Although I have not met with her for a personal interview, as I have done with the scores of men and women that I have profiled so far, I have followed the fortunes of Kiran Bedi closely over the years. I have admired her deeply since the 1970s. The reasons are many and varied as her story will reveal.
Before her retirement, Kiran was the first and highest-ranking woman Indian police officer. She became so famous for her work that the United Nations asked her to become an adviser to the Secretary General in the department of peacekeeping operations. She has addressed audiences at several universities outside India on crime prevention, drug abuse, police and prison reforms and women’s issues.
She was most renowned as director general of India’s sprawling main prison, the Tihar, where I tried to visit her during one of my visits to Delhi. There she was in charge of 11,000 prisoners and hundreds of personnel who together could have broken the back of the best superintendent.
But they could not do so with her. She got away with practically everything she wanted to, by way of reforming the sometime notorious prison. She even banned smoking throughout the premises for all inmates despite threats of suicide and sabotage, probably egged on by some of the staff. She ignored these threats and carried out her reforms against heavy odds in the police and prison worlds until she retired. She has continued to make news in India and abroad.
Kiran was born in Amritsar in Punjab in 1949 in a family of four girls. She obtained three degrees, including a doctorate and a post-doctoral degree. Her awards include a United Nations medal, a national award — Suryadatta — and the really big and prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994, Asia’s equivalent of a Nobel prize, which enhanced her reputation worldwide. She also received a handsome cash gift, which was also rewarding even though it was not as large as that received by Nobel prize winners.
She has been quite active in retirement having founded two nongovernment organizations. The Navjoyti and India Vision foundations reach out to thousands of children and women in the field of education, vocational skills, environment, counseling, and health care for the urban and rural poor, prisoners and police officers.
At present, her NGOs are running a community college, registered with the Indira Gandhi University National Open University, to provide vocational and soft skills to Indian youth. Kiran was voted India’s most admired woman in 2002 and the most trusted woman in India by the Reader’s Digest, and the most-admired female icon in 2011.
There are two biographies published about her. She has also written books including It’s Always Possible, What Went Wrong, As I See, Broom and Groom and Uprising 2011, in addition to many articles about her experiences derived from her fruitful career.
She began her career as a lecturer at Khalsa College for women in Amritsar until 1972 when she began her service with the Indian police service becoming the first woman to do so, which made her famous at home and abroad.
I was then with this newspaper and realized the keen interest that my readers had in her so I made sure to publish much of the reports from the Indian and international press and news services.
She served as director general of the police in Mizoram in the north, advisor to the lieutenant governor of Chandigarh and fought against the narcotics trade. Her biography states that she was called “Crane Bedi” for towing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s car for a parking violation while the Indian leader was abroad.
During her tenure at Tihar she introduced measures such as detoxification, art of living yoga, meditation, redressing complaints from prisoners and literacy programs. All of these were taken into consideration when the Ramon Magsaysay Award committee decided to give her the prize.
She was finally appointed as director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
In November 2007, she retired from police service to do something different in her life. She did so with 15 other police officers and set up the two foundations referred to earlier.
She joined others like the famous Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal in the campaign against corruption in which Hazare fasted and nearly lost his life. She was arrested for a few hours before being released the same day. Her efforts together with others culminated in Parliament passing a resolution to consider three issues for the proposed Lokpal Bill, which was aimed at fighting corruption and protecting whistleblowers.
She was involved in other minor cases that did not lead to convictions. I join others in dismissing them because she was honest and would not get involved in wrongdoing of the type that has plagued other public servants of her stature.
She constantly provides media interviews to outline her ideas and philosophy on life.
Following are the excerpts from one of her interviews to an Indian daily. Quote:
What is your philosophy of life and how has it helped you?
It is the belief in a scientific principle that, the fundamental law of nature, is to change. So I am clear in the options that I have. The right option I practice is to accept the change, which I cannot change, and grow with it to ensure that I move with the times. The second belief is the power of prevention. Out of 100 hurtful incidents in one’s life, 90 are person-generated and only 10 are nature sent. I do not try to add to the 10.
Any memorable experiences?
There were many, but one of the most challenging decisions was to ban smoking in prisons. When the ban was announced, the smokers went on a death fast and threatened that I would find them hanging from the beams of the ceiling, the next day. Their threat did not deter me. Having made the decision, I was determined to stick to it and not give in to the prisoners. It took about ten days for things to settle down and smoking has never been allowed in the prison since. I am proud to say that Tihar is the only prison, which does not entertain smoking.
What advice would you give to women that encounter harassment in the workplace or sexual harassment?
For women staff, I believe the most important thing is to empower themselves, not just as a woman but also as an individual. We need to understand fear, how to confront it and overcome it. You must ask yourself: if I don’t accept this treatment, what can happen to me? The thought of “I would get exposed, lose my job,” may be valid, but women cannot stop there. Women must refuse to continue to be victims. Keep the initiative with you and strategize, collect evidence, so that evidence speaks for itself, seek counseling, take guidance and prepare yourself to win your self-esteem. Let me stress how important it is, to seek counseling, so you are not taking everything upon yourself.
Your message to our readers?
The most important thing is that one should be at peace with oneself. Remember, each day brings opportunities for achievement. Through action, we should turn opportunities into achievements, thus bringing fulfillment. Keep your mind clear and do good to everyone you can. Be bold and upright. Stand up for your rights. Begin from wherever you are, keeping progress in mind and intellect. In life, change is the law, growth is optional, choose wisely. If we as human beings get this message in, we will move on and continue to grow and prosper.
• Farouk Luqman is an eminent journalist based in Jeddah.
• luqman@srpc.com