Anti-corruption crusader and social activist Anna Hazare’s model village Ralegan Siddhi has caught the attention of neigbouring country, Nepal. On Saturday, a group of Nepali journalists visited the village to learn its success story and attempts at environmental conservation.
The group travelled all the way to Ralegan to understand the concept of percolation tanks, water harvesting, etc. Mr Hazare met the group and shared his ideas on making villages self-sufficient.
“Mr Hazare described the techniques of developing villages in the country. The journalists were very impressed with his concepts,” said Datta Aawari, a close aide of Mr Hazare, emphasising that the social activist believes that a country’s progress is based on the development of its villages.
The group of journalists toured the village and also interacted with the villagers. The journalists also saw the watershed development programme, the can-als and tree plantations. As a parting gift, they gave Mr Hazare a traditional Nepali cap, along with a shawl.
Mr Hazare’s agitation against corruption has aslo inspired women activists and human rights workers in Nepal to take up hunger strikes demanding a new Constitution.
The social activist first started his anti-corruption crusade from Ralegan, when he took voluntary retirement from the Army and returned to his village in 1975.