A GREEN REFORMER

A Rangarajan, The Hindu January 5, 1997

The drive from Pune to Ahmednagar goes through dry country, bare and rocky.
An occasional river meanders across with ribbon-like greenery along its course.
You cannot mistake Bhim, the biggest river, hopelessly dredged for sand to meet
the growing construction boom and the insatiable demand of Pune. The ecology
of the area and the livelihood of the peasants nearby have been seriously affected.
And in a village little beyond, a diminutive man has been waging a heroic battle
against these forces which cause the flight of invaluable resources from the Indian
village to its squalid cities.
A fifteen-minute drive off the Highway, somewhere midway (at Shirur) brings one
to Ralegan Siddi, a village much in the news the last few weeks. Anna Hazare has
made Ralegan Siddi a household name in Maharashtra. Anna realised that
languishing villages and swollen cities are at the heart of the sickness that has
seized our country.
His single-minded devotion and unstinting hard work demonstrated the viability of
the principles of sustainable agriculture and village self-rule (gram-swaraj).
Kishan Baburao Hazare, affectionately called Anna, is a retired-army driver. In
1975, he settled down in his native village in Ahmednagar District. Anna was
shocked to see the abject poverty, poor acreage under cultivation and its meager
productivity. Stripped of tree cover, plagued by alcoholism, unemployment and
other ills, his village was a picture of desolation and helplessness. With rate
determination, he set out to change all that, to bring light into the lives of his
village folks. In his youth, Anna was influenced by the writings of Vivekananda
and the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. Anna decided to dedicate his whole life for
social service.
Anna spent his savings about Rs.20000, on the renovation of the Yadav Baba
temple in the village. The youth of rallied around him and the village Tarun
Mandal (youth group) was born. Anna convinced these youngsters that betterment

of their lives lay in their hands and not with outside agencies. With his band of
followers, Anna targeted the liquor dens of Ralegan Siddi. Intimidated by the
village resolutions, most of the liquor brewing outfits closed down on their own.
The youth group smashed up the rest. The village got rid of the menace of
alcoholism partly through persuasion and partly by coercion. Die-hard today no
shop in Ralegan Siddi sells cigarettes, beedis or tobacco.
Anna turned his attention to the poor state of the agriculture, the misery of the
farmer and the plight of that land less labourer. His understanding of the
ecological factors helped Anna realise the changes were needed. Agriculture
depended on natural resources. Which were being depleted rapidly and the need
of the hour was their conservation. On the contrary, destructive methods were
being employed to increase agricultural yields.
Anna also realised that changes that had brought about environmental degradation
were also replete with inequalities. Rivers were being dammed to meet the energy
and water demands of the urban populace. Dredging of rivers and quarrying the
hillsides destroying forests was to keep the constructions in the cities going. Trees
were being felled to provide fuel and timber. Anna saw that ecosystems that
sustained life were being mindlessly destroyed. When the impoverished village
finally languishes, people migrate to cities often to live in undignified conditions.
Anna and the villagers began harvesting water sources to prevent run off and to
encourage the scant rainfall to percolate and re-charge the ground water.
Construction of nullah bunds, check-dams and percolation tanks made the open
wells in the village viable throughout the year, as the ground water level rose.
This helped the villagers to bring more land under irrigation and have drinking
water through out. Anna also learnt about the governments schemes for rural
development. He found avenues of employment and got as many jobs as possible
and even sent many boys to the army.
Along with this, he tackled the problem of soil erosion. Trees and stubs were
planted on a large scale. All these measures involved the contribution of voluntary
labour (or Shramdhan) by the villagers. Anna also advocated a five-point

programme to bring about effective conservation, proper watershed management

and the betterment in our villages. Nasbandhi or family planning is one. Anna
was quick to realise that all the efforts would be lost if the exploitation of people
was not checked. In Ralegan Siddi, the gram sabha (the village assembly) decided
that only those who practiced family planning would be beneficiaries of the
various schemes being implemented in the village. The next was Nashabandi or
ban on alcohol.
The last two principles are extremely important Charaibandi (no free grazing) and
Kurhadbandi (prohibiting the axing of trees). Anna was aware how indispensable
green cover was for a self-reliant village. Unrestricted grazing and reckless felling
of trees was the beginning of disaster. So grass was growing on the hillsides as
they are great soil binders and can also be used as fodder. Along with loose
boulder structures, grass played an important role in the ridge to valley watershed
development in Ralegan Siddi. Axing of trees came to an end in the village. A
massive tree-planting programme heralded in the greening of Ralegan Siddi. The
birds returned, the once abundant population of the black buck that had all but
disappeared is now frequently seen, as there is water even in the driest of seasons.
Trees not only keep the environment clean, but also contribute to the hydrology
and microclimate of the region. Anna and the villagers adopted several innovative
measures like co-operative sharing of water and the maintenance of grain banks to
achieve fair amount of equity. Good work was done on the hygiene angle too.
Where low cost latrines had been inducted, Biogas plants were put up and both
community and personal toilets serviced them. Vermiculture pits today add to this
scenario of efficiency.
Along with economic prosperity certain social changes were also needed. The
barrier created by the caste systems. He brought the Dalit community of the
village into the mainstream. Social get-togethers and celebrations had the
presence and the equal participation of all. Even the loans of indebted Harijans
were cleared by others. The privilege of leading the annual bullock festival
procession was given to Dalits. Group marriages to avoid wasteful expenditure
are conducted in Ralegan Siddi. A school built entirely the voluntary labour of the
villages admits dropouts and students who have fared badly elsewhere. Anna says,

