Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development. Kisan Baburao Hazare was born on 15 June 1937 (some sources say 15 January 1940 in Bhingar, near Ahmednagar.
He was the eldest son of Baburao Hazare and Laxmi Bai. He has two sisters and four brothers. He later adopted the name Anna, which in Marathi means “elder person” or “father”. His father worked as an unskilled labourer in Ayurveda Ashram Pharmacy and struggled to support the family financially. In time, the family moved to their ancestral village of Ralegan Siddhi, where they owned a small amount of agricultural land. A relative took on the burden of providing Kisan with an education, taking him to Mumbai because the village had no primary school. The relative became unable financially to continue the support and Kisan’s schooling ended in the Standard Seventh grade; his siblings never attended school. He started selling flowers at the Dadar railway station in Mumbai and eventually managed to own two flower shops in the city. He also became involved in vigilantism, joining groups who acted to prevent landlords’ thugs from intimidating the poor out of their shelter.