Fast forward,1980 to 2011

Why: For recognition of village school

Anna Hazare’s first protest fast came five years after he had left the Army and returned home. It was for the Shri Sant Nikolbarai Vidyalaya,the school he had started with villagers. It had 179 students,42 of them living in hostel rooms built by villagers,but the zilla parishad had refused to recognise it. This meant that the first batch of Std X students had to write their board exams from Ranjangaon. To correct this,Hazare fasted in front of the zilla parishad office in Ahmadnagar,joined by many villagers from Ralegan Siddhi. The administration yielded,bringing the school under the SSC Board.

2 days from June 7,1983

Where: Yadavbaba Mandir,Ralegan Siddhi

Why: Against “indifference” to village projects

Hazare and villagers had organised a mass wedding of 15 couples,one of various projects in a 20-point development programme. They expected 10,000 guests and sought two tankers of drinking water; the district administration sent half a tanker. With other projects too having met with adminsitrative indifference,Hazare began fasting in the village but found no response. On the second day,about 300 villagers took out a morcha in Parner district and blockaded the Pune-Nagar highway. District officials rushed to Hazare and promised to expedite permission and work required for all projects at Ralegan Siddhi. Hazare broke his fast with lime juice from the hands of the oldest villager,Champabai Gadkar,and chairman of the Sant Yadavbaba Educational Society Bhausaheb Auti.

5 days from Feburary 20,1989

Where: Yadavbaba Mandir,Ralegan Siddhi

Why: For farmers’ subsidy

Hazare wanted farmers to experiment with papaya cultivation using a then 50 per cent subsidy scheme for drip irrigation. The government said the subsidy was not for intermittent cultivations or new experiments. Hazare wrote to then chief minister Sharad Pawar that he was going away on a one-month break,wrote a book based on his experiments,and returned to find that the government had not taken action. As he had vowed in his letter to Pawar,he launched a fast unto death. Villagers joined him,Pune’s who’s who rushed to him,and a few of his aides went to Mumbai to meet ministers. The government bowed; the then agriculture minister announced Hazare’s demands had been agreed. On the fourth day Hazare developed kidney trouble. On the fifth,guardian minister Madhukar Pichad went to Ralegan with a letter that all demands had been met. Hazare broke his fast.

9 days from November 20,1989

Where: Yadavbaba Mandir,Ralegan Siddhi

Why: for power supply to farmers

Water was available in plenty in the village but low voltage had resulted in many motors burning out. There also were hours of load shedding. Hazare wrote to the CM for better power supply,compensation for 5,000 motors,a waiver to farmers of one year’s electricity bills,and creation of new electricity subdivisions. The government did not react and the fast began. His health having deteriorated by the seventh day,a protesting Hazare was moved by the administration to a hospital. His supporters embarked on a district-wide road blockade on November 27. On the Pune-Nagar highway,so many villagers were agitating that it was policemen who had to round up the women among them,leading to protests,stone pelting and finally police firing that left four farmers dead. Under fire,the government yielded,sanctioning Rs 4 crore for three new electricity sub-divisions that have since solved much of the farmers’ problems.

6 days from May 1,1994

Where: Sant Dnaneshwar Samadhi,Alandi

Why: For action against “corrupt” officials

In 1990,Hazare wrote to district and forest officials and sarpanches across the date asking for details of purchases by the Social Forestry and Environment Department. The replies showed three to five times the market price had been paid,with Rs 60 lakh apparently misappropriated. Besides,of Rs 145 crore sanctioned for water supply to arid areas,only Rs 46 crore was accounted for. Hazare demanded an inquiry against 17 officials,went on a 44-day maun vrat,and wrote to the CM in June 1991 threatening to return his Padma Shri. Years later,the government wrote back that a departmental inquiry has been ordered against the 17. Not satisfied,Hazare,on April 14,1994,put the Padma Shri ceremonially into a bag and sent it to the President. On April 29,CM Sharad Pawar suspended three of the 17. The fast from May 1 was against the other 14. This time he got support right from V P Singh to Mumbai municipal commissioner G R Khairnar,with 3,000 flocking to Alandi everyday. With Assembly elections round the corner,the government promised to complete the inquiry against the rest in 15 days. Hazare broke his fast with food from the hands of industrialist Navlamal Firodia.

12 days from November 20,1996

Where: Yadavbaba Mandir,Ralegan Siddhi

Why: For action against “corrupt” minsiters

This remains the longest of them all. A year after the BJP-Shiv Sena combine came to power,Hazare “unearthed” 253 cases of corruption in the government and demanded an inquiry. CM Manohar Joshi arrived at Ralegan Siddhi on November 9,1996,and arranged a meeting in Mumbai on November 17 but Hazare skipped it after Narayan Rane made some strong remarks against him. He began fasting unto death on November 20,demanding the resignation of ministers Shashikant Sutar and Mahadev Shivankar. Both did resign on the eighth day but Hazare kept fasting,demanding a three-member probe committee. On November 30,the government decided it would make no more compromises. By the 12th day,the entire village had pledged to fast unto death with their leader,who then relented. He had zunka bhakar from the hands of his mother. Later,government committees acquitted both Sutar and Shivankar.

