India Jails Anticorruption Activist New Delhi Imprisons Hazare After Banning Him From Hunger Strike to Demand Stronger Ombudsman

NEW DELHI—Delhi police jailed an anticorruption advocate on Tuesday after earlier preventing him from going on a public hunger strike to demand the government create an even-more-powerful ombudsman than envisioned in a bill before Parliament.
Anna Hazare was arrested early Tuesday morning under a temporary legal provision that bans public gatherings and protests at a New Delhi park where he was planning to hold his hunger strike, said Rajan Bhagat, spokesman for the Delhi police. Mr. Bhagat said the prohibition was issued after Mr. Hazare refused to agree to the police's conditions for allowing the protest, including restricting the fast to three days and limiting the number of protesters at the site to 5,000.
Mr. Hazare, 73 years old, was later sent to the capital's Tihar Jail for seven days after he failed to post bail or to promise before a magistrate not to defy the protest ban, which remains in place. He is now in the same jail as politicians arrested in recent months in connection with a slew of government scandals that created a wellspring of support for the activist's anticorruption efforts.
Mr. Bhagat said the police issued an "unconditional release warrant" for Mr. Hazare and his aides late Tuesday night. An aide to Mr. Hazare who was released told television reporters outside the jail that Mr. Hazare has said he won't leave until he receives "written assurance" from the government that he will be allowed to go ahead with his plan for the hunger strike.

Indian social activist Anna Hazare greets supporters from a police vehicle in New Delhi on August 16, 2011, after his arrest by police authorities.
Mr. Hazare's detention comes amid a push by anticorruption campaigners in recent months for the Congress party-led government to take concrete action against rampant corruption in the nation's political system. He went on a similar fast in April, after which the government formed a joint committee of five civil-society representatives and five senior government ministers to draft a bill establishing an anticorruption ombudsman.
But Mr. Hazare and his colleagues on the committee soon disagreed with government negotiators over the scope of the ombudsman's jurisdiction. The government in late July approved a draft of the legislation, known as the Lokpal Bill, but Mr. Hazare's anticorruption campaigners have burned copies in protest, saying it fell short of their demand that all government officials, including the prime minister, fall under the bill's purview. The bill included most government offices under its jurisdiction, but government officials said several of Mr. Hazare's demands, particularly bringing a sitting prime minister under the proposed ombudsman's purview, were "impractical" and contradicted the supremacy of parliamentary democracy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the government was committed to acting against corruption and that it wanted a "strong Lokpal to prevent corruption in high places."
Addressing the nation on India's Independence Day, Mr. Singh said those who disagree with the version of the bill in Parliament had the right to do so, but "they should not resort to hunger strikes and fasts unto death."
Government ministers defended Tuesday's police action at a news conference after Mr. Hazare's arrest.
"This government is not against democratic peaceful protest. We acknowledge that right," said Home Minister P. Chidambaram. "But to say we will defy the conditions, we will defy the orders, I think that's unacceptable in a democracy."
Television footage on Indian channels from outside Mr. Hazare's residence Tuesday morning showed his supporters waving Indian flags and shouting slogans against the government. India Against Corruption, a group that supports Mr. Hazare and his campaign, circulated a text message urging people to protest the police action against Mr. Hazare. "Come in large numbers. Today, the final battle has begun," the message read.
As the day went on, protesters also gathered in other cities in the country.
In New Delhi, riot police cordoned off the park where Mr. Hazare's fast was supposed to take place. More than two dozen protesters gathered a few hundred meters away from the park and shouted slogans against Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, who is in the U.S. for medical treatment. Police detained them a few minutes later. Ajay Sahni, a 30-year-old lawyer at a local court in Delhi, said he had come out in support of Mr. Hazare because he was "fed up with corruption."
At an afternoon news conference, Delhi's police chief said more than 1,400 protesters had been detained and were being bused to a sports stadium in the north of the city. A police officer told The Wall Street Journal that they would be released later in the day.
Arun Jaitley, a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, condemned the detainment of Mr. Hazare.
"Does he have a right to protest? Does he have a right to dissent? Or have we abandoned civil rights in this country?" Mr. Jaitley asked on Indian television channel NDTV.
"This is a very sad day for Indian democracy," he said.
On Tuesday morning, police also detained two other top anticorruption campaigners in Mr. Hazare's camp: information-rights activist Arvind Kejriwal, who is also now in Tihar Jail, and former senior police officer Kiran Bedi.

