Ralegaon Siddhi: Inside Anna Hazare's model village

Students touch the feet of veteran Indian social activist Anna Hazare as a sign of respect as he visits one of his schools in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17 2011. Clad in white home-spun garments and living in a spartan room of his village's Hindu temple, Hazare is an unlikely thorn in the side of the government hundreds of miles away in New Delhi. And yet for millions of Indians, he is a 21st-century Mahatma Gandhi, inspiring a rare wave of protests against the spiralling corruption that has tarnished the up-and-coming image of Asia's third-largest economy. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Anna Hazare adjusts his glasses as he gives an interview in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, located in Ahmednagar district, June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A portrait of Anna Hazare hangs on the wall of a restaurant in Ralegaon Siddhi village, Ahmednagar District, June 17, 2011. Like Gandhi, who led India's independence movement through peaceful resistance, Hazare plans to go on a hunger strike, unto death if necessary, to press his cause. He says his fast from Aug. 16 will continue until the government passes a tough anti-graft law that has already been decades in the making. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A tailor sews clothes at his shop in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, located in the Ahmednagar, June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A woman carries a bag on her head as she walks past a temple lives in the Ralegaon Siddhi village. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

An employee sits outside a flour mill in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man gets a haircut at a barber shop in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Students attend class at a school in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17, 2011. The school was founded by Anna Hazare in 1979. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man walks out of a computer institute in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Anna Hazare walks through dining hall of a school he founded in Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 17, 2011. Hazare carried out a successful fast in April, striking a chord with millions of Indians and forcing the government to agree to create the country's first independent ombudsman who could investigate ministers and bureaucrats. The government is so far resisting the demand to include the prime minister and judges in the ombudsman's remit. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Students play during a recess break at a school in the village of Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahmednagar district, June 17, 2011. Ralegaon Siddhi was once like so many Indian villages: dogged by poverty, illiteracy, water scarcity and illegal liquor dens preying on the poor and vulnerable. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Children play a game of kabaddi on the grounds of a school in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, June 16, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Veteran Indian social activist Anna Hazare inspects a school building under-construction in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, 17 June 2011. After retiring from the army, Hazare returned home to remove the problems of poverty, illiteracy etc. from the village. Four decades later, the lush village is a model for sustainable development and government, illustrating what civil society can achieve and the failure of the state. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Children pray during a morning assembly at a school in the Ralegaon Siddhi village, located in the Ahmednagar district near Mumbai June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui