Interview
Kisan Baburao "Anna" Hazare ( born 15 June 1937) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official
corruption. In addition to organising and encouraging grassroots movements, Hazare frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes—a tactic reminiscent, to many, of the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Hazare also contributed to the development and structuring of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan—the third-highest civilian award—by the Government of India in 1992 for his efforts in establishing this village as a model for others. Anna Hazare started an indefinite hunger strike on 5 April 2011 to exert pressure on the Indian government to enact a stringent anti-corruption law, The Lokpal Bill, 2011 as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, for the institution of an ombudsman with the power to deal with corruption in public places. The fast led to nation-wide protests in support. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, a day after the government accepted Hazare's demands. The government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee, consisting of government and civil society representatives, to draft the legislation. For the year 2011 Foreign Policy magazine named him among top 100 global thinkers. Also in 2011 Anna was ranked as the most influential person in Mumbai by a national daily newspaper. He has faced criticism for his authoritarian views on justice, including death as punishment for corrupt public officials and his alleged support for forced vasectomies as a method of family planning.Hazare returned to Ralegan Siddhi, a village then described by Satpathy and Mehta as "one of the many villages of India plagued by acute poverty, deprivation, a fragile ecosystem, neglect and hopelessness." |
Dr. S. Guruprasad obtained his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mysore University and Masters Degree in Machine Design from Bangalore University. He was awarded Ph D by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai for his research work in the field of Blast & Impact Resistant Structures. Dr Guruprasad Joined R&DE(E), a DRDO Laboratory in the year 1986. Since then, he has contributed in all major Research & Development activities of the Laboratory. He was a key member of the design team of Project Sarvatra, a multi-span Mechanical Military Bridging System. For the first time, Concurrent Engineering methodology was adopted for execution of a large multi-disciplinary project.
He also worked on Under Water Systems especially in the area of shock dynamics. As Project Director for the BrahMos Launchers and Ground Systems he was instrumental in development of Weapon Complex elements for BrahMos. For the first time, a Single Vehicle Weapon System for BrahMos, the Mobile Autonomous Launcher has been developed and inducted into service. His efforts have resulted in design & development of Inclined Deck mounted Launchers and Vertical Launchers for Naval Warships. These products with host of other Support Systems developed under his leadership in record time have already been inducted in Army and Navy. Dr. Guruprasad is an expert in Computer Aided Engineering, Simulation Based Design and Product Life Cycle Management Systems. He has many technical publications to his credit in various National & International Journals and conferences. He has a number of Patents for his inventions during Sarvatra Project and has filed more than 18 patents for his inventions during development of BrahMos Launchers and Ground Systems. He took over as Director of Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), DRDO, Dighi, Pune, with effect from 01 Oct 2010. He is currently leading several important Development Projects in the Areas of Combat Engineering, Weapon Launch Systems, Advanced Composite Products, NBC Protection Systems and Robotic Systems. |