Team Anna's deliverables for its 15-day protest.

New Delhi: Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign will set up its base camp at Ramlila Maidan tomorrow, a large public space in Central Delhi.

The Delhi Police, after extensive negotiations, agreed that it would not place any limits on either the size of the gathering or on the length of Anna's hunger strike (he has been fasting since Tuesday). (Read: Anna Hazare stays in Tihar tonight, 15-day protest starts tomorrow at Ramlila Maidan)

Anna will spend tonight at Tihar Jail and move to Ramlila Maidan tomorrow, since today is being spent on preparations for the thousands that are expected.

Team Anna has signed off on a list of prerequisites from the Delhi Police. Among them, that the crowd will not exceed the official capacity of the ground, which is around 25,000 people. The permission for the fast has been given till September 2, 2011. (Read: Read Team Anna's 'contract' with police for 15-day fast)

In the undertaking signed by Anna and his associates - Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Shanti Bhushan - they also said that if any clause is violated, they will be liable.

Anna and any others who are fasting will be examined by doctors thrice a day. Team Anna shall arrange for drinking water, first aid, mobile toilets and proper lighting. Three associates of Anna will be in constant touch with the police. Anna's aides are responsible for ensuring that the crowd remains calm and does not break the law.

There will be no damage to public property; the crowd will not spill over to roads in the area; the protesters will cooperate with traffic police to ensure there are no jams.

In keeping with Supreme Court guidelines, loudspeakers cannot be used after 10 pm. No participant in the protest will be allowed to make provocative speeches or carry lathis or fire arms.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/team-anna-s-deliverables-for-its-15-day-protest-127450&cp

After 120 years Dabbawaal goes on strike in support to Anna Hazare.

A dabbawala, also spelled as dabbawalla or dabbawallah is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai who is employed in a unique service industry whose primary business is collecting the freshly cooked food in lunch boxes from the residences of the office workers (mostly in the suburbs), delivering it to their respective workplaces and returning back the empty boxes by using various modes of transport. "Tiffin" is an old-fashioned English word for a light lunch, and sometimes for the box it is carried in. For this reason, the dabbawalas are sometimes called Tiffin Wallahs.
The word "Dabbawala" in Marathi when literally translated means "one who carries a box". "Dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical tin or aluminum container), while "wala" is a suffix, denoting a doer of the preceding word[1]. The closest meaning of the Dabbawala in English would be the "lunch box delivery man". Though this profession seems to be simple, it is actually a highly specialized service in Mumbai which is over a century old and has become integral to the cultural life of this city.
The concept of the dabbawala originated when India was under British rule. Many British people who came to the colony did not like the local food, so a service was set up to bring lunch to these people in their workplace straight from their home. Nowadays, although Indian business men are the main customers for the dabbawalas, increasingly affluent families employ them instead for lunch delivery to their school-aged children. Even though the services provided might include cooking, it primarily consists of only delivery either home-made or in that latter case, food ordered from a restaurant.
At 19,373 persons per km², Mumbai is India's most densely populated city with a huge flow of traffic. Because of this, lengthy commutes to workplaces are common, with many workers traveling by train.
Instead of going home for lunch or paying for a meal in a café, many office workers have a cooked meal sent either from their home, or sometimes from a caterer who delivers it to them as well, essentially cooking and delivering the meal in lunch boxes and then having the lunch boxes collected and re-sent the next day. This is usually done for a monthly fee. The meal is cooked in the morning and sent in lunch boxes carried by dabbawalas, who have a complex association and hierarchy across the city.

A collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas from homes or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a color or symbol. The dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). The markings include the rail station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered.
At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses.
This service was originated in 1880. Later, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men.In 1930, he informally attempted to unionize the dabbawallas. Later a charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai Tiffin Box Carriers Association. The present President of the association is Raghunath Medge. Nowadays, the service often includes cooking of foods in addition to the delivery.

