Very few social activists have captured the attention of Indians across the globe as Anna Hazare did during his "fast unto death" over the issue of the Lokpal Bill in New Delhi in April 2011.
Hazare, a Gandhian by belief, outlook and practice, has become the face of India's fight against corruption. During his fast over the Lokpal Bill, Hazare, a quintessential traditional Indian by looks and mannerism, managed to inspire and mobilize the support of even the ultra-modern Indians - Indians for whom the word "social" only means having a profile on social networking sites.
The "Anna Hazare fast" can be described as the first real "social networking movement" in India. Hazare, a former Army man, began his social activism from Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, where he successfully led a movement against alcoholism and made Ralegan Siddhi a "model village".
From a soldier to a social reformer, and a right to information crusader, Anna Hazare's journey of four decades has been unprecedented in terms of a non-violent yet effective campaign of resurrecting a barren village into an 'ideal village' model and empowering the faceless citizen through pioneering work on Right to Information. His efforts to empower grampanchayats, protect efficient government officers from frequent transfers and fight against the red tapism in government offices have also received accolades.
Hazare's campaign was instrumental in the implementation of the Right to Information Act in Maharashtra, which is considered one of the best RTI Acts in India.
A Ramon Magsaysay award winner, Anna Hazare, like his idol, Mahatma Gandhi, has triggered a debate over the use of fast as a means of protest in India. By sheer commitment and simplicity, he has demonstrated that Gandhian principles are relevant even in the 21st-century India.
Times of India
I wish all Indians a very happy Independence Day. As we celebrate 64th Independence Day with pride, gratitude and happiness, let’s remember the great Mahatmas who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of our country.
Each one of us might have his/her own reasons to celebrate this national day. I celebrate to show how thankful; I am to my motherland for all that I have gained from her. Thank you, God, for making me a citizen of this marvelous country. India has given me almost everything. My character, personality, discipline, respect, dignity, acceptance to new ideologies, religion etc. and what not, almost all qualities, I possess today is from this holy land. I thought it’s quite unique to me alone, but it’s in every Indian blood. This is true Indianism. This is the identity my country has given me. The fact that I am Indian is self explanatory of what type of person I am.
In near future, when economies of all countries saturate due to globalization and free trade, its hard to distinguish between € (European) and $(American). We are the only ones to survive with our identity. Because we Indians are not popular for our rupee but for our human values, valor, dignity, culture and our approach to life. The whole world will idolize India. As a citizen, we should thrive to practice, preserve and protect them from falling prey to western culture. Where ever you are, be an Indian.
One amazing aspect of Indianism is tolerance and acceptance to new faith, ideologies, beliefs and people. This is the key reason for the success of this largest democracy. This culture of acceptance is also the main cause for numerous evils to prevail in the society including corruption. We addressed many such evils in peaceful revolutions and are now a brand ambassador of peace to the rest of the world.
If you are fighting for a cause, raise your voice, let your thoughts be heard, convince the govt. and public and the change you want to be bring is inevitable. Hatred and violence is never a solution to any problem.
This is our country. We are here to stay. Let’s clean up the evils prevailing in the society. We are capable of creating a better tomorrow. Raise your voice. Jai Hind.
Do we really need this freedom? Yes. It is this freedom which gives us the right to express our thoughts, views, opinions, and practice our belief. It is because of this freedom, our thinking has matured enough to accept people of different culture, ethnicity, background, religion etc. Be proud to be a citizen of this special country.
We live in a globalization era. We import almost everything from the west. We are trying to ape the foreign culture and tradition. In the process, we are losing our basic instincts of Indianism. We are sacrificing our morals and values to grab the foreign thoughts and practices. The world admires you as an Indian and if you step into foreign shoes… You will lose your identity. How should the world acknowledge you? Be an Indian. Save the Indian identity. Save Indianism. Where ever you are, be an Indian and be proud to be an Indian.
Happy republic day. Enjoy your freedom.
