http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/india.hazare.corruption.strike/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Quote :

" He wears only khadi, a simple garb of homespun cotton, and lives in a small room off a temple in a remote, drought-prone western Indian village. A veteran of the 1965 India-Pakistan war, he retired from the Indian army and took vows of chastity and public service. But ascetic social activist Anna Hazare has galvanized the nation of India, rattling the country's leadership at the highest levels, as he garners support that cuts across economic and social divides. His grassroots effort to fight corruption through public fasting has drawn comparisons to Mohandas Gandhi, whose non-violent efforts helped lead to India's independence from British rule in 1947. Hazare has been a vocal opponent against corruption for two decades, but only in recent months has he catapulted onto the national stage as the people's voice against endemic corruption that plagues one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Hazare first garnered attention for helping to turn his village, Ralegan Siddhi, in the western state of Maharashtra into a model for water use and sustainable development --work for which he received two of India's highest national prizes in the early 1990s. Hazare began to work against corruption in 1991 in a local campaign against the state forestry agency, resulting in his first hunger strike -- a tool he has used repeatedly in his public campaigns over the past 20 years. Hunger strike as a popular weapon of public protest in India "goes back to the days of Mahatma Gandhi," said Zoya Hasan, professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University. "He employed fasting as a weapon of protest, a weapon of struggle. Since then, because of its association with Gandhi and the iconic status of Gandhi, fasts have been a very popular form of protest." Hazare conducted a five-day hunger strike in April which ended after India's prime minister agreed to introduce long-pending legislation meant to crack down on graft. The latest stalemate is over the scope of powers the proposed independent commission, known as Lokpal, would have. Hazare and his supporters want the body to be able to independently investigate the prime minister and Supreme Court; government officials say such a move would give too much unchecked power to the new watchdog agency. The government also says Parliament should be the forum where this law should be finalized, without undue pressure from unelected activists. In a statement to Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government wants a Lokpal established quickly to combat corruption, but "the path that he has chosen to impose his draft of a Bill upon Parliament is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy." Hazare's aides see it differently. Hazare was planning to go on a hunger strike to call for stronger anti-corruption measures when he was detained Tuesday. As thousands took to the streets to protest the arrest, authorities let him free, but he refused to leave the jail. "

8/18/2011 2:30:41 PM