it is no challenge to make a gem of a brilliant student. All these measures have

helped reduce the inherent social and economic inequalities that are sometimes
very pronounced. One of the loudest achievements of Ralegan Siddi is making the
village assembly a functional institution of grass root democracy. Decisions are
taken by a simple majority, when consensus is not possible and these are final and
binding. The village Sarpanch and other posts were invariably chosen by
consensus. Politics and other conflicts were kept out. To have accomplished so
much made the diminutive man look tall in the eyes of the world.
Ann had learnt a lot about Government schemes, its style of functioning and the
work of various departments. And much to his chagrin, Anna came to learn that
corruption was rampant in all Government schemes. He painfully realised that
before Government schemes could benefit the poor, most of the money was being
eaten up between the politicians, corrupt officials and dubious contractors. Anna
did not sit in on some moral pedestal to pontificate against the evils of corruption.
He was led to it naturally and with characteristic pragmatism he wants the menace
of corruption out of the way, so that the welfare of the poor could be secured.
Anna decided to train his guns on political heavyweights in his fight against
corruption. It was Sharad Pawar who first bore the brunt of Annas anti-graft
crusade. In May 1994, he accused the then Chief Minister of shielding corrupt
elements. Anna had unearthed massive instances of corruption in the social
forestry department. Nearly 15 Gazetted officers were suspended by the Pawar
regime for corruption.
Anna pressed on for a corruption free transparent
functioning of the government. He met Sharad Pawar a number of times and as
intense deliberations were on, the General Elections were declared in 1995. Anna
had also been continuously pointing out the Government spends too much on
infrastructure leaving very little for the scheme itself.
After the 1995 elections, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance came to power. The combine
had backed Annas campaign against the Pawar government to the hilt.
Corruption was one of the key planks on which the elections were fought. The
alliance gained immensely from Annas crusade. After a year it looks as though
the enthusiasm shown to back Anna was a classic case of political expediency. A

disillusioned Hazare in September, last year, declared that the Sena-BJP Ministers
were as corrupt as those of the Congress were, if not more. The Sena supremo,
Bal Thackeray chided Anna for making these baseless charges. After Anna
allegedly forwarded proof for these corruption charges, Thackeray conceded that
Hazare has a point and agreed to come to Ralegan Siddi to talk things over. Anna
preferred to meet Thackeray in Bombay and in October Hazare met the Sena chief
in his house. The Shiv Sena made it a great media exercise and wished to gain as
much political mileage as possible out of this meeting. A three-man committee to
fight corruption was announced by the Chief Minister Joshi. The committee
members named were Anna Hazare, Bal Thackeray and Pramod Mahajan, the high
profile BJP man.
Many eyebrows were raised as to how a Gandhian like Anna could have truck with
such seasoned politicians. Anna perhaps did not want to leave any stone unturned.
This uneasy truce was, however, only short lived. Narayan Rane, the Fisheries
Minister, questioned the locus-standi of Anna to sit in judgement over the
functioning of the Government. This and other signals convinced Anna that the
Government was not serious after all in getting after corrupt elements. Anna wrote
in confidence to Chief Minister Joshi that he was extremely unhappy with the way
things are. An apprehensive Joshi travelled to Ralegan Siddi on November 9 to
meet Anna Hazare. The Sena was eager not to alienate Anna. The meeting was a
virtual standoff.
Anna insisted that the corrupt Agriculture and Water
Conservation Minister Sashikant Sutar and Irrigation Minister Mahadev Shivnkar
be sacked. Anna had plenty of opportunity to look at the functioning of these two
departments. Joshi felt that there was no conclusive proof, he requested Anna not
go on a fast protesting against corruption.
On November 20, the diminutive man commenced his fast and penance at the
Yadav Baba temple, his home for the last 20 years. Power centres in distant
Bombay felt the rumblings. With pressure mounting, both Ministers submitted
their resignations and they were divested of their portfolios. The Government
appointed a retired judge to inquire into instances of corruption. All this happened
within 10 days of the fast. Anna insisted that anti-graft watchdog committees
should be appointed at the State, district and taluk levels. The beleaguered

coalition Government decided to ignore Hazare at this stage. Yielding to appeals

from friends and supporters. Anna ended his fast on the 14 th day and announced
his decision to tour the state to take to the people the ugly issue of corruption that
has assumed menacing proportions.
During these 14 days, people from all parts of Maharashtra thronged the temple in
Ralegan Siddi. And his fast was making national headlines. In the evenings,
when he spoke, the crowds listened to him in rapt attention. Common folks,
intellectuals, activists and leaders of various denominations called on him to
express solidarity. Though many political outfits were eager to offer support,
Hazare kept them at arms length. The most surprising support came from the
RSS embarrassing both the Sena and the BJP. Anna however kept his campaign
apolitical. During a chat on the 12th day of the fast, Anna confessed that he never
thought that he would get such overwhelming support. Explaining his faith in
Gandhian economics, he pointed out that the village should be the focus of our
planning and only self-sufficient villages can put an end to exploitation.
Revealing his strong green orientation, Anna felt that living close to the principles
of nature is the only sound wisdom. Recognising the right of all life forms to
share his planet with us, in his characteristic style, he expressed the view that God
gave man more intelligence because God thought man would protect his fellow
creations. Alas, he said, greed has made man destroy forests, birds, animals and
other life.
On December 8, Anna launched his Maharashtra tour and what shape it takes and
how much it is going to accomplish are things remain to be seen. But one thing is
certain. Anna has shown to the world that even in these days of scheming intrigue,
uncomplicated Gandhian methods and transparent sincerity can shake the most
powerful of forces. After all, the diminutive Anna has proved to be a giant of a
man.