Kiran Bedi
A famous Indian social and political activist, former Indian Police Service officer. Who does not know about Kiran Bedi? She is like an inspiration for Indian women. He chose the service in which Indian women were never taken. Kiran Bedi started her career as a school teacher and later she became India’s first woman IPS. Today in this blog we will know about some important facts related to the life of Kiran Bedi.
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| photo credit-britannica.com |
Kiran Bedi’s early Life
Kiran Bedi, (born 9 June 1949, Amritsar, India), Indian social activist who was the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) and was instrumental in introducing prison reforms in India.
Bedi was the second of four daughters. Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in English (1968), a master’s degree in political science (1970), a law degree (1988), and a Ph.D. With a focus on drug abuse and domestic violence in the social sciences (1993). She joined the IPS in 1972 and held a variety of roles, including that of narcotics officer, counter-terrorism specialist and administrator.
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Kiran Bedi marriage
Kiran Bedi had a love marriage. When she used to go to play tennis, she met tennis player Braj Bedi on the tennis court itself. This meeting turned into friendship and then friendship turned into love. Eventually both got married on 9 March 1972. Unfortunately, Brij Bedi was diagnosed with cancer, due to which he died in 2016.
Kiran Bedi, with over 35 years of experience in corrective policing and prison management, holds the distinction of being India’s first and highest-ranking female police officer. She is a prominent social worker and founder of two NGOs. She has also worked with the United Nations and represented India in international forums on crime prevention, drug abuse, and women’s issues.
Kiran Bedi by media organization Navbharat Times in 2012 and
“MSN Most Admired Indian Woman Icon 2011” by Reader’s Digest 2010, and
She has addressed audiences at national and international universities as well as corporate and civil society groups including IIM, TED Talks, Partnering for Global Impact, Nomura Investment Forum Asia, World Justice Project, and Eximius. She speaks about her work with NGOs, the gender divide in India, leadership, women’s empowerment, and her experience in the Indian Police Service.
Kiran Bedi voluntarily retired as Director-General in the Bureau of Police Research and Development in 2007. During his tenure as Inspector General of Prisons, Tihar Jail, Delhi (1993–1995), she made several reforms in the management of the prison. Initiating several measures like detoxification programs, yoga, Vipassana meditation, literary programs, and prisoner grievances. She also served as a policy adviser to the Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations with the United Nations in New York, for which she was awarded the United Nations Medal. She represented India in international fora on crime prevention, drug abuse, police and prison reforms, and women’s issues.
She joined the Indian Police Service in 1972 and held many difficult assignments ranging from Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi, Kiran Bedi has also served in the post of Deputy Inspector General of Police in militancy-affected Mizoram, in addition to this, has also served as Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh and Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau. Kiran influenced many decisions of the Indian Police Service, particularly in the areas of drug control, traffic management, and VIP security.
Bedi co-founded the Navjyoti India Foundation (NIF) in 1987, which began as a drug de-addiction initiative and has now spread to other social issues such as illiteracy and women’s empowerment. In 1994, Bedi founded the India Vision Foundation, which works in the areas of police reform, prison reform, women’s empowerment, and rural and community development. Their efforts have gained national and international recognition, and their organizations were awarded the “Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award” by the United Nations for the Prevention of Drug Abuse. Presently, his NGO is running four community colleges and is registered with Indira Gandhi National Open University to provide vocational and soft skills training to Indian youth. His initiative, ‘Mission Safe India’ aims to ensure that the police log in and address the grievances of citizens. She has been a prominent figure in the nationwide ‘India Against Corruption (IAC) movement.
