Anna Hazare ends fast

MUMBAI: Noted social activist Anna Hazare broke his fast, which had entered its ninth day, after the Maharashstra government late on Sunday gave a written undertaking to comply with almost all his demands aimed to usher in a radical change in administrative work and curb corruption.
The Gandhian crusader accepted a glass of juice from 80-year-old Tukaram Dada Gitacharya, an eminent social worker from Chandrapur in Vidarba region after receiving a letter from state chief secretary Ajit Nimbalkar conveying the state''s accepatance to his major demands.
The state, however, firmly declined to concede to Hazare''s demand for the resignation of four ''corrupt'' ministers and the appointment of a three-member judicial bench to probe allegations of corrution against Suresh Jain, Padamsinh Patil, Vijaykumar Gavit, Nawab Malik as also the trusts headed by the Gandhian crusader.
"I have agreed to step down on my demands on the resignation of the four ministers and for a three-member judicial probe. Chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde spoke to me over the phone and urged me to reconsider these two demands. He said the resignations will threaten the very existence of the DF government and it may collapse. "If there is no government then who would fulfil our demands," Hazare said in his brief address to the over 300-odd gathering who had assembled at the pandal in Azad Maidan on Sunday.
Hazare who has lost four kgs during the nine day of his fast showed first signs of jaundice, according to his personal doctor D J Pote. "His liver and kidney functions are affected and his general condition is weak," said Pote.
Food and civil supplies minister Suresh Jain, who was also on a protest fast demanding a probe against Hazare''s trust for alleged financial irregularities had called off his fast on Saturday.
Hazare said his agitation was not against any individual or any political party. "Although the picture was that I was fighting Suresh Jain I want to clarify that all I was asking for was the rights of the people. In democracy the voters are the masters and they have to have the right to know and ask for transparency in the government," he said.
State rural development minister R R Patil was expected to offer the glass of juice to Hazare. However, Patil, who is the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party, backed out fearing a backlash from party members. Shinde too was out of town and had instructed chief secretary against going to Hazare''s pandal.
The state, however, communicated with Hazare through noted author and expert on water conservation Sudhir Bhongale. The draft of the demands, which were agreeable to the state was first shown to Hazare early in the day. However, the social activist insisted that the state chief secretary put his official seal and sign the letter.
Nimbalkar is said to have been reluctant to ink the papers and only on the intervention of Shinde and Patil and laborious reworking on the draft that the senior IAS officer agreed to sign the two-page note.
Among the demands agreed to include fresh amendments in the proposed law on regulating transfers. The state home department and the forest department which were earlier exempted from this law would also come under the purview of the proposed law and decision on transfers would be taken at the administrative level and not by the ministers.
The state has also agreed to incorporate any suggestions on this draft which would be given to Anna Hazare and retiered bureaucrats Madhav Godbole and Julio Ribeiro for scrutiny.
To ensure transparency in the transfer policy, the state also agreed to constitute a committee under the chief secretary which would also include a member nominated by Hazare.
The government has also assured Hazare that the judicial commission of inquiry would be given a time-frame of three months to finalise its report.
On Hazare''s chief demand for right to recall powers to the gram sabha, the state has said that if any sarpanch is found guilty of financial irregularities the gram sabha would be authorised to recall him. The issue, however, will be discussed in the cabinet before it is converted into a law.