10 days from May 10,1997

Where: Yadavbaba Mandir,Ralegan Siddhi

Why: For probe into his own trust

This one was against corruption allegations raised by minister Shashikant Sutar against Hazare’s Hind Swaraj Trust; the latter went on fast demanding a probe. The tainted minister alleged misappropriation of Rs 22 crore. With Hazare fasting,the government agreed on an investigation into the trust account. The probe found that out of the Rs 60 lakh the trust had received from the government,Rs 15 lakh had been unspent and returned to the government. On May 19,the report was made public and Hazare broke his fast.

10 days from August 9,1999

Where: Sant Dnaneshwar Samadhi,Alandi

Cause: Against lack of action against “corrupt” officials

On July 30,Hazare wrote to the Sena-BJP government asking what action had been taken against corrupt officials about whom he had been repeatedly informing the government. He embarked on a maun vrat and signalled an intention to go on a fast unto death from August 9. The government suspended six officers over a land survey scam in Ahmadnagar and served show-cause notices to four in the agriculture department but Hazare,far from satisfied,ended his silence on August 8 and went to Alandi on August 9 to start his fast unto death. Visitors such as Dr Raghunath Mashelkar,industrialist Abhay Firodia and Vijay Kuvlekar urged him to end the fast. Finally,Anna relented,announcing that he would now strive to get the Right To Information Act passed.

9 days from August 9,2003

Where: Azad Maidan,Mumbai

Why: For probe against ministers

This was about corruption again,with Hazare raising charges against four NCP ministers. Then chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde formed a one-man commission with retired judge P B Sawant to probe his charges. It is this committee’s report that the Congress has now raked up in calling Hazare corrupt,though a task force had since absolved him of any wrongdoing that could be punishable. Hazare ended the fast after the Sawant committee was set up. Its report,submitted in 2005,indicted Suresh Jain,Nawab Malik and Padmasinh Patil,leading to the resignation of the first two,but cleared Vijaykumar Gavit. The panel also rapped Hazare for lodging complaints without proper research and rather relying on what people around him were saying.

9 days from February 9,2004

Where: Ralegan Siddhi

Why: For effective implementation of RTI Act

An RTI Act was in place in Maharashtra but its provisions were yet to implemented fully. After a maun vrat of 11 days,Hazare started a fast for a stronger Act. Talks with Balasaheb Thorat and Dilip Walse Patil failed. R R Patil visited Hazare and it was agreed,as per Hazare’s demand,to appoint RTI officials for specified functions as well as commissioners to hear appeals.

10 days from December 24,2005

Where: Ralegan Siddhi

Why: For probe against those found guilty in report

There had been little progress on the inquiry against those found guilty by the Justice Sawant Commission. There was also talk that the three who had been indicted — Padmasinh Patil,Nawab Malik and Suresh Jain — would find places in the new cabinet. In the wake of Hazare’s fast,the government gave an assurance that this would not happen and the inquiry process would be expedited.

11 days from August 9,2006

Where: Alandi

Why: against proposed amendment to RTI Act

On 20 July 2006,the Union Cabinet decided to amend the RTI Act of 2005 by excluding file notings by government officials from under its purview. Hazare began fasting against the proposed amendment. He ended his fast after the government agreed to revoke that decision. “I count this among my most successful fasts,” Hazare would later tell The Indian Express.

9 days from October 2,2009

Where: ralegan Siddhi

Why: For action against Padmasinh Patil who allegedly plotted to kill him

Padamsinh Patil,accused in Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar’s murder,had been suspended by the NCP,arrested by the CBI and released on bail. Hazare then filed a complaint alleging that the leader had conspired to murder him,too. Patil had allegedly given the contract to hitman Parasman Jain,who reportedly refused to take up the job. Hazare went on a hunger-strike seeking action and called it off after an assurance that action would be taken.

5 days from March 16,2010

Where: Raelgan Siddhi

Why: Against cooperatives scam

Poor farmers who had invested their savings in cooperatives were not getting their money back. Hazare made enquiries and found that 462 of the 7,200 cooperatives and loan institutions institutes recognised by the government were strugling. Hazare’s fast was on the demand that the government return the money to all farmers,putting in Rs 170 crore and laying down stricter rules for such institutions. On the fifth day,the government agreed to all conditions with Harshvardhan Patil and others travelling to Ralegan to meet Hazare. New laws were eventually enacted for stricter control of cooperatives

5 days from April 5,2011

Where: Jantar Mantar,New Delhi

Why: For Lokpal Bill

until Tihar Jail,this was the fast that most recently caught the public attention. It was for a Lokpal bill to tackle corruption,with Team Anna ready with a wish list for what it should contain. With unprecedented media attention on the fast,the government agreed to set up a joint committee of ministers and civil society activists,including Hazare,to draft a Lokpal bill. Eventually,they would fail to agree; the Bill that has emerged is at the centre of his current protest.