India didn't have a good start as a nation after gaining independence in 1947. It may also be attributed to the fact that India lacked the guidance of its father(Gandhi, as he was assassinated shortly after independence) as India started out as a free independent nation. However, over the span of past twenty-thirty years, India has started to emerge as a potential superpower on the world stage. Since the last ten years, India has been one of the fastest growing economies of the world. India is also considered to be the fourth strongest military power in the world. India has one of the largest air and naval fleets in the world. Despite all this progress, India has continuously suffered from internal corruption and inefficiency of the government. India is ranked eighty-seven among 182 countries, in regards of corruption (by Transparency International). India also has the highest sum of unaccounted money in the Swiss banks, among all other nations of the world. In the last few years a series of governmental scams, sparked a new Indian leader, Anna Hazare along with a large number of Indians to stand against the government.
Anna Hazare and the people of India, has been fighting for a reform bill called the "Lokpal Bill". Since 1968 "Lokpal Bill" has been introduced ten times in the Indian Parliament, but was always rejected. "Lokpal Bill" demands the formation of an independent non-governmental committee, called the "Lokpal Committee" which would directly conduct investigations and prosecutions on government officials, judges and politicians for their acts of corruption. The "Lokpal committee" would be free from any governmental control, which would enable it to conduct all its investigations impartially. Anna Hazare, the leader of this movement resorted to Gandhian methods like peaceful protest marches and hunger strikes to revolt against the government. The Indian Parliament accepted the "Lokpal Bill" few months back, but many of the key factors of the bill originally proposed were missing, making the bill really insignificant. Anna Hazare and his followers held another hunger strike for thirteen continuous days which ended recently after the parliament accepted the proposed changes in the bill. Anna said this was the victory of the people of India against the corrupt government. Next in Anna's agenda is electoral reforms.
Once again it has been proved that the power of peaceful protest is far greater than guns, missiles, bombs and tanks. I hope all the fanatics of the world may understand this simple message from the simplest men like Gandhi, Martin, Nelson and Anna.
