kiran bedi

Kiran Bedi was born on June 9, 1949. Her father Prakash Lal Peshawaria, a landlord in Punjab was determined to educate his four daughters at a time when women were largely limited to doing household tasks. While studying at the Sacred Heart Convent, Kiran joined the National Cadet Corps NCC and took up tennis, a game which her father used to play.

After school she went on to study Political Science at the Government College for Women, Amritsar. She loved the subject as she felt it taught her about her role as a citizen of the country.Kiran excelled at sports particularly tennis. She won the interUniversity womens team title and bagged the national title as well as the Asian title in tennis. Bedi says the game taught her the value of hard work, the importance of staying fit and built in her the qualities of fair play, team work, concentration, and the ability to give in that extra bit under stress. Kiran fell in love with Brij Bedi a fellow student and married him in 1972. This was also the year when Kiran was selected for the Indian Police Service IPS.

Kiran Bedi was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India. She was awarded a BA degree by the Government College for Women, Amritsar in 1968. She then earned a Masters degree in Social Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, graduating top of her class in 1970. She later obtained Bachelor of Laws in 1988 from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. In 1993, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Department of Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi where the topic of her thesis was Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence.

She did her schooling from the Sacred Heart Convent School in Amritsar. She completed her graduation in the English language from the Government College for Women in Amritsar. She received her Masters degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh. She continued her studies, even when she joined the Indian Police force. In the year 1988, she btained a degree in Law LLB from Delhi University.

In the year 1993, the Department of Social Sciences, the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi awarded her with a Ph.D. degree. Her topic of research was Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence. Kiran Bedi has won the championship of allIndia and allAsian tennis competition. When she was 22 years old, she won the Asian Ladies Title.

Her career started in the year 1970, when she took the job of a lecturer at Khalsa College for Women in Amritsar. Two years later, she joined the Indian Police Services. All the way through her career, she has taken up a number of challenging assignments. She has served as the Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi, Deputy Inspector General of Police in the insurgency prone area of Mizoram. She has also been the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh and Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau. An interesting thing about Kiran Bedi is that, sometimes, she is referred to as Crane Bedi. The reason behind calling her by this name is that, she dragged the car of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi due to violation of parking rules.

Kiran Bedi made the Indian Police Service change its decision in matters related to traffic management, control over narcotics and VIP security. During her tenure as the Inspector General of Tihar Jail, she brought about several reforms in the way the prisons are managed. She brought forth a number of measures like yoga, meditation, redressal of complaints made by the prisoners etc.Kiran Bedi laid the foundation for the establishment of two voluntary organizations, namely, Navajyoti 1988 & India Vision Foundation 1994. These organizations were primarily set up with the aim of improving the living conditions of the drug addicts and the underprivileged people. The effort of Kiran Bedi has paid and brought her worldwide recognition. Her works have always earned appreciation.

For her outstanding work, Kiran Bedi has received a number of accolades like:
Presidents Gallantry Award 1979
Women of the Year Award 1980
Asia Region Award for Drug Prevention and Control 1991
Magsaysay Award for Government Service 1994
Mahila Shiromani Award 1995
Father Machismo Humanitarian Award 1995
Lion of the Year 1995
Joseph Beuys Award 1997
Pride of India 1999
Mother Teresa Memorial National Award for Social Justice 2005

In 2014, Bedi expressed her desire to serve the country in the Narendra Modi led government, by offering herself to join the BJP.After meeting with the Prime Minsiter of India Narendra Modi, Kiran joined the Bhartiya Janata Party on 15 January 2015. BJP leader Amit Shah and union minister Arun Jaitley welcomed her in the party fold.

Kiran Bedi along with 15 other police officers set up Navjyoti India Foundation NIF in 1987,NIF started with a deaddiction and rehabilitation initiative for the drug addicts and now the organization has expanded to other social issue like illiteracy and women empowerment.In 1994 Bedi setup India Vision Foundation which works in field of police reforms, prison reforms, women empowerment and rural and community development.Her efforts have won national and international recognition, and her organizations were awarded the Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations.After retirement, Kiran Bedi launched a new website saferindia. The goal of this website was to help people whose complaints are not accepted by the local police.

On 16 August 2011, key members of the India Against Corruption IAC including Bedi were arrested four hours before the planned indefinite hunger strike by Hazare.Bedi and other activist were later released in the evening same day.After twelve days of protests and many discussions between the government and the activists, Parliament passed a resolution to consider three points in drafting of Lokpal bill.During the period of Bedis involvement, IAC protested against corruption and urged the government of India to enact the Lokpal Bill.Bedi split from the group in November 2012.Bedi did not join the Aam Aadmi Party started by Arvind Kejriwal, which evolved from a faction of the India Against Corruption movement. Before the Indian general election, 2014, she declared support for Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.

Navajyoti, set up in 1987, and India Vision Foundation, set up in 1994, are the two major voluntary organizations established by her with the objectives of improving the condition of the drug addicts and the poor people. Her efforts have won national and international recognition, and her organizations was awarded the Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations.

She also started one site named to log complaint regarding any crime if the police at the concerned area denies to accept complaint. Then the NGO behind this site mails complaint to the DGP of concerned area.This mail can also be used as the legal document in case of filing a case in the court of judgement.

Kiran Bedi married Brij Bedi in 1972, the year she started her career in the Indian Police Service IPS, and three years later, in 1975, they had daughter Saina. Among her other three siblings, Shashi is settled in Canada, Reeta is a Tennis player and writer, and Anu is also Tennis player.