Anna Hazare accepts a cup of coconut water from two children to break his fast after Parliament accepted his demands

A septuagenarian anticorruption activist ended his 13-day hunger strike Sunday with a glass of coconut water to the cheers of supporters and the relief of a government that has found itself on the defensive for the past two weeks.

Anna Hazare agreed to end the fast after Parliament bowed to his demands, agreeing to create a powerful, independent lokpal, or ombudsman, with authority to go after high-level corruption.

Indian activist to launch public fast as government relents

Whether or not the new agency has teeth or ultimately does much to stem endemic corruption remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that Hazare has rattled the political establishment by tapping a wellspring of public frustration over graft in ordinary life.

"I have only suspended my agitation," he told cheering supporters. "I will not rest until all the changes that I look to are achieved."

While he is considered a hero for taking on the establishment, a growing chorus of critics has questioned his tactics. Some have termed his use of huge crowds to bypass normal parliamentary procedure a form of blackmail, arguing that his approach undermines the spirit of democracy.

Hazare, wary that lawmakers might backtrack - a lokpal has been under discussion for four decades - sought a binding commitment from Parliament that it would authorize a lokpal. Ultimately, however, he settled for a less restrictive "sense of the house" resolution that members passed by a thumping of their desks.

The activist also gained a pledge that state governments would introduce lokpals and that government agencies would write "citizen's charters" detailing what services they provided and how long these should take. Bureaucrats often use threatened delays to extract a bribe for securing everything from a marriage license to a land transfer.

Although India has seen several huge corruption scandals in recent months allegedly involving billions of dollars, many citizens are fed up with petty corruption. There's plenty of blame to go around, however, with Hazare urging citizens to stop paying bribes as well.

Before he left Delhi's Ramlila park, the site of his public fast, for a few days of hospital observation, he thanked Parliament and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for helping to break the impasse and outlined his next reform targets. These include improved electoral and education systems and better conditions for farmers and laborers.

The end of the hunger strike underscored the media skills that Hazare has displayed. The coconut water and honey he downed on national TV was fed to him by two children, one a Muslim, the other a dalit, or so-called untouchable, to suggest the broad-based nature of his movement.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle