Anna Hazare's Profile

Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare (Marathi: किसन बापट बाबुराव हजारे) (born 15 January 1940), popularly known as Anna Hazare (Marathi: अण्णा हजारे), is an Indian social who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 1992.

On April 5, 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices. The fast led to nation wide protests in support of Hazare. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, the day after all of Harare's demands were agreed by the government of India and the government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee (of government and civil society representatives) to draft an effective Lokpal Bil