By Anila Kurian:
The fight for anti-corruption in our country has been a long drawl. Anna Hazare took the initiative last year and so far it seems to be going nowhere that useful. Although it is Anna Hazare being in the limelight of the anti-corruption movement, the movement originally started in October 2010. Let’s take a walk through the battle for anti-corruption in India by Team Anna:
– April 5, 2011– Tons of people joined for the anti-corruption march at Freedom Park, Bangalore, as well as at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The IAC went around in Pune and took around 600 signatures from the citizens supporting and demanding for the passing of Jan Lokpal Bill.
– April 7, 2011– Due to the government not agreeing to sign the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare continued to fast and millions of citizens supported him.
– April 8, 2011– The anti-corruption movement spread like wildfire all around the country. Everyone from students, corporate groups, film industry and also some of the politicians came in to support the movement. Many who fasted with Anna Hazare were hospitalized, but that did not give them a reason to stop fighting.
– April 9, 2011– The government finally accepts the demands of the movement and agrees to present the bill in the coming fall meeting at Lok Sabha. Millions of people celebrated the good news around the country. Around 30,000 people pledged for the support of Lokpal Bill and a Facebook page was started called ‘India Against Corruption’ which instantly became a massive hit.
-Â April 16, 2011– The first meeting concerning the draft of Lokpal Bill took place where the meeting was recorded by audio.
– June 9, 2011– Anna Hazare was proud to call this anti-corruption act as the ‘Second Freedom Struggle’. He gave August 15, 2011 to be the last date for the Lokpal Bill to be passed by the government, and if they failed to do so, he threatened to start fasting again on August 16.
– June 16, 2011– Because of the split difference between the government and the civil society about the Lokpal Bill, two different drafts were sent to the Cabinet. According to Team Anna’s agreement, out of the 71 recommended, only 15 of them were agreed upon. Anna also demanded that if the government version of the bill is passed in the Parliament, he will fast again on August 16.
– August 14, 2011– Anna Hazare was sarcastically mocked by Congress spokesperson, Manish Tewari, saying that Anna should know where he stands and not poke his nose in unwanted business.
– August 15, 2011– Team Anna decided to go back to fasting the next day as decided for the government failed to keep their promises.
– August 16, 2011– Anna was warned not to leave his house, but he went anyway to start his hunger strike again at JP Park, Delhi. He was taken to Tihar Jail for seven days after refusing to sign for bail. With Kiran Bedi and Shanti Bhushan’s influence, Anna was set to be released by 6:30 PM.
– August 17, 2011– Hazare still refused to leave Tihar Jail and continues his fast.
– August 18, 2011– After a lot of persuasion, Anna finally decided to leave Tihar Jail but made an agreement to stay one more night until the Ramlila Maidan was ready to continue his fast.
– August 19, 2011– Anna Hazare was taken in with a loud applause at Ramlila Maidan by everyone who supported the movement. He promised that he will not quit till the Jan Lokpal Bill has been passed.
– August 22, 2011– On behalf of Team Anna, Sri Sri Ravishankar met up with L. K. Advani to discuss the Lokpal Bill.
– August 23, 2011– India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanded Anna to end his fast as he was worried about his health.
– August 25, 2011– The PM finally allowed the government to debate out the problems of the Lokpal Bill at the Parliament. Anna demanded for Citizen’s Charter, Lokayuktas in all states with Lokpal powers and inclusion of lowest to highest bureaucracy.
– August 27, 2011– The Parliament debates out the Lokpall Bill and agrees to all three of Anna’s demands. Once this was done, Anna declared to break his fast by the next morning.
– December 11, 2011– Anna Hazare again did a day long fast protesting against the proposals of Parliamentary Standing Committee on the anti-graft measure at Jantar Mantar. The BJP, CIP, CIP(M), TDP, JD(U), BJD and Akali Dal took part in the public debate of the Lokpal Bill.
– December 22, 2011– Lok Sabha went into session with the expectation that the government would introduce the Lokpal Bill by noon, but instead, the food bill was passed. After the Lok Sabha gathered after lunch, it was recommended by in the Lok Sabha to not introduce the bill in such a hurry. Anna Hazare claimed that he will go on hunger strike from December 27 to 29 to pressurize the government.
– December 28, 2011– Due to his ill health, he had to give up the fasting and also cancelled the ‘Jail Bharo’ movement because of this.
– With hours of debate over the Lokpall Bill, it got stuck at Rajya Sabha and went unsolved during the winter session.
– Hoping that it would be at least passed in the February 2012 Rajya Sabha budget session, that also went unrecognized and not passed.
– February 25, 2012– The Congress party cheating Team Anna by introducing a cracked bill in the Parliament for curbing corruption was suspected by Kiran Bedi.
– May 1, 2012– Anna Hazare started a campaign from Durg where he said he will visit 35 villages in Maharashtra to get more people to be aware of the corruption happening in India.
– June 3, 2012– He fasted for a day with Yoga guru Ramdev at Jantar Mantar to pressurize the government.
Despite all the disappointments given by the government to Team Anna, the anti-corruption movement is still fought because that’s how the country should be. One of the million things than Anna Hazare is doing is trying to reduce the black money market in India. That being a major reason why India is so split apart right now, it’s become necessary that the black money market comes to an end here.
What Anna Hazare and the team are doing is a fantastic job but this of course gets the public tired. Not everyone is as patient as the Team Anna is. As much as we want corruption to end in our country, it’s not going to be that easy unless all the super smart politicians we have are dead and not a drop of their blood is streaming in our country.
It is our country and we rule it, not the government. For all you know, the public will be as furious as they are fed up and just ban the entire government, and make their own. We are a democratic country and we should remain that way without corruption taking over all of us.
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