Kiran Bedi

The first woman to join the coveted Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972, Kiran Bedi was born on 9 June 1949 in Amritsar, Punjab. Recently appointed as Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research and Development, Kiran Bedi has had an illustrious career, earning widespread adulation for her no-nonsense attitude and devotion to work. She served as Police Advisor in the United Nations peacekeeping department and was honored with the UN medal for outstanding service. She earned the nickname 'Crane Bedi' for towing away the then Indian PM Indira Gandhi's car for parking violation.

Kiran Bedi graduated in English before securing a Master's degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh. This gutsy police officer went on to secure an LL.B degree in 1988 from Delhi University and a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, even while she was in service. She was good at sports too, having been an all-India and all-Asian tennis champion. She has served creditably in a host of appointments ranging from Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutanent Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau and many others.

She is well known for introducing a number of reforms during her stint as the Inspector General of Prisons of the Tihar Jail in New Delhi like detoxification programmes, yoga, meditation and redressal of prisoners' complaints. She set up foundations like Navajyoti in 1988 and the India Vision Foundation in 1994 for improving the lot of drug addicts and the poor sections of society.

She has won a number of awards both in India and abroad. The prominent ones among include the President's Gallantry Award in 1979, the Asia Region Award for Drug Prevention and Control in 1991, the Magsaysay Award in 1994 for Government Service, the Joseph Beuys Award in 1997, the Mother Teresa Memorial National Award for Social Justice in 2005 and the Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations.

Get to know about some more Indian Personalities:
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya E. Sreedharan Kiran Bedi Verghese Kurien Shahnaz Hussain Indra Nooyi Kalpana Chawla Rakesh Sharma Reita Faria Sunita Williams