It is estimated that the dabbawala industry grows by 5-10% each year.
Each dabbawala, regardless of role, gets paid about two to four thousand rupees per month (around 25–50 British pounds or 40–80 US dollars).
More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunch boxes get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries, statistically equivalent to a Six Sigma (99.9999) rating.
The BBC has produced a documentary on dabbawalas, and Prince Charles, during his visit to India, visited them (he had to fit in with their schedule, since their timing was too precise to permit any flexibility). Owing to the tremendous publicity, some of the dabbawalas were invited to give guest lectures in top business schools of India, which is very unusual. Most remarkably in the eyes of many Westerners, the success of the dabbawala trade has involved no advanced technology.
The New York Times reported in 2007 that the 125-year-old dabbawala industry continues to grow at a rate of 5–10% per year.
Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery men as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace modern information technology, and now allow booking for delivery through SMS. A web site, mydabbawala.com, has also been added to allow for on-line booking, in order to keep up with the times.An on-line poll on the web site ensures that customer feedback is given pride of place. The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would be the envy of a modern manager. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and barefoot delivery men (there are only a few delivery women) who form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all. A simple colour coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. There are no multiple elaborate layers of management either — just three layers. Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the form of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark Gandhi topi (cap). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of each unit.
Uninterrupted services.

The service is uninterrupted even on the days of severe weather such as Mumbai's characteristic monsoons. The local dabbawalas at the receiving and the sending ends are known to the customers personally, so that there is no question of lack of trust. Also, they are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to, which allows them to access any destination with ease. Occasionally, people communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the boxes. However, this was more common before the accessibility of instant telecommunications.

India Activist Nears Deal for Release Aide to Anticorruption Advocate Says Police Agree to Terms for Hunger Strike

NEW DELHI—An aide to jailed Indian activist Anna Hazare said the anticorruption advocate had reached a deal with police early Thursday under which he would leave detention and stage his planned hunger-strike protest in the capital for up to 15 days.

The tentative word came after several thousand people gathered in central Delhi and other Indian cities on Wednesday evening in support of Mr. Hazare, 73 years old, who was jailed on Tuesday after refusing to agree to conditions on his proposed hunger strike to call for a more powerful anticorruption ombudsman.

Kiran Bedi, an aide to Mr. Hazare and former senior Delhi police officer, said via Twitter that Mr. Hazare had accepted the police offer to begin his fast at Ramlila Grounds in Delhi for 15 days after police removed "unacceptable conditions" that she didn't specify in her post.

Rajan Bhagat, spokesman for the Delhi police, said the police had earlier put a total of 20 conditions to allow Mr. Hazare to fast at a public park in Delhi where he was supposed to start his hunger strike on Tuesday. Mr. Hazare and his team agreed on 14 conditions and there were disagreements on other police demands like the number of protesters at the site to not exceed 5,000, fast to not continue beyond 3 days and number of cars at the parking area of the park not exceed 50, Mr. Bhagat said Thursday morning.

As a part of the compromise reached between Mr. Hazare and the police early Thursday, Mr. Hazare will now sit on fast at the city's Ramlila Grounds for up to 15 days with police relaxing the restriction of the number of protesters and vehicles at the new protest site to as much as the place can hold, according to Mr. Bhagat. Mr. Hazare and team have also agreed to allow a team of one private doctor and one government doctor to regularly inspect Mr. Hazare's health when he is on fast. They have also agreed to not use loudspeakers at the proposed new protest site between 10 in the night to 6 in the morning, Mr. Bhagat added.

On Wednesday, people at the India Gate monument near Parliament surrounded a battery of television news trucks, chanting "Anna, we're with you!" and "Long Live Anna!" in Hindi as they held candles and waved Indian flags and banners. Television footage showed smaller crowds in other cities including Bangalore and Chennai.

Mr. Hazare remained in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, which also houses several politicians arrested in recent months in connection with corruption scandals that have rocked the government and helped fuel support for the activist's campaign.

Mr. Hazare has been a sharp thorn in the government's side. Officials have acknowledged the government was caught off guard by his original fast in April, which tapped into growing discontent, especially among India's middle class.

Following the April hunger strike, the Congress party-led government formed a joint committee of five civil-society representatives and five senior ministers to draft legislation to set up an anticorruption ombudsman, known as the Lokpal Bill. But there were disagreements over the scope of the bill, as it didn't bring all government officials under its jurisdiction. Mr. Hazare and his supporters wanted all government officials, including the prime minister, to be covered by the Lokpal Bill. They later burned copies of the draft legislation in protest.