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| Kiran Bedi with Anna Hazare during “India Against Corruption”- image credit-PIXABY.COM |
In retirement, Kiran Bedi also supports social change and civic responsibility through her periodical columns in the books and newspapers she writes. In this way Kiran Bedi expresses her opinion freely on social issues. She became the host of the reality TV show Aap Ki Kachari Kiran Saath in 2009-10 on Star Plus. She is the author of several books, including ‘It’s Always Possible: One Woman’s Transformation of India’s Prison System’; ‘What went wrong?’, ‘Prerak Bedi’; ‘government@net’; ‘looks like me’; ‘Broom and Dulhan’ and ‘Rebellion 2011’. He has a fortnightly column in the Times of India called ‘What Went Wrong’, a fortnightly column in the Tribune called ‘Reflections’, and Punjab Kesari has a weekly column called ‘Chetna’.
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Books written by Kiran Bedi
Kiran Bedi not only proved herself as an IPS, politician and social service, but she also has the qualities of a writer. she has written many books like I Dare, Creating Leadership, It’s Always Possible. In addition, he is also a visiting faculty at the Leadership Training Institute Iclif in Malaysia.
Kiran Bedi has received many awards including:
• President’s Gallantry Award (1979)
• Women of the Year Award (1980)
• Kiran Bedi was awarded the Asia Region Award for Drug Prevention and Control (1991).
• Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service (1994)
• Mahila Shiromani Award (1995)
• Father Machismo Humanitarian Award (1995)
• Lion of the Year (1995)
• Joseph Bayes Award (1997)
• Pride of India (1999)
• Kiran Bedi was also awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial National Award (2005) for her contribution in the field of social justice.
Amity Woman Achiever for Social Injustice (2007)
• Public Service Excellence Award (2007)
• Zee Astitva Puraskar (2007)
• The Indian Society of Criminology (2008)
• Pride of Punjab (2008)
• Women Excellence Award (2009)
• Nomura Award for Humanitarian Work (2013).
Kiran has a master’s degree in Political Science from Panjab University, and during her active service in the Indian Police, Kiran obtained a law degree (LLB) from Delhi University in 1988, and in 1993, she completed her Ph.D. in Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where the topic of his thesis was ‘Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence. She was also a national and Asian tennis champion in her youth.
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Controversies related to the life of Kiran Bedi
In 1983, when Kiran Bedi was the SP of Goa, she had invited controversy by informally inaugurating the Jouri Bridge to the general public. Kiran was still embroiled in controversies when she applied for leave to look after her daughter Saina, though she got the leave recommended by the IGP.
This was not given official permission by the Goa government, Pratapsinh Rane, who was the Chief Minister of Goa at that time, had also announced Kiran to be on leave without giving him leave. Bedi was also criticized when she ordered a lathi charge on Bharatiya Janata Party workers at the Red Fort in Delhi.
In 1988, Kiran had presented a lawyer, Rajesh Agnihotri, practicing in Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court with folded hands, due to which Kiran had to face the ire of lawyers. In 1992, Kiran again got embroiled in controversies when her daughter applied to Lady Hardinge Medical College, claiming to be a resident of Mizoram.
Students of Mizoram started protesting against it and claimed that she was not from Mizoram, later Bedi had to leave Mizoram for this reason. Kiran Bedi had made many changes in the management during her tenure as Inspector in Tihar, yet Bedi was working as Inspector General in Tihar Jail.
Then he was accused of neglecting the security of prisoners to increase his honor and gain fame and was criticized a lot. In 1993, the Supreme Court of India gave Bedi an ultimatum to ignore the medical condition of an under-trial prisoner.
Bedi had trouble with the Delhi government in 1994 when she was invited by US President Bill Clinton for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, but the Delhi government did not accept the invitation. In 1995, he was invited again and the government declined again, after which he published a newsletter in the New York Times and told that some of his high officials were jealous of him.
Kiran was also criticized for providing a typewriter to the dreaded criminal Charles Sobhraj in Tihar Jail which was prohibited as per the jail rules, on 26 November 2011 a case was registered against him in Delhi Police Crime Branch. In which he was accused of misusing the funds of his NGO. This case was started by a Delhi-based lawyer Devinder Singh Chauhan.
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