Anna Hazare: Government not working to give farmers fair prices

Indian social activist Anna Hazare waves the national flag during a protest against the government in New Delhi on Friday. PIC/AFP

Launching a fresh anti-corruption agitation with an indefinite fast on Friday, social activist Anna Hazare said his efforts to communicate with the Modi government on issues of Lokpal and agrarian distress had yielded no result.

"I have written 43 letters to the Modi government in the last four years but did not get any reply," he said soon after he began his hunger strike at the sprawling Ramlila Maidan after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
"The farmers in the country are in distress as they are not getting remunerative prices and the government is not acting to ensure fair prices."

Hazare has been pressing for setting up Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in the states to probe corruption cases, bring in new electoral reforms and implementation of the M S Swaminathan Committee report to address the agrarian crisis in the country.

He said he would hold discussions with the government during the agitation but his indefinite hunger strike 'Satyagraha' would continue "till the government comes out with a concrete action plan". The activist, who held a major agitation in 2011 against corruption, said Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and some ministers from Maharashtra met him on Thursday and gave certain assurances.

2011
The year Anna Hazare had held a major agitation against corruption

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