With Mr. Hazare and colleagues included on the drafting panel for the ombudsman bill, the government had a chance to position itself as working with civil society, but the committee failed to reach a consensus.

The government has come under fire for bungling and graft related to October's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and a November report by a government auditing agency that found that a 2008 allotment of mobile-telecommunications spectrum was rigged and may have cost the government as much as $40 billion in lost revenue.

he scandals have undermined the government's legislative agenda despite repeated promises by officials that they intend to jump start a stalled effort to further open Indian markets to foreigners, improve ailing areas of the economy such as infrastructure and introduce programs aimed at the lower rungs of society.

The government's inability to push forward with its agenda—which includes a new food subsidy for the poor and plans to increase foreign participation in the insurance industry—is likely to further weaken its standing and increase voter frustration.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier Wednesday backed the police decision to arrest Mr. Hazare and detain more than 2,600 protesters, but Mr. Singh has faced heavy criticism, including from Arun Jaitley of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, who defended Mr. Hazare's right to protest.

"Have you forgotten all sense of statecraft? Have you forgotten how political agitations are to be dealt with?" Mr. Jaitley asked in the upper house of Parliament on Wednesday after the prime minister had said Mr. Hazare would have been allowed to protest if he had agreed to police conditions, which included restricting his fast to three days and limiting the number of protesters at the site—a public park in New Delhi—to 5,000.

Mr, Jaitley's party doesn't appear in a position to bring about any dramatic changes, such as a successful no-confidence vote in Parliament, and the government won't have to face voters until 2014 at the latest.

Mr. Singh told Parliament that Mr. Hazare was wrong to use protest to force the adoption of additional provisions to the Lokpal Bill.

"Our government does not seek any confrontation with any section of the society," Mr. Singh said. "But when some sections of society deliberately challenge the authority of the government…it is the bounden duty of the government to maintain peace and tranquility."

Still, the government expressed confidence that the new parliamentary session would be more productive. Instead, it is facing a resumption of the previous paralysis, with the corruption issue dominating the session.

The lack of policy initiatives also is having a negative impact on economic growth, with high inflation and interest rates contributing to a series of downward revisions on growth rates this year by both the government and economists. Earlier, growth predictions for gross domestic product centered on a rise of about 8.5% in the year ending March 31, 2012. Now, many economists see it around 7.5%—still high in the context of a global economy in the doldrums but less than India needs to bring about a dramatic transformation for the majority of its citizens.

Many of the protesters at India Gate were young. Archana Dang, 22, said she was backing Mr. Hazare because the government's anticorruption bill is too weak, since it shields sitting prime ministers and the judiciary from investigation. "In a democracy, a basic principle is that all people are equal before the law—why should the prime minister be different?" she said.

"The P.M. isn't corrupt, but now he's supporting corrupt people," said Ravinder Singh, 29, who works in sales at a financial-services firm and was among the thousands gathered at dusk at India Gate, where there was a carnival-like atmosphere with vendors hawking street snacks and tea while police mingled with protesters.

Mehul Gaur, a 24-year-old architect, said Prime Minister Singh acted "irresponsibly" by condoning the arrest of Mr. Hazare prior to the protest. "If we aren't able to assemble freely to protest, God knows what will happen next," he said.

Support pours for Anna from across the country .

Note: Anna’s health is fine. However Anna and his team is not being given access to TV and Anna his mobile phone. Even though the police claim he is free now.

Anna continues his indefinite fast in Tihar jail for the introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill in parliament. Let this be reiterated that the demand for holding fast at JP park or Ramlila Maidan is not the central issue, as the indefinite fast is just a means to an end. The end objective, which thousands of people on the streets also demand is a strong anti-corruption law – the Jan Lokpal Bill. We request Jan Lokpal Bill to be tabled in the parliament as we realise that Standing Committee cannot alter the scope of presently tabled government’s Lokpal Bill much. Besides, the recommendations of standing committee are not binding on the government. Therefore even through the present parliamentary course of action, it does not seem that a fair discussion on the Lokpal Bill issue will be possible. Thus Anna’s demand for indefinite fast stands, that the Jan Lokpal Bill should also be tabled in the parliament.

