Anna Hazare an Indian activist fighting for the consolidation of democracy in India

Anna Hazare is one of the leading activists of the anti corruption campaign supported by civil society organizations in India.
The issue of corruption has been always at the center of the political agenda In India but with government unable or unwilling to curb corruption, gurus and activists are struggling to clean up India's public life. The country registered in the last years high economic growth rate but without adopting anti corruption legislation how India could develop further?
In the past years subsequent government-drafted Lokpal Bills (Hindi: जन लोकपाल विधेयक) (also referred to as the citizens' ombudsman bill),  a draft anti-corruption law, have failed to pass through the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
The Bill drafted by Shanti Bhushan, retired Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, advocate Prashant Bhushan, former chief election commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh in consultation with the leaders of the India Against Corruption movement and civil society, proposes the institution of the office of Lokpal (Ombudsman) at the center and local Lokayukta at the state level. The entry into force of this Bill would create an independent body similar to the Election Commission with the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without prior government permission.The bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal system that effectively deters corruption while providing effective protection to whistleblowers.

Photograph: Saurabh Das/AP

Hazare's supporters held in the last months a rally in the national capital and demanded quick passage of Jan Lokpal Bill. Similar rallies were also held in more than 20 cities including Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Indore, Silchar, Jaipur, Moradabad, Raipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hojai (Assam), Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and Vishakapatnam. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that the Lokpal Bill would be introduced in the 2011 monsoon session of parliament. However in the last week end Indian police have used teargas and batons to break up a mass anti-corruption protest led by India's most famous yoga guru and political activist Swami Ramdev and Harare decided to meet with his followers at a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi and hold a day-long hunger strike against corruption to warn the government.

Read more at:
Jan Lokpal Bill: Second meeting of Joint Drafting Committee today - 2 May 2011

http://www.annahazare.org/index.html

India against corruption.org

What is the Jan Lokpal Bill and why it is important - 5 April 2011

Indian activist Anna Hazare begins anti-corruption hunger strike - 8 June 2011