Anna Hazare ends fast, India celebrates victory against corruption, was a popular headline. Looking as fresh and young as a 30 year old, even though he had not eaten in over 12 days, Anna Hazare broke his fast around 10 a.m. at the Ramlila Maidan where he has been camped with followers for the last 9 days.
Symbolically two little girls, Ikra and Simran, wearing Anna caps, offered him coconut water and honey. He has lost 7+ kgs, but looks as fit and enthusiastic as Day 1 when he started his fast at Tihar jail.
The end to the impasse came when Parliament that had a debate on a Saturday, an unusual event in itself passed a resolution that was largely meaningless, which said a lot, but very little in terms of hard commitments or resolutions, including whether the bill will be tabled let alone passed within a given time period. The resolution was on the lines of :
"This House agrees in principle on the following issues for a strong and effective Lok Pal
A) citizen charter
B) lower bureaucracy to be under Lok Pal through an appropriate mechanism
C) establishment of Lok Ayukts in the states
And further resolves to forward the proceedings of the house to the related Standing Committee for its perusal while finalizing its report."
Nevertheless considering the fact that Anna almost got nothing it all, these major concessions by the ruling UPA and by parliament was a victory of sorts. The final agreement to end the fast came when Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, handed over a letter from the PM to Anna last night.
Letter from Mr. Manmohan Singh to Anna Hazare
The media by and large behaved in a mature manner and did not run amok claiming a victory or defeat for either side. It projected a gain for all. The movement was supported by many across the Board and from various industries. Bollywood had its fair share of participants from Om Puri, to Anupam Kher. The star was Aamir Khan. While asking Anna to end his fast and songs from his hit movie, Lagaan were played. "We have to thank Anna for putting this bill and the issue of corruption in the spotlight. "We need to decide as to how we are going to live our lives... will we give or accept bribes? Will we say no to corruption in our lives?"
A good movement, but the 2 questions that we began with still remain.
When will Parliament pass a strong and effective Lokpal Bill ?
and more importantly
When will we say "No", to corruption. Anna has started a movement. But he needs each of us to join in and say "No" for the movement to have any chance of success. Our elders gave us freedom from he British. Can we give our kids freedom from corruption ?
Symbolically two little girls, Ikra and Simran, wearing Anna caps, offered him coconut water and honey. He has lost 7+ kgs, but looks as fit and enthusiastic as Day 1 when he started his fast at Tihar jail.
The end to the impasse came when Parliament that had a debate on a Saturday, an unusual event in itself passed a resolution that was largely meaningless, which said a lot, but very little in terms of hard commitments or resolutions, including whether the bill will be tabled let alone passed within a given time period. The resolution was on the lines of :
"This House agrees in principle on the following issues for a strong and effective Lok Pal
A) citizen charter
B) lower bureaucracy to be under Lok Pal through an appropriate mechanism
C) establishment of Lok Ayukts in the states
And further resolves to forward the proceedings of the house to the related Standing Committee for its perusal while finalizing its report."
Nevertheless considering the fact that Anna almost got nothing it all, these major concessions by the ruling UPA and by parliament was a victory of sorts. The final agreement to end the fast came when Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, handed over a letter from the PM to Anna last night.
Letter from Mr. Manmohan Singh to Anna Hazare
The media by and large behaved in a mature manner and did not run amok claiming a victory or defeat for either side. It projected a gain for all. The movement was supported by many across the Board and from various industries. Bollywood had its fair share of participants from Om Puri, to Anupam Kher. The star was Aamir Khan. While asking Anna to end his fast and songs from his hit movie, Lagaan were played. "We have to thank Anna for putting this bill and the issue of corruption in the spotlight. "We need to decide as to how we are going to live our lives... will we give or accept bribes? Will we say no to corruption in our lives?"
A good movement, but the 2 questions that we began with still remain.
When will Parliament pass a strong and effective Lokpal Bill ?
and more importantly
When will we say "No", to corruption. Anna has started a movement. But he needs each of us to join in and say "No" for the movement to have any chance of success. Our elders gave us freedom from he British. Can we give our kids freedom from corruption ?
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