One small village in Maharashtra is teaching ground for five state governments today. Anna Saheb Hazare is the benevolent teacher. He teaches common sense. Rules of simple and sustainable living that the nation has learned to forget. Practices that have made Ralegan Siddhi an example for the numerous developmental activities throughout the country.

Flashback to 1975. The village is caught in a web of abject poverty and illicit liquor trade. The per capita income is unbelievably low at Rs 271.

Enter Anna Hazare, who took voluntary  retirement from the army. He decides to settle in the village. Under his guidance, people transform the village.

Today, agriculture flourishes in Ralegan. Water is abundant. Greenery has clothed the barren landscape and there are no liquor dens. Ralegan Siddhi is much more than a village. It is a model. The Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Digvijay Singh, made a week long visit to the village just before starting a state-wide watershed development programme. Anna  Hazare is a member of the state’s planning committee for the watershed development programme. Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandra Babu Naidu, has instructed his officials to visit Ralegan Siddhi . Anna Hazare visits the state every month to interact with villagers and state officials. "The magic of Ralegan lies in Anna’s simplicity," says D K Mukherjee, chief principal conservator of forests, Andhra Pradesh. Other states learning and imbibing the essence of Ralegan’s success are Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Thousands of people pour into the village annually. Individuals and non-governmental organizations get inspired by the people of Ralegan Siddhi  to replicate the success in their own areas. Anna Hazare’s ideas have taken root.

Why do so many states wish to emulate a village’s experiment in sustainable living? What is Ralegan Siddhi & why it is known as Model-Village ?