We condemn statements repeated often that we want the ‘my way or the high way’, or that we are stubborn. Rather we feel that the reverse is true. It is the government which is insisting on ‘my way or the highway’, completely ignoring the opinion of the public which has descended the streets in support of Shri Anna Hazare and the Jan Lokpal Bill.




We have tried to compile the events which have been pouring from across the country:

We would like to re-affirm that though the media coverage is mainly of the capital city and Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore etc, but this movement is rooted in villages as well.

· Rakesh Tikait, son of Mahendra Singh Tikait musters support for Anna in his villages. Rakesh Tikait: 92196 66799, Ravinder: 9212396525. Panchayats of Haryana, Balyan Khap, Sindoliya, Sheoran Khap, Amran Khap are supporting, the press notes from these forwarded by Sanjeev Balothia: 9992059319. Sanjay Swami, a sarpanch in Mahendragarh is working in their village. Vikas Sharma – 9992999926


· Indian Medical Association expresses support of its 2.25 lakh doctors. More than 100 doctors visited Azad Maidan. Various rallies in and across Mumbai besides Azad Maidan –please call for media enquiries of Mumbai: Piyush – 9820687670

· Farmers from nearing villages of Bhatta Parsaul assembled at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to express support

· Panipat district Bar Association had strike from courts, Panipat markets association held strike. Contact for more information: Arvind Kumar – 98124 66488,

· People in Ambedkar nagar, UP held rallies and were fasting, but removed by Police – Rajiv Yadav: 9450881584

· IIT Roorkee, students agitating and Proffessor sitting on fast – Sahil Jain: 8800649194, 9557108385

· Extensive protest in Assam, across district library of Guwahati, more than hundreds of people are in arrest. Gautam – 9435548496

· Marches in Port Blair, from cellular jail to Gandhi statue – Contact: 9830789327



· Thousands of people gathered at all the gates of Tihar Jail in Delhi. People are pouring in outside the Jail chanting slogans and waving the Tricolour. Around 10,000 people have surrounded the prison area and have gathered near all the gates.

· An overwhelming crowd participated in the rally from India Gate to Jantar Mantar which was led by Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Manish Sisodia. Rough estimates suggest around a 70,000 people took the protest march.

· At Chhatrasaal Stadium, around 1200 people are still inside the premises, as they refused to leave till Anna is released, while about 2500 people are protesting outside. Around 60 people who courted arrest were taken yesterday to Shivaji Stadium. They faced difficulties today as the gates were sealed and there were no facilities for them. Around 24 people protested today at JP Park and courted arrested as section 144 has been imposed there. These people were taken to Rajendra Nagar Police station and were released at 6 pm.

· In Mumbai, people from all walks of life came out in support of Anna Hazare, about 40,000 people gathered for the Azad Maidan rally.

· Indian Medical Association, Mumbai branch which has over 2.5 lakh members has expressed full support to Anna’s movement. Around 100 senior doctors today came to Azad Maidan. Around 2000 lawyers also took part in the rally.

· In Bangalore’s Freedom Park, an overwhelming crowd of 60,000 people gathered in support of the anti-corruption movement. Around 10, 000 students took out a Peace March for 6 kms from Jaynagar to Freedom Park. A candle March also took place in the evening.

· In Uttar Pradesh, thousands of college students in Sultanpur boycotted classes and came out on the streets to protest. Teachers also took leave from colleges. In Lucknow people assembled at Jhulelal Park and took out marches.

SUPPORT ANNA HAZARE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. THIS IS THE TIME TO BRING THE CHANGE.

INVITE MORE PEOPLE. JOIN PROTEST IN YOUR CITY.

Interactive Voice Responce:
0-92-12-12-32-12

Give Missed Calls At:
022-61550489

Web:
www.indiaagainstcorruption.org
www.corruptioninindia.org

Govt says went by the book, ready always to talk to Hazare

New Delhi The government on Tuesday took tough measures against Anna Hazare while simultaneously underscoring that it was never undemocratic in its actions and had tried to be as accommodative as possible.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the pre-emptive police action against Team Anna was resorted to after they refused to comply with restrictions imposed by the Delhi Police.

Along with his two colleagues who are part of the Group of Ministers on media, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram sought to rebuff any impression that the UPA government was trying to muzzle the voice of civil society. His argument was that they had been reasonable in giving Hazare a chance to not only proceed with his programme but also to accommodate his standpoint on the Lokpal Bill.