I wish all Indians a very happy independence day. 350 millions people won their freedom on this day. It this not worth a celebration? We should remember and thank each and every freedom fighter who had participated in the non-violent war against the British. The freedom that we enjoy today is because of these great warriors. Let’s salute them on this auspicious day.
Its been 62 years since we got our independence. We have evolved quite rapidly over the years. Today, almost every ear is listening and every eye is watching us, is this not because of our greatness we have developed during these years. Indians are known for their intelligence; innovation, engineering, tradition, culture, courage, values, valor, honesty, truthfulness, loving nature, and lot more. We have developed an identity for ourselves. This identity values more than our trillion economy. These days we have huge influence on the American and the European culture. But let’s preserve the Indianism i.e. special qualities we are best known for. Please don’t sacrifice your values for anything not even for God sake. Wherever you are, be proud to be an Indian and always live like an Indian.
Enjoying this gorgeous identity, mother
Wear the flag close to your heart and show how dearly you love your nation.
Happy Independence Day.
Best wishes
Swaroop
Its been almost a year since we started the anti-corruption mission. Most of you might be closely observing your activities contributing to corruption. The next phase is to react to our evil activities. For every evil act, take a punishment. I am not suggesting you to surrender to the police. Identify a daily activity of yours that you are very fond of. For instance, I am a gourmand. I can not avoid a meal. So when ever, I make a mistake and contribute to corruption, I fast the following day. Its quite difficult for me to take up this punishment. But I practice this because the next time when I try to make a mistake, I know that a self punishment is waiting for me.
It worked well with me. I still remember my feelings when I fasted the first time. When I started, I had mixed feeling. In the first place, I didn't want to do it. Then I thought, Why am I doing all this and ruining my health? I had several such thoughts. But I was determined and successfully completed the fast. After the fast, I was totally a different person. I was quite happy. I don't even know if its happiness but I had a very nice feeling. The fact that I tried to be honest and contributed for the betterment of the society, made be feel so happy. I was quite excited to realize that I adhered to some principles and even practiced them. My blood pumped quite fast and what not....Today, trying to analyze that incident; I know that I haven't done anything that day. But truly speaking, it was that good feeling which let me further. The special feeling, I experienced that day gave me the motivation to fight against anti-corruption from my side. There are many good things I learnt on that day.
The idea might seem silly. But guys give it a try. I promise you will definitely enjoy it. Make your first move….lets stop contributing to corruption…
Every one of us is striving hard to abolish corruption from our minds and free the shackles for development in India. All those who are closely following this mission has to acknowledge that this can not be realized in a few weeks or months but it will take several years to actually see the fruits for our current efforts. In our journey, so far we have done a lot but unfortunately we do not see any results to rejoice. This is de-motivating a lot of us. I wish to take a few minutes to explain what we achieved so far.
All long journeys also start with a first step. That is what we have done during the last year. During the early days we discussed about what each one of us thinks about corruption. I still remember the days when we all blamed Govt. officials and politicians for all the corruption prevailing in our country. After through analysis we did find out that each one of us is equally nurturing and promoting corruption. This is a significant outcome of the first phase of our mission. We are closely observing and conscious about all our activities contributing to corruption. Today we are in a better shape to understand what we are doing and why we are doing things to promote corruption.
Our contributions to corruption might be quite small. But we know the long term consequences of our petty activities towards corruption. We did realize that in this process, we are corrupting our brains by making ourselves believe that all our actions towards corruption are minor and will not harm anyone (which is not true). The main reasons for our mean actions are lack of time because the righteous process is cumbersome and we are scared of future consequences that we might face if we do not bribe.
But are we really scared to face the reality? You guys are very energetic, smart and well educated. You can always find solutions to any given problem. You do not have to be corrupted to realize your dreams. What we have done so far is to realize that any act towards corruption is a crime. Right now, we might not be in a position to completely stop corruption. But we will make steady progress.
We made our first move, let’s get going …This success belongs to each one of us
