Kiran Bedi (NGO Director)
Susan notes: To volunteer with one of Kiran Bedi's NGOs, please visit the links that are on the bottom of the story. This is not her page, and it is not linked to her organizations. If you leave a message here for her she will not get it.
Kiran Bedi, one of the most admired and widely known police officers who ever served the Indian Police Force, was born on 9th June 1949.
In 1972 she became the first woman to join the Indian Police Service. During her service, she was also the Inspector General Prisons of Tihar Jail - one of world's largest prison complexes, with over 10,000 inmates.
Her prison reform policies lead to her winning the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Subsequently, Kiran Bedi has founded two NGOs in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and India Vision Foundationfor prison reforms, drug abuse prevention, child welfare in 1994. Kiran is the winner of several awards, an accomplished author and sportswoman, and in 2002 was voted India’s most admired woman.
Kiran Bedi (Hindi: किरण बेदी) (Punjabi:ਕਿਰਣ ਬੇਦੀ) (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. She became the first woman to join the IPS in 1972, and most recently held the post of Director General, BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development), Ministry of Home Affairs.
She retired from the IPS in December, 2007, after taking voluntary retirement. She was the host and TV judge of the popular TV series "Aap Ki Kachehri" (English, "Your Court"), broadcast on the Indian TV channel, Star Plus. This program features Indian families approaching her TV court and explaining their problems to her. She then offers legal advice and monetary help to solve the problem. This program is classified as an EDUtainment program, as it attempts to simplify and explain legal procedures and Indian law to the viewers.
She has also founded two NGOs in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and the India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention and child welfare in 1994.
In 2007, she was granted voluntary retirement from the IPS.
Kiran Bedi was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India. She is the second of the four daughters of Prakash Lal Peshawaria and Prem Lata Peshawaria.
She attended the Sacred Heart Convent School, Amritsar, where she joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC). She took up tennis, a passion she inherited from her father, a tennis player. She won the Junior National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1966, the Asian Lawn Tennis Championship in 1972, and the All-India Interstate Women's Lawn Tennis Championship in 1976. In addition, she also won the All-Asian Tennis Championship, and won the Asian Ladies Title at the age of 22.
Later, she obtained her B.A. in English (Hons.) (1964–68) from the Government College for Women, Amritsar. She then earned a Master’s degree (1968–70) in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, graduating at the top of her class.
Even while in active service in the IPS, she pursued her educational goals, and obtained a Law degree (LLB) in 1988 from Delhi University, Delhi. In 1993, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Department of Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, where the topic of her thesis was 'Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence'.
She began her career as a Lecturer in Political Science (1970–72) at Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar. In July 1972, she joined the Indian Police Service. Bedi joined the police service "because of [her] urge to be outstanding".
She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from New Delhi traffic postings, Deputy Inspector General of Police in insurgency prone Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau, to a United Nations delegation, where she became the Civilian Police Advisor in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
For her work in the UN, she was awarded a UN medal. She is popularly referred to as Crane Bedi for towing the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's car for a parking violation, during the PM's tour of United States at the time.
Kiran Bedi influenced several decisions of the Indian Police Service, particularly in the areas of narcotics control, traffic management, and VIP security. During her stint as the Inspector General of Prisons, in Tihar Jail (Delhi) (1993–1995), she instituted a number of reforms in the management of the prison, and initiated a number of measures such as detoxification programs, yoga, vipassana meditation, redressing of complaints by prisoners and literacy programs. For this she won the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship', to write about her work at Tihar Jail.
She was last appointed as Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research and Development.
In May 2005, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Law in recognition of her “humanitarian approach to prison reforms and policing”.
On 27 November 2007, she had expressed her wish to voluntarily retire from the police force to undertake new challenges in life. On 25 December 2007, the Government of India agreed to relieve Bedi of her duties as Director General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
"Yes Madam, Sir", an award-winning, critically acclaimed film of Kiran Bedi's life, directed by Australian director, Megan Doneman, premiered as an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has yet to be released.
After retirement, Kiran Bedi launched a new website, www.saferindia.com, on January 3, 2007. The motto of this website is to help people whose complaints are not accepted by the local police. This project is undertaken by the non-profit, voluntary and non-government organization she founded, the India Vision Foundation.
Kiran Bedi now hosts the TV show Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath on Star Plus.
To volunteer with one of Kiran Bedi's NGOs, or to contact her,
please go to the links under Related links (above)
There is no point leaving a message for Kiran Bedi
in the comments setion of this page.
I'm sorry but she will not get your comments if you leave them here :(