There was a distinctive change in the government’s approach towards Hazare, which made no personal attacks against the activist, compared to the discordant note struck by the party a couple of days ago. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari had then pointed to corruption charges against Hazare.

Senior ministers had informally disapproved of such criticism, with Rahul Gandhi agreeing with the perception that “Anna cannot be equated with Ramdev”. For the second day today, Rahul held discussions with senior UPA ministers, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and Kamal Nath, on the Hazare crisis.

“We are with Anna Hazare on the issue of corruption,” Chidambaram said at a press conference. “But nowhere in the world is protest allowed without any conditions. If anyone is not satisfied, they can take legal recourse.”

The government maintained it had tried to reach out to Hazare on Monday but could not do so, and that the three of them had no hesitation engaging with him even now. “The chairperson of the standing committee looking into the Lokpal Bill has invited Team Anna for another round of discussions,” said Chidambaram.

“There is no way we can allow Parliament’s right to frame laws to be taken away,” Chidambaram said. “If laws are not to be made by Parliament but by some social activists in a maidan — however well-meaning they may be — they are beyond my comprehension.”

While “right to protest is a Constitutional right”, there were also a constitutional responsibility that the government had to fulfil, Sibal said.

The three ministers suggested that the Team Anna initiative was not entirely a spontaneous one and that they might have political backing from the BJP. “The movement is well thought out,” Soni said. Sibal pointed to media reports that Kiran Bedi was accompanied by two BJP councillors.

Anna Hazare to come out of prison.

The standoff in Tihar Jail is likely to be over with social activist Anna Hazare set to come out of the prison after a night-long protest demanding that he be allowed to launch his indefinite strike from a venue of his choice in the capital.

Seeks meeting with top associates

Anna Hazare has sought permission from Tihar Jail authorities for a meeting with some of his top associates to plan his strategy.

Jail sources said he has sought permission for holding a meeting with associates like Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and lawyer Prashant Bhushan before his likely decision to come out.

The associates had earlier said that Mr. Hazare was likely to come out of the jail anytime and may go to JP Park, his preferred venue for the indefinite fast in support of his campaign for a strong Lokpal.

Inside the jail, another associate Arvind Kejriwal is with Hazare and has refused to come out

Mr. Hazare, who was ordered to be released on Tuesday night after a day-long detention before he was to begin his fast demanding strong Lokpal, had refused to come out of the prison unless he was allowed to protest from JP Park without conditions.

Activists Kiran Bedi and Swami Agnivesh announced to the hundreds of supporters waiting since last night that the 74-year-old Gandhian was about to come out of the prison anytime now.

“The government has bowed down. We will have to be prepared to go to JP Park in a peaceful manner,” Swami Agnivesh said.

Solidarity with Anna

Activists Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Medha Patkar on Wednesday joined hundreds of protestors expressing solidarity with Anna Hazare outside Tihar Jail while a large number of the Gandhian’s supporters took out marches across the city.

Mr. Hazare’s supporters in huge numbers also gathered outside Chhatrasal Stadium, which was converted into a special detention area, Wednesday morning and shouted anti-corruption slogans demanding that the Gandhian be allowed to protest at J.P. Park in New Delhi.

Ms. Bedi, who was detained on Tuesday and released later, and Mr. Agnivesh arrived outside Tihar Jail at around 11:30 a.m. where a swarm of protestors had gathered since Tuesday night to express solidarity with Mr. Hazare.

Ms. Patkar, who reached the protest spot early in the day, was granted permission to meet Mr. Hazare after being initially refused to enter the premises.

Ms. Patkar approached jail authorities seeking permission to meet Mr. Hazare, who was lodged in the administrative block after he refused to be released, but was initially denied. However, later the authorities changed their stand and allowed her.

After the permission was denied, Ms. Patkar claimed that jail authorities told her that Mr. Hazare was not in their custody and could not allow her to meet him. “It was a right to meet a man in jail. They told me that he is not in their custody and he is not a jail bird. Nobody could be given permission. This is a conspiracy of the government. They are not tolerating any basic rights,” she said addressing the protestors gathered outside Tihar Jail.

At Chhatrasal Stadium, scores of people holding tricolour marched on the tracks while others lent support to them from outside.