Hazare

Hazare is being taken to a hospital for a few days of observation, and will slowly be introduced to soft foods again.

Hazare wants a lokpal to be able to expose and prosecute the prime minister himself, as well as members of India's judiciary.

Hazare, a veteran advocate for social justice, was campaigning for a strong anti corruption (Lokpal) bill with three specific components.

Mr Hazare's campaign has turned him from a noted social reformer into a national figure.

"If the police accomodates his demands, he [Mr Hazare] can go and start fasting wherever that's possible, " he said.

Mr. Hazare and his supporters wanted all government officials, including the prime minister, to be covered by the Lokpal Bill.

Mr Hazare, who's been on hunger strike for nearly two weeks, has said he'll formally end his fast on Sunday.

But Team Hazare has no plans to tackle much of this.

'Keep the flame burning, ' Mr. Hazare said. 'The battle for change has started.

One of Mr. Hazare's top aides said he will be hospitalized for two to three days to recover.

Singh's government and members of the opposition have urged Hazare to let doctors feed him intravenously, but the activist has refused.

Hazare says a parliamentary discussion alone is not enough to fix India's endemic corruption.

Anna Hazare continued his hunger strike in a muddy field in Delhi, surrounded by thousands of chanting supporters.

This could be a fantastically large sum, and Mr Hazare's supporters hope this windfall may be released into India's economy.

By mid-week Mr Hazare's supporters claimed they were within sight of a great triumph.

Both houses of parliament were once again adjourned early in an uproar of shouts over the Hazare protests.

Antigraft activist Anna Hazare broke his hunger strike Sunday morning after the Indian government conceded to his demands.

NEW DELHI: Protests swelled across the nation on Wednesday in support of Gandhian Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death in Tihar Jail.

The Congress-led government of Manmohan Singh has already offered a Lokpal of its own, but Mr Hazare says it is too weak.

India's ruling Congress party has submitted its own version of the anti-corruption bill demanded by Hazare.

Ironically, though Mr Hazare is rural, the urban middle class, a child of India's rising prosperity, has formed the base of the movement.

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption has struck a chord in other Asian countries similarly bedeviled by corruption.

But the Hazare protests were not about government handouts. They were about government oppression.

Thousands of people gathered to witness Hazare breaking his fast, cheering as the 74-year-old sipped coconut water.

This week Mr Hazare halted his strike with a cup of honeyed coconut water after the government agreed to pass tougher laws against graft.

Although I share Anna Hazare's rage against corruption, I feel ambivalent.

An op-ed about Mr. Hazare's protest movement in the Times of India had just the right title: 'It's the middle class, stupid. '

Mr Hazare, who has himself lost 6kg, is prone on a platform nearby, framed by a huge poster of Mahatma Gandhi, whose methods he has adopted.

Supporters of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare hold a candlelight vigil in Gauhati, India.

Even some of the good elements in the Hazare proposal are unworkable.

Hazare says he is drinking water and has lost nearly six kilograms, but he has excellent medical supervision.

Mr. Hazare's bill is needed medicine, but it is being administered long after the sickness appeared.

But, unlike Gandhi, Mr Hazare's contempt for the average voter is obvious.

Mr. Hazare launched his first hunger strike, a five-day fast, in April.

But one should be careful about using the term "modern day Gandhi" for Mr Hazare.

On April 8, the day before Anna Hazare broke his fast, I was in Cairo to present the 'Indian model' for Egypt's future.

Mr Hazare's proposed cure is equally mistaken.

Anna Hazare's original version was hugely flawed but with persistence we will soon have an effective law.

Hazare had fasted in April and forced the government to agree to include his team in drafting the bill.

On September 4th the first national opinion poll after Mr Hazare's protests showed BJP support of 32%, up from 23% in May.

Anna Hazare said Saturday he will end his fast on Sunday morning.

The government desperately needs some bright ideas: first on how better to respond to Mr Hazare;

There are better ways to curb corruption than those proposed by Anna Hazare