In a 2002 poll, Kiran Bedi was adjudged by “The Week” magazine to be the most admired woman in India. After reading this book, I was not at all surprised. For a woman who starred at tennis and managed to get fame even as a traffic cop, her achievements spanning crime prevention, police training and being an advisor to the UN have only become greater.
The popular myth – that nothing can be done about the inefficiency, lethargy and corruptibility of Indian government service – gets powerfully dispelled. Throughout much of her career, Kiran Bedi has done nothing but get more service and productivity out of the staff that were assigned to her. From changing the traffic situation in Goa with a mere 25 cops to getting the respect of the outsider-unfriendly state of Mizoram as Police Commissioner, her ability to marshall her resources shines through. What’s amazing is that it often took just this one person, and maybe a few others to cause massive changes in the police systems and operations. I began to believe at the end of the book that the critical mass required for change – even in a system that can be as rotten as the indian civil service – is not so huge after all.
This is basically a book about leadership. Leaders basically act as catalysts for positive change. While today leadership in literature is mostly about CEO’s, the magnitude of social change that Kiran Bedi has started is (to me) much more impressive than that. One of her famous postings was as Inspector-General of Tihar Jail in Delhi. Before she arrived, it was known to be a hellhole. Drugs, physical abuse, corruption, disease, prisoner deaths were common. In the short span of two years, she converted the prison into “virtually an ashram” in the words of the press – which in involved man-management of over 8000 prisoners and hundreds of staff – all of whom were beset by common problems. The book tells the story of the innovative methods – mostly rehabilitation and correctional efforts managed to change a place like Tihar in such a short span of time. Another aspect of undaunted leadership is that Kiran Bedi often found huge opposition from politicians and others who didn’t like her making changes to the system – and she manages to accept these realities and still carry on her work at the same time.
Kiran Bedi herself is the author of four books and runs two voluntary organizations – Navjyoti and India Vision, and has a PhD from IIT Delhi in Social Sciences.
8 Comments
outsider-unfriendly state? I’d like to know where you get that information from! Have you ever been there yourself? It’s good to do a little research first if you’re going to publish something for the world to see, especially if it’s something ‘un-diplomatic’.
And as for Kiran Bedi…….
anonymous:
no i haven’t been there myself. my impression was gained from the book itself – which, since it has been published for the world to see, i suppose constitutes at least a basic form of research. if you feel this is in error, feel free to give your opinion.
People have lots of preconceived notions about the north-eastern states, it’s such a shame..won’t say much but to quote one Canadian blogger(//heartwarmers.blogspot.com)
“If you want to be looked after and even “babied”, come to this great corner of God’s earth. This remote, northeasterly corner specializes in these essential qualities. The scenery is majestic. You need to come to realize how good God was when he created this corner of his earth. And, to re-quote a famous apostle, as I have said before so say I now again, the only thing more spectacular than the landscape is the people that inhabit it.” That’s the ‘outsider-unfriendly’ Mizoram he’s talking about!
I have for a long time now, believed that 1 person can make a difference… especially in the civil services. Have seen one such example in my city, where the District Commissioner did a great job of crime fighting.
Anon,
Great job at showing the rest of us how “Outsider-friendly” these states are (I am assuming you hail from one of them). Those comments were really very friendly and I can see what you mean when you say “the only thing more spectacular than the landscape is the people that inhabit it.”. Spectacular indeed!
Ooh, looks like I’ve ruffled some feathers here! Shashwat, I don’t really see why my singing my state’s praises should bother you so much, pretty harmless as far as I can see, at least it was intended to be harmless, I mean, I wasn’t shooting down anyone else while doing that was I? Anyway, since I’m in a good mood tonight, I’ll apologise, so, yeah..I apologise! And please don’t view the whole population of the afore-mentioned state in a bad light just because some over-defensive citizen made a supposedly ‘nasty’ over-zealous comment, I’m a black sheep, a bad seed, I swear people there are nothing like me.
not bad mr.Paramesh Dangwal!!!?!?
well she has inspired me alot. and the book tells u tht if u be on the right path thn whtever the situtations are u need to handle it,and women has more power thn men.and if evry person decides to be like her thn the world would change and the world which a comman man dreams of will get in visuality.She has become my role model..SALAAM TO HER BRAVERY AND HER PERSONALITY.
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