After 97 hours of fasting, social activist Anna Hazare drank water offered by a child on Saturday morning in a symbolic breaking of the fast after the government issued a gazetted notification on the formation of a joint committee on the Lokpal Bill.

Hazare said that the government relenting to the demands on the bill is a victory for the people in the fight against corruption. However, he said that the fight against corruption will be a continuing one.

"If the government does not pass the Lokpal Bill, we'll be back with our struggle," he stated.

Hazare first offered softdrinks to the women who had fasted with him before breaking his own fast.

Govt issues notification on Lokpal Bill

Giving in to demands from anti-corruption activists, the government on Friday issued a gazette notification on formation of a joint committee headed by senior minister Pranab Mukherjee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.

The notification, one of the key demands of the anti-corruption campaign launched by Gandhian Anna Hazare, has been signed by V K Bhasin, Secretary, Legislative Department of the Law Ministry.

The notification was proudly displayed at the site of Hazare's fast at Jantar Mantar by Kiran Bedi to the loud cheering of the assembled gathering there.

Apart from the terms of what the committee would do, the notification contains the names of those on the 10-member panel headed by Finance Minister.

The committee will also include Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as members.

Besides Hazare himself, those representing the civil society in the joint committee will be eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan, Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal. Shanti Bhushan will be the co-Chairman.

"We had demanded a government order (GO) in this regard.

The government went a step ahead and issued a notification," said social activist Swami Agnivesh.

Friday's reports:

Anna wins the battle, govt concedes all demands

After day-long postures of confrontation from both sides, a breakthrough was reached Friday evening but anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare(73) announced that he would continue his four-day-old fast until a formal official order is notified by the government.

Hazare said he would wait for the order until Saturday morning to ensure nothing is amiss in the order, varying from the deal struck that resolves to immediately start drafting the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill for enacting it in the monsoon session of parliament in July.

The government, however, rushed an emissary to convey that it was readying the order for notification any time, ditto as agreed upon in the final round of talks in the evening and asked the group leaders to persuade the crusader to end his fast.

The deal envisages two co-chairmen of the joint committee for drafting the Bill: former law minister and practising supreme court senior advocate Shanti Bhushan (85) from Hazare's side and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee (75) from the government's side. The committee will have five ministers and five from the civil society as decided by Hazare.

The drafters for the group, India against Corruption, included senior advocate Prashant Bhushan but Hazare personally picked up his father as he would be able to provide not only his legal expertise but also exert pressure wherever necessary in fine-tuning the best possible law.

The deadlock ended because both sides relented and did not remain firm on the technicalities as they agreed that both were on the same page so far as fighting the corruption and better focus on making the Bill to capture the momentum gained for cleansing the government stables of corruption.

A draft sent out by the government's negotiator Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to Swami Agnivesh in the afternoon finally broke the ice. Agnivesh, accompanied by the group's activists Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, drove down to convey Hazare's approval but with slight changes and Sibal, who was accompanied by Law Minister M Veerappa Moily and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in the final round, consented instantly.

Sibal had sent out the offer to the group after the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi discussed the stalemate on certain conditions pressed by the group with the senior party leaders at the PM's House.

The group trio left it up to Hazare to take the final call instead of announcing immediately after striking the deal. "Enough for us to give hint that you will be happy to hear it," Agnivesh said. Even as the trio returned to the fast site to brief Hazare, Sibal rushed to the PM's House to convey the end of the stalemate to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Just before ending the fast, Hazare affirmed that he can continue his fast for another six days without any health problem as he was getting energy from the overwhelming support from across the country that he had never expected.

He, however, declared that this victory of the people in forcing the government to enact the law to fight corruption was not the end of his mission as he would continue to lead many more movements until there is justice to all the poor in the country.

COURT ARREST: Earlier in the day, the talks appeared deadlocked as Hazare went on the announce the next step in the movement he is heading by giving a call for "Jail Bharo" (court arrests) on Wednesday, April 13. He first fixed it on April 12 but changed the date after being told that it would be Ram Navmi that day. There was no word about withdrawal of the call but it was taken for granted that it was no longer necessary.

Sources said the Congress Party's evergreen trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee took a break from electioneering in West Bengal to rush to Delhi to fine-tune the final compromise, besides keeping up a speaking assignment in the capital. He also urged Hazare to give up his fast and join the government efforts in drafting the anti-corruption law, necessary for an inclusive growth.

Addressing a Press conference at the fast site even as his group representatives were at Sibal's residence to reach the deal, Hazare said he did not want the success bogged down on the petty issue of chairman of the joint committee for drafting the Bill and hence he proposed co-chairmanship, one from the government side and another from the civil society side.

He also made it known that the two chairmen will have no powers except to call meetings and write the minutes. He also announced a slide-down in the demand for a gazette notification of the committee as he said the group will be satisfied with a "government D.O." but not just a letter from the Law Ministry as Sibal proposed. D.O. is the demi-official letter the officials write to convey the official government orders.

As other group leaders pointed out, they did not want to lose sight of the goal by quarrelling on the technicalities, but wanted some kind of formal arrangement to give official recognition to the joint committee and not treat it as just an outside body as it would have been by agree on the informal arrangement.

Hazare was quite happy at the group drawing one after another success, first the government agree on equal number of members from the government and the civil society side on the joint committee and then concede that it should start functioning immediately and not wait until the ongoing Assembly polls are over on May 13.

He also explained that the group was not prepared for a committee in which the government is represented by the bureaucrats and not the ministers. Sibal's objection was that no ministers will be on the committee if it is to be headed by one from the civil society. Hazare said he insisted on the ministers as it would become easy then to push the drafted Bill through the Cabinet.

In reply to a question, he said he would like that no tainted (Daagi) minister should be put on the committee. Asked if he thinks there are that many untainted ministers in the Manmohan Singh Government, he quipped that better if those with the least taint are nominated.

He also floated the idea of appointing former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, the current Lokayukta in Karnataka, or former Chief Justice of India and former National Human Rights Commission chairman J S Verma head the panel. Hegde was, however, quick to declare in Bangalore that he cannot take the responsibility since he was already party to the Jan Lokpal Bill the group had drafted. Better Justice Verma head the body, he said.

Asked why Hazare who has built up such a powerful people's movement not take the responsibility as the chairman, he said he never takes posts but he would be happy to be part of the committee as a member. As regards the criteria for selecting the civil society's representatives he would like to be on the committee, Hazare said better if experienced persons like senior advocate Shanti Bhushan are there as they can exert the necessary pressure needed when the ticklish law points are discussed.

He also warned the government that it can no longer turn the deaf ear to the aspirations of the people, be this movement and any other in future. "People will teach them lesson if they do not listen," he remarked.

Meanwhile, it was the day of the Bollywood stars like Anupam Kher, Director Farah Khan, music director Vishal, filmmaker Pritish Nandy, actor Tom Alter and others descend at Jantar Mantar to express solidarity to the fasting Hazare.

There were maddening crowds raising slogans that can be seen spread up to the India Gate, a km away from Jantar Mantar. It was, however, almost a middle class show of solidarity while there were also large number of college students from Delhi and surrounding towns. Some schools opted to get their students to Jantar Mantar in buses to witness what one principal described as a live show of social action.