Anna Hazare

Who is Anna Hazare? 

The Kishan Babu Rao Hazare, an ex-army man, fought 1965 Indo-Pak war.

From a tenacious soldier to a social reformer, and a Right To Information crusader, Anna Hazare’s journey of four decades has been unprecedented in terms of a non-violent yet effective campaign of resurrecting a barren village into an `ideal village’ model and empowering the faceless citizen through pioneering work on Right to Information. His efforts to empower grampanchayats, protect efficient government officers from frequent transfers and fight against the red tapism in government offices have also received accolades.

Anna Hazare is one of India's well-acclaimed social activists. A former soldier in the Indian army, Anna is well known and respected for upgrading the ecology and economy of the village of Ralegan Siddhi which is located in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state. The erstwhile barren village has metamorphosed into a unique model of rural development due to its effective water conservation methods, which made the villagers self-sufficient. Earlier, the same village witnessed alcoholism, utter poverty and migration to urban slums. Inspired by Hazare’s unique approach of salvaging a hopeless village, the state government has implemented the `Model Village’ scheme as part of its official strategy. Hazare is now synonymous with rural development in India.

Read Anna Hazare’s Biography

Achiements:

• Model Village - Integrated village Development Project As a part of Golden Jubilee celebration of ”Bharat Chhodo Andolan “ Adarsh Gaon Yojna " was started under his chairmanship - “ Model Village “ project. 
• Watershed Development - Watershed development is one of the key tools contributing towards the overall objective of reducing poverty through sustainable development.
• Anti-Corruption Development - The common man is put to lot of hardships and it has become difficult to make both ends meet as prices of essential commodities are rising constantly due to corruption. Hazare believes that our freedom is at the teeth of danger due to corruption and unless it is eliminated, the country will not be free in its true sense. Therefore, a peaceful war has been waged against corruption with the help of immense support from people.
• Right To Information - Right to Information includes the citizens’ right to -

        •  inspect works, documents, and records.
        • take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records.
        • take certified samples of material.
        • obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video          
          cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts.

The citizens can obtain the above from all government departments to ensure transparency. All they need to do is to invoke the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The state of Maharashtra leads in RTI activism and use, thanks to Anna Hazare’s inspiring leadership.

Awards:

• PADMABHUSHAN AWARD
• PADMASHRI AWARD
• PRIY DARSHINI VRIKSHA MITRA AWARD, GOVT. INDIA
• KRUSHI BHUSAHAN GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA
• YOUNG INDIA AWARD
• MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD 1988
• PAUL MITTAL NATIONAL AWARD 2000 (NEHRU SIDHANT KENDER TRUST LUDHIYNA 14001)
• TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (IT) INTEGRITY AWARD 2003 FROM TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
• DOCTORATE DEGREE GANDHIGRAM RURAL INSTITUTE-DEEMED UNIVERSITY GANDHIGRAM DINDIGUL, TAMIL NADU-8-11-05
• VIVEKANANDA SEVA PURASKAR 1994
• SHIROMANI AWARD 1996
• MAHAVEER PURASKAR 1997
• DIWALIBEN MEHTA AWARD
• CARE INTERNATIONAL AWARD 1998
• GIANTS INTERNATIONAL AWARD
• BASAVSHRI PRASHASTI 2000 AWARD
• NATIONAL INTERGRATION AWARD
• VISHWA-VATSALYA & SANTBAL AWARD

Mangalore - India

A part of a post does little justice to the magnificence of the gigantic idol of Shiva located on the banks of the Arabian sea. At 123 feet, it is the tallest idol of Shiva in the world. Designed to receive the rays of the sun throughout the day, Murudeshwara shines in an unparalleled radiance, delighting his large and eager audience.

After Saturday night’s rest, we reached the Murudeshwara temple on early Sunday morning. Apart from the main deity, we found two other deities interesting – Dattathreya and Jattigeshwara. After the darshan we headed up the stairs to learn and enjoy the history of the place. Right beneath the massive idol is a cave carved with murals narrating the origin of Murudeshwar (again in Kannada). If you prefer, there are guides outside the cave who would be willing to narrate the story with its engaging nuances in a language of your choice.

Our final and obvious destination was the beach beneath. With its fine sand and angular waves, it is easy for a bunch of travelers to forget their agenda and relax in the waters.

While we did not check out the Tipu Sultan’s fort in the vicinity, it might be a good place to check out if you have the time.


After breakfast at the RNS Highway Hotel we headed straight to Kollur.
Where to stay: The RNS Hotel on the beach. The air conditioned rooms can be a little too expensive at Rs.2000 per room for a day. Your best bet is the RNS Highway Hotel maintained by the same management on the way to Murudeshwara. Located 5 minutes from the beach, this newly constructed hotel has the facilities of a 4 star hotel and offers clean and fully furnished rooms (including TV) starting at Rs.300.
After Shiva, we headed to see Shakthi on the banks of the Sauparnika river in Kollur. It was in this Moogambikai temple that we waited for almost half an hour before we received the Darshan, despite having purchased special tickets @ Rs.15/- for a short-cut to see the deity. It is believed that Goddess Mookambikai, the unified form of Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Parvathi appeared before Adi Shankara in this very Kodachadri valley.

The lengthy queues, the gold plated crest and the “jerugandi” (or move quickly) orders inside the temple gives the impression that one is in Tirupathi. Being a part of the seven “mukti” sites in Karnataka, Kollur attracts thousands of devotees every day.

The temple hosts some rare idols like the panchamukhi vinayaka (five faced Ganesh) and a string of lingas such as the Pranalingeshwar, Partheshwar, ChandraMouleeshwar and Nanjundeshwar. More information is available here.

After a photo session at the Agumbe sunset point, our final call for the day was on the banks of the Tunga river, the beautiful Shringeri, one of the most prominent Hindu sites of pilgrimage in India. Words can do little justice to the striking scenic features of this place. There is little surprise that Adi Shankara decided to make Shringeri his home ground where he stayed and preached his principles of Advaita Vedantha. The Sharada temple in the premises houses the most pleasing looking deity bedecked in exquisite ornaments.

Nearby is the Vidyashankar temple, acknowledged as an architectural wonder, where the first rays of the sun corresponds with the zodiacal sign of the month that is engraved on its walls!

There runs a bridge across the river and on the other side is a dense rain forest. If not for our packed schedule, we would have loved to stay back in the lovely gardens of Shringeri where there are guest houses run by the temple administration. After an early dinner right outside the temple, we left to Horanadu, where we had planned to stay the night!