Nilobray Vidyalaya

Exhibit 1 Anna Hazare: A Brief Background

Anna Hazare was born in 1938 in Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra. His father was a labourer and grandfather had worked in the Army. He was sent to study in Mumbai but was forced to take up a job just after completing seventh grade due to financial needs of the family. While working, he developed habits of spending excessively and at times got into quarrels with people around him. Once he bashed one person badly and fearing arrests stopped going to job. During the period around 1960 he got recruited in the Indian Army.

In army posting, being away from home and friends he felt very lonely and contemplated suicide. However, the thought that suicide might affect the marriage of his sister, postponed the idea. During the India- Pakistan war in 1965 while driving a military vehicle on the western front he saw a Pakistani plane flying low overhead. He and his colleagues jumped out of the vehicle and took shelter in the nearby bushes, lying flat on the ground. The truck was blown up and all his colleagues were killed, but Anna escaped unhurt. In yet another incident, when he was posted in Nagaland, underground Nagas attacked the military post and killed all the inmates while Anna had gone out. He realized that his life was not to be wasted and came to believe that God considered his life to be precious. Later he read books of Swami Vivekanand, Mahatma Gandhi and Shri Vinoba Bhave and started thinking about country and nation building. On completion of 15 years of service in the army he took voluntary retirement and came back to his village in 1975.

After coming back to his village he was very upset by observing the dilapidated state of the temple in the village. He got the village temple renovated by spending `20,000 from his provident fund money. This act earned him respect and trust of villagers as a person who believes in welfare of everyone without any benefit for the self. He also realized because of lack of irrigation facility agriculture had become unviable and people were migrating to urban area. He initiated a programme of watershed development by involving the village community. With the joint effort of all the community members, Ralegan was able to have enough water irrigation for all kind of crops and started export of certain produces like onion. In due course Ralegan watershed programme became very well recognized across the country. Along with this ‘grain banks’ were established for the needy and elaborate tree plantation and animal breeding for milk was initiated.

Another aspect which was creating problem in the village was alcoholism. A campaign against drinking was initiated and 30 liquor shops were closed. Most people agreed to stop drinking. Those who did not conform were forced to do so under the pressure of community. Gradually cigarettes and all tobacco products were stopped entering the village. A campaign was also launched to increase milk production by procuring high milk yielding cows, promoting artificial insemination and establishing of dairy cooperative. He received wide-spread recognition for his endeavour and was honoured with ‘Padmashri’ by Government of India, ‘Krishi Bhushan Award’ by Maharashtra state and several other awards by civil society institutions.

After this his focus shifted to addressing issues like corruption and strengthening Right to Information Act i Maharashtra and later with the issues of removing corruption from public life.

Source: http://www.annahazare.org/biography.html accessed on October 10, 2011

Exhibit 2 Results of Class X Board Examination

Source: School records

Exhibit 3 Result of Class XII Board Examination

Source: School records

Exhibit 4 Specific Activities for the Panchsutri Programe

Source: School records

Exhibit 5 Daily Schedule of the Students

Source: School records

Exhibit 6 Award Winners in Different Sports

Source: School records

Exhibit 7 Teachers’ Schedule for Night Studies (Time 8 to 9:30)

Source: School records