here are the details of some of these organisations for you:
SammaaN Foundation: This NGO aims at education, training and financial backing of the underprivileged. It also strives for providing livelihood opportunities for the rickshaw-puller class. Other causes include women empowerment, health improvement, children’s education and micro credit. Contact SammaaN at 0612-3260433 or info@sammaan.org.
Goonj: The mission of this NGO is to provide clothing to the downtrodden. Its main activities include collecting old clothes and winter wear, and flood relief material. In fact, it had recently launched the ‘Ek Jodi Kapda’ campaign. You can get in touch at 011-26972351, 41401216 or mail@goonj.org.
Deepalaya: This NGO strives for the poor and the underprivileged, especially children. Other causes include education, training, health, rural development and gender equality. Deepalaya can be reached at 011-28520347, 011- 28522263, 011-28525326 or support@deepalaya.org.
HelpAge India: This body aims to arrange for resources for the senior citizens of our nation. It also works towards spreading awareness in the society about the concerns of the elderly. You can reach the NGO at 011 41688955-56 or headoffice@helpageindia.org.
Social movements in India have indeed been a boon to our motherland in more ways than one. However, it all depends on where the efforts are targeted – to eliminate a vice or to bring about something extraordinary. Let’s pray that Anna Hazare’s battle inspires many others to stand up for what’s right and brings about an era of complete honesty and transparency in our system.
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