Anna Hazare for the NOBEL Prize
Posted 30th August 2011 at 12:31 AM by Dr. L. Ramakrishnan
I was toying with the idea of writing this blog for a few days now. This subject, although India related, may be of interest to people all over the world. After a lot of internal debate within me I thought I should write a SHORT blog on the subject.
In this world where we see violence everywhere, a "silent" non-violent revolution had taken place in India. When people came to the street in Egypt and Libya, there have been violent clashes between the people and those in authority. For the last about 15 days India had been witnessing a 74 year old man, Anna Hazare, and his team fighting the mighty Indian Government to table a bill on Corruption (Jan Lokpal Bill) in the Parliament (by the way, India ranks 87th with a score of 3.3 in the Transparency International's corruption Index 2010). After exhausting all the regular avenues like petitioning, representing, discussing with the Government on the subject finally Anna Hazare went on "Fasting unto Death" (even though he called it Fasting to press for his demands) to press the Government to Act. He got un-precedented support from all over India from the young and the old, the rich and the poor and from people from all professions, cutting across all the religious barriers. As the days passed the crowds started swelling and the Government, which acted stupid and in bad faith in the beginning, realized that it had to act. Only those who had dealt with Government Departments in India will know the lethargy of and corruption in the Government and its departments. By the 11th day of the fast, the Government moved and moved a resolution in both the houses of the parliament to address the issues raised by Anna Hazare. The old man, who was cheerful in spite of the fasting for over 11 days finally ended his fast on the 12 th day (28 August 2011) after the assurance from the Government to consider the Jan Lokpal Bill (along with other versions available to it) to formulate a strong Anti-Corruption Law in India. This movement shows that still we are able to sort out issues in non-violent ways in democracies where people's representatives at time behave as though they are immune to people's needs. It also shows that democracies survive by listening to the people's will in spite of lethargy and bad governance.
In this world full of violence Anna Hazare has shown that Mahatma Gandhi's principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) still works to voice people's concerns; he has shown that we can achieve our objectives collectively without violence. In my opinion he deserves the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE this year.
In this world where we see violence everywhere, a "silent" non-violent revolution had taken place in India. When people came to the street in Egypt and Libya, there have been violent clashes between the people and those in authority. For the last about 15 days India had been witnessing a 74 year old man, Anna Hazare, and his team fighting the mighty Indian Government to table a bill on Corruption (Jan Lokpal Bill) in the Parliament (by the way, India ranks 87th with a score of 3.3 in the Transparency International's corruption Index 2010). After exhausting all the regular avenues like petitioning, representing, discussing with the Government on the subject finally Anna Hazare went on "Fasting unto Death" (even though he called it Fasting to press for his demands) to press the Government to Act. He got un-precedented support from all over India from the young and the old, the rich and the poor and from people from all professions, cutting across all the religious barriers. As the days passed the crowds started swelling and the Government, which acted stupid and in bad faith in the beginning, realized that it had to act. Only those who had dealt with Government Departments in India will know the lethargy of and corruption in the Government and its departments. By the 11th day of the fast, the Government moved and moved a resolution in both the houses of the parliament to address the issues raised by Anna Hazare. The old man, who was cheerful in spite of the fasting for over 11 days finally ended his fast on the 12 th day (28 August 2011) after the assurance from the Government to consider the Jan Lokpal Bill (along with other versions available to it) to formulate a strong Anti-Corruption Law in India. This movement shows that still we are able to sort out issues in non-violent ways in democracies where people's representatives at time behave as though they are immune to people's needs. It also shows that democracies survive by listening to the people's will in spite of lethargy and bad governance.
In this world full of violence Anna Hazare has shown that Mahatma Gandhi's principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) still works to voice people's concerns; he has shown that we can achieve our objectives collectively without violence. In my opinion he deserves the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE this year.
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Comments
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Thanks for your voice in this. There are many "events" happening globally. This gets into politics and all that, but I believe the bottom line is: Honesty, Transparency and Realism in governments. The option of Mahatma Gandhi's principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) is always there. In the US it is called Peaceful Protest these days, but it's getting the short end of the stick.
I wish Anna Hazare success in the anti-corruption cause.Posted 30th August 2011 at 11:54 PM by Marc 
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Thank you Marc for pitching in. Warm regards, Ramakrishnan
Posted 31st August 2011 at 12:50 AM by Dr. L. Ramakrishnan 
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I was itching to write this then and there, but kept fingers crossed in order to not sound pessimistic. Now that, with Anna Movement possibly becoming a History or at least having taken a back foot, I can't help but drop my opinion.
I always believed that if Anna and his team could have done it, I would regard it as an achievement that superseded even what was accomplished by Neil Armstrong by landing on the Moon. I don't question the Integrity, Values, Credibility etc etc what Anna and his team carries with them and there is no doubt whatsoever about the objective of their Movement in bringing some element of peace in common man's life. All I am saying is, given the inherent variability in the situation, it had been, it is and will be almost impossible for the team to achieve their Objectives, Thanks to some crooked, hypocritical, opportunistic, self-centered politicians. Of late, I thought they relied too much on some vested interests who apparently only exploited the situation to their benefit. There were possibly some Management failures like end objective OK but Strategy failed, communication of their Vision was really strong, but flexibility was the concern. IMO the task in hand is so mammoth that even a team comprising of the best of the CEOs across the globe could have done little to change things in the time frame that we expected. One only hopes that Team Anna does not get deterred by ugly politics, because the distance they have traveled already is itself incredible. It is time for them to look forward and achieve what is realistically possible.Posted 7th January 2012 at 11:40 PM by Chennaiite
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The Nobel Committe rejected the nomimination of Mahathma Gandhi long back.
SitapatyPosted 8th January 2012 at 02:29 AM by sitapaty
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