Social activist Anna Hazare ended his four day old hunger strike jubilantly with government accepting all his demands. He expressed happiness over government issuing the formal order to set up a joint committee for drafting an effective Lokpal Bill. Mr. "Government has accepted all our demands. This is a victory for the entire nation," Hazare said. India's first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who was part of the negotiating team, said "it is a victory of the people of India, a bigger victory than the cricket World Cup".

The announcement of a deal came after Anna's emissaries met ministers for a round of talks, third in two days and after some early hiccups. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chairman of the committee that will also include Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Sibal, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as members. Besides Hazare, those representing the civil society in the joint committee will be eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan, Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hege and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal. Shanti Bhushan will be the co-Chairman. The government has committed itself to introducing the new Lokpal Bill in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. Moily will be the convenor of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee that will commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedures to prepare the proposed legislation.

The venue of Hazare's hunger strike resonated with 'Anna Hazare Zindabad', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' slogans as anti-corruption activists waved tricolours. Terming it the victory of the people, a Jubilant Anna Hazare gave the call to public to join the victory celebrations to be held at 6 PM in evening today.