Kiran Bedi joined Indian Police Service in 1972, and became India’s first and highest ranking woman police officer. Having a service record for more than 35 years of creative and reformative policing and prison management, she has also worked with the United Nations in New York as the Police Advisor to the Secretary General, in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations. A recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, and several other national and international decorations, Dr. Kiran Bedi holds a Law, Masters and Doctorate degree. It was she who for the first time ever gave the Prime Minister’s car a parking ticket.
A very influential social activist, she has founded two NGOs – the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation for welfare and preventative policing, later renamed as the Navjyoti India Foundation, and the India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention and child welfare.
In this TEDTalk, Kiran Bedi talks about how she was brought up and given opportunities by her parents and how she changed the face of Tihar Jail, one of the toughest prisons in India.