A look at the Anti corruption movement in India, led by Anna Hazare, the related events and results and its implications on CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and Policy Makers.

1. Civil Society @ Crossroads

2. Corruption in India
• Corruption exists among the
public officials with incredible
impunity affecting the dignity
and rights, leading to lack of
transparency and
accountability
• Sporadic activisms by civil
society ineffective
• Media activism on recent
corruption stories was an
impetus

3. Anti-Corruption Movement
• In such a backdrop, the Anti-Corruption Movement was
launched in April 2011 headed by Kisan Baburao Hazare,
popularly known as Anna Hazare
• Hazare, a known crusader against corruption, started
'indefinite fast' at a historical monument in New Delhi along with
his associates, popularly known as 'Team Annna'

4. Objectives of the Movement
• Two basic demands of the movement include:
- Demand for a strong ‘Anti Corruption Law’
- Demand for involving civil society in drafting of this law by
forming a joint drafting committee
• On the face of popular support finally, one of the senior
Ministers announced on behalf of the government invited 'Team
Anna' to join the joint drafting committee
• During the darfting of the bill, serious differences emerged,
raising questions about the intent of the government

5. Events and Results
• Along side Anna's movement, one of the spiritual leaders named
Swami Ramdev with 60,000 thousand followers against black
money which was immediately crashed by the government
received condemnation widely
• Seeing Government’s unwillingness to introduce the Bill, Anna
announced another hunger strike
• Police arrested Anna
• This time, the movement spread like a wild fire in thousands of
villages and towns
• On the 27th of August the bill was introduced in the Parliament
but could not be passed in the entire session

6. Glimpses: Ramlila Maidan

7. Events and Results
• Before December 2011 session of the Parliament, Anna again
sat on a day-long fast
• Political leaders even from some of the opposition parties
started questioning Anna's intentions and suggested that
Parliament should have the last word on the content of the
bill and not the civil society
• Since April 2011, 19 months have passed, the government
still could not pass the bill as law. New corruption stories are
again hitting the newspaper headlines; meanwhile, some of
the members of Team Anna hinted at forming political
parties; the story continues; people are watching, debating,
but still waiting to see a corruption free India

8. Implications for Practitioners
• Anna's movement has created huge debate in the public
domain and set the public mood in right direction, prompting
the CSOs involved in the policy influencing processes to reflect
and revisit their strategies
• Anna's movement sought and mobilised resources and support
from the ordinary citizens, therefore, maintained the autonomy
to a large extent
• For the first time in contemporary history, the middle class en
masse has outshined the intermediary CSOs by staking claims in
governance reforms; this is a significant departure and CSOs
now need to figure out how do they position themselves vis-a-
vis this large middle class both in urban and rural areas

9. Implications for Policy Makers
• The policy and law making
processes, so far, have been
insulated from any kind of
public debate
• This movement have shown
that people are eager to
participate in the policy
debate and policy makers
must listen to them before
making the policy