Kiran Bedi is a formidable name in the industry. She is the first female officer in the Indian Police Service (IPS). She continues to encourage all young, aspirational female UPSC students today. Let’s examine her inspirational journey now. Kiran Bedi was born in Amritsar, Punjab, on June 9, 1949. She is a social activist and a retired IPS officer. Kiran Bedi started appreciating sports at a young age, particularly tennis, and she went on to win the Asian Women’s Lawn Tennis Championship. Despite the fact that women are rarely supported in Indian society, Kiran Bedi never gave up. She found it difficult to function on par with men, and occasionally she even did better. Kiran Bedi was the best student in her class when she received her master’s degree in political science in 1970 from Punjab University in Chandigarh. She continued on to study LLB at Delhi University after that. She then graduated with a PhD from IIT Delhi in 1993.
She started off at Khalsa College as a lecturer. Additionally, on July 16, 1972, she started her IPS course at the National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. She was the lone female IPS officer among eighty male counterparts. In 1975, she was sent to the Chanakyapuri subdivision in Delhi. Kiran Bedi never allowed difficult assignments to keep her from contributing to the IPS. As she advanced in her career, she was appointed deputy inspector general of police in Mizoram, director general of the Narcotics Control Bureau, counselor to the lieutenant governor of Chandigarh, and a civil police advisor in UN peacekeeping missions.
Kiran Bedi received a UN Medal in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the organization. Between 1993 and 1995, while she was the Inspector General of Prisons at Tahir Jail, she made a number of management reform recommendations. In addition, she started a number of initiatives, such as yoga, Art of Living classes, detoxification programs, and literacy initiatives. In 1994, she was honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for these initiatives.
She served as the Director General of the Indian Bureau of Police Research and Development during her final position at IPS. Kiran Bedi resigned from her position voluntarily in 2007 to focus on other social projects. She founded two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India: the Indian Vision Foundation and the Navjyoti India Foundation. Since her retirement, she has been actively involved in projects aimed at community development, women’s empowerment, and jail reform. For her work, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the UN, and her NGOs were recognized with the Serge Sotiroff Memorial Award.
