Anna Hazare announced that he will call off his four-day-old hunger strike Saturday morning, saying the government had conceded most of the demands related to a stringent Lokpal Bill to combat corruption in India.
More than 83 hours after he launched his fast in the heart of the capital, Anna Hazare told reporters and frenzied supporters: 'From the way the government has accepted (our demands), the people of India have won.'
10:30 pm: 'It is a victory of the democracy,' Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said of the accord that had been reached on forming a joint committee of ministers and civil society leaders to draft an anti-graft legislation that had prompted social reformer Anna Hazare to announce that he would end Saturday morning his fast-unto-death undertaken for the measure.
9:00 pm: Anna Hazare announced that he was continuing with his fast demanding a stringent Lokpal Bill and said he expected a final government response on Saturday.
More than 83 hours after he launched his fast in the heart of the capital, Anna Hazare told reporters and frenzied supporters: 'From the way the government has accepted (our demands), the people of India have won.'
10:30 pm: 'It is a victory of the democracy,' Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said of the accord that had been reached on forming a joint committee of ministers and civil society leaders to draft an anti-graft legislation that had prompted social reformer Anna Hazare to announce that he would end Saturday morning his fast-unto-death undertaken for the measure.
9:00 pm: Anna Hazare announced that he was continuing with his fast demanding a stringent Lokpal Bill and said he expected a final government response on Saturday.
'Our fast is not over,' Anna Hazare said addressing thousands of frenzied supporters in the heart of the capital, amid speculation that the standoff with the government had ended.
8:15 pm: Indicating progress in talks with the government on the proposed formation of a committee for drafting the Lokpak Bill, the emissaries of Anna Hazare said he will soon announce his decision which people would be happy to hear.
"There is some progress in talks with government. Message is to be conveyed to Hazare," activist Arvind Kejriwal, who is one of the three emissaries, said after a meeting with Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. Read on
7:30 pm: India Inc came out with strong support for social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death to demand a stringent anti-graft law.
'I think it is extremely important. We have talked about this for a while. First, you have said there is corruption in India and in many ways it seemed we had accepted it as a fact of life,' Sunil Munjal, chairman of Hero Corporate Services, told.
'But the amount and number of scandals which have broken out in recent times, it has made people sit up and take notice and say this is enough. We need to fix this problem, and so I see in many ways what we are seeing in this movement is a sign of the same thing,' he added.
7:00 pm: Anna Hazare demanded appointment of a chairman and a co-chairman for the proposed joint committee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill and rejected the government's offer of setting up of the committee by a letter of the Law Ministry.
Addressing his supporters, he said his anti-corruption movement has achieved considerable success and will not cow down before the government. "We have not accepted the government's offer of constitution of the committee through a letter from the Law Minister. There should be a government order on behalf of the government," he said. More on Yahoo! India News
6:00 pm: The Anna Hazare-led movement is finding increasing resonance not merely among the citizens of this country, but also those living abroad. One instance: Saturday April 8, at noon, Indian Americans living in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) plan to rally in Times Square, the iconic center of Manhattan in New York, in support of Anna Hazare's demand for a corruption free polity.
5:55 pm: Amid the stalemate over Lokpal Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped up efforts to resolve the issue as he held a second round of deliberations with senior ministers.
5:30 pm: As Hazare's fast-unto-death on the Lokpal Bill issue continues, support for his movement is gaining momentum with people from all walks of life, including scientists, film stars and lawyers saying they have turned up here to send across a 'bigger message'.
For the majority of the people, the movement is not just about drafting of an effective Lokpal Bill, but it is about cautioning the government against ever increasing corruption and scams as a result of which India's imgae has taken a serious beating.
4:50 pm: As a formula designed to end Anna Hazare's fast, the government has offered this solution: a joint drafting committee will be set up with the brief to draw up strict anti-corruption laws, with adequate checks and balances. The ten member committee, to be convened by Law Minister Veerappa Moily, will comprise five ministers and five selected people from society at large, with one of the latter five to be Anna Hazare himself. The resulting bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. "All points of substance (raised by Hazare) have been met," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media. "The Congress is with the crusade against corruption. We have shown that whenever there are credible allegations the Congress party has taken concrete actions and full transparency has been maintained. We are with the nation and with the civil society in this crusade against corruption."
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