Home » Hall of Fame » Dr. Kiran Bedi "I am here to do my best for the day" - Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi is the first woman officer to join Indian Police Officer. She is India's first and highest ranking women officer. She joined the Indian Police Service in 1972, and has an expertise of innovative and welfare policing.

Kiran Bedi was born on June 9, 1949. She was the second of the four daughters of her parents, her father Prakash Lal Peshawaria, a landlord in Punjab and mother Prem Lata Peshawaria. Kiran Bedi did her schooling at the Sacred Heart Convent and joined NCC. She excelled at sports 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.

Kiran Bedi started her career as a lecturer in Political Science. Soon she left the job after the selection in the Indian Police Service in the year 1972. In her more than 35 years of the police service she served in a number of different and challenging assignments. Kiran Bedi has greatly influenced areas like control of narcotics, traffic management and VIP security. She retired from IPS in December, 2007, after taking voluntary retirement.

She was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award (Asian Nobel Prize) in 1994 for her prison reform policies. She has received several coveted awards. Kiran Bedi has been an author of several books, guest columnist in various magazines and newspaper and anchored several Radio and Television shows. She diligently worked for social-issues like prison reforms, crime prevention, drug abuse, police and women's issues. She's been involved in education, training, counseling, and health care to the urban and rural poor.

She has worked with the United Nations as the Police Advisor and represented India at the United Nations and in International forums. She has set up two voluntary NGOs, Navjyoti and India Vision Foundation, which works relentlessly in the areas of drug abuse treatment and schooling for prisoner's children.

Kiran Bedi is a gusty woman who fears nobody. She has been one of the most inspiring Indian figures and admired women.