Kiran Bedi Interview

TamilFire

7/11/2024

Kiran Bedi Interview in English

Transcript

00:00On behalf of the thousands of only 96.8 FM listeners, let me begin by thanking you for

00:25agreeing to share some precious moments with us.

00:28You have been an inspiration to mankind as a whole, and to womankind in particular.

00:33Tell us, why did you choose the police force as your career?

00:35Well, I guess it goes back to my kind of upbringing.

00:40It was very patriotic, it was very sensitive, it was very justice sensitive in a way, and

00:47I was looking forward to working with my government.

00:51And also, I believed in the strength of persuasive power, you know, I wanted to actually exercise

00:57persuasive power, and for me, policing was a very powerful instrument of persuasive power

01:04and corrective power.

01:05And what has been the guiding principles in both your career as well as your family life?

01:10Guiding principles has been basically prioritization, it goes by needs, but every relationship for

01:16me has a space and a time for itself.

01:21I don't muddle up situations, I go by need basis.

01:25I'm basically very time sensitive, and also very focused according to the, and I provide

01:31according to the need.

01:32Right.

01:33How much of an effect has your family had on you, Kiran?

01:37Total.

01:38I'm a product of my family, totally.

01:40I'm a product of my family support.

01:43I'm a product of my family habits.

01:46My habits are exactly like my father, the sports habit, a habit of hard work and discipline

01:52is exactly like my mother's.

01:54I'm a total inheritor of a combination of my mother and my father, and then as I grew

02:00up in my career, my hard work or whatever more I could put in was because of extensive

02:06support I got from my parents, mother most of all, father for my upbringing, and my husband

02:14and my in-laws.

02:15I'm a very strong product of family support.

02:17Dr. Kiran, let's talk about the stint which made you very popular.

02:22Were you overwhelmed when you were given the task of managing the notorious Tihar Jail

02:26back in 1994, and how on earth did you turn around the place in just two years?

02:31You see, I went to the Tihar prison management after about 22 to 23 years of policing experience,

02:39and I'm glad I had that wonderful experience before I got the prison assignment.

02:44And in those 23 years of policing, I had used policing, I had delivered policing as a concept

02:50of welfare policing.

02:52It was always welfare oriented, it was always preventive policing, it was a lot corrective

02:58policing.

02:59Punitive policing was a last resort in all my career.

03:03I never knew that I would one day run a prison of 10,000 prisoners, but prior to the prison

03:08assignment, entire approach was always, how do I reach out welfare?

03:14How do I reach out larger security?

03:17How do I provide preventive policing?

03:19How do I prevent crime before they happen?

03:22And when they happen, how do I work on correction so that the person does not go back to repeating

03:27crime?

03:28So therefore, this is the kind of experience I had gone through the prison.

03:32And it was just a brilliant fertile ground for me to continue with that correction, continue

03:39with the prevention, continue with the welfare concept.

03:42So I was actually groomed so subconsciously, so much by nature that I went to the right

03:48place at the right time.

03:50You have introduced, I think, the concept of self-policing.

03:52Now, is that something new or has it existed before in some other form?

03:57Well, when I introduced the concept of self-policing in my police training, when I headed the police

04:03training in the Delhi Police, unfortunately the practices which we did bring in did not

04:09exist.

04:10So they were first time and I wish I had not been the first one to introduce because without

04:15the self-policing concept, you cannot be a good policeman or a woman.

04:20Because if you do not self-police, then who are you policing?

04:23How are you policing?

04:25Because you may need self-policing yourself.

04:27So therefore, when I introduced the concept of self-policing through meditation procedures,

04:32self-audit, self-reflection, ethical education, it improved the quality of the product or

04:41the production or reproduction of ideas or attitudes remarkably.

04:46But I can't imagine any training without the concept of self-policing.

04:51So unfortunately, they had not existed earlier till we introduced them.

04:56But it came to me because that's what I personally practice and I personally believe in.

05:02And I thought that what had made me enjoy my policing was constant concept of self-policing

05:09because I didn't need to be told by my seniors what to do.

05:13I didn't need to go to a training institute to remain sensitive.

05:16I didn't need to be told by a vigilance department to stay honest or be polite or be kind to

05:22women or be kind to elders or be kind to or not use third degrees, to use compassion.

05:28It all came through the concept of self-policing.

05:31I just transferred something which I personally gained or learned from my habits, from my

05:36family.

05:37It's very humble of you indeed, Dr. Kiran.

05:39Now, you've already spoken about your family.

05:41But I'd like to concentrate a little on your mother.

05:44You once said you lost your feeling of fear when you lost your mom.

05:48What did she mean to you and how much of Kiran Bedi would be attributed to her?

05:53I think I had a living divinity to her because she was a symbol of selfless love.

06:00She was a symbol of total discipline and hard work.

06:05She was a real mother.

06:06She was your mother which one would love to say mama, my mother.

06:10I think that is the feeling I had about her because she was a symbol of selfless love

06:17and constant love and love till the last breath of her life.

06:21She was a woman who believed in doing her duty as much as her body could deliver.

06:28She was an indefatigable energy.

06:30She was a very determined woman, strongly courageous.

06:34I think that's the time when she breathed her last.

06:38Since I loved her the most, there was nobody else after in the sense that who could beat her.

06:44So I became fearless of losing anything more after that.

06:47Inspiring indeed.

06:49Now, tell us a little bit more about Navajyoti and India Vision International,

06:53the two NGOs that you founded.

06:55You see, one of the organizations, the first one, Navajyoti,

06:59was born as a concept of belief in crime prevention.

07:03Treating the root and branch.

07:05Treating the root and branch of crime.

07:08So Navajyoti was born as a drug abuse treatment program in 1986-87.

07:14So many years ago, almost now go back to nearly 20 years,

07:18nearing 22 decades of organizational work.

07:21So I started drug abuse treatment program as a crime prevention measure.

07:25Started to rehabilitate women to wean them away from drug trafficking.

07:29Took children who were abusing drugs and even peddling drugs,

07:33putting them into school.

07:34So I started to work with crime prevention

07:37because I knew it was later on going to be otherwise crime detection.

07:41So this is how Navajyoti was born.

07:43We reached out to drug addicts for treatment.

07:46We reached out to schooling for children.

07:48We reached out to vocational training centers for women.

07:51Now, as I was moving up, people demanded institutionalization of this work.

07:56And that is how Navajyoti was born and incorporated in 1988.

08:00Since then, it's continued to flourish and continued to grow.

08:04It went on adding more programs, but cornerstone of the program,

08:08the genesis was crime prevention and rehabilitation

08:12and treatment of root and branch.

08:14But India Vision Foundation was born in 1994

08:18when I was awarded the Ramon Max Luce award for government service.

08:21And at that time, I was Inspector General of Prisons.

08:24India Vision, and it brought an award of US$50,000.

08:28Every award, I think for me, means added responsibility

08:33and a clear message that do not stop.

08:36Carry on. You're duty-bound to move on.

08:38So India Vision Foundation, I could have named it in my name

08:41or the name of my mother or father,

08:43but we named it as India Vision for me.

08:45It was my award to my country,

08:47which enabled me to be whatever I was.

08:50I named it as India Vision Foundation

08:52because that name is the largest for me.

08:54And that started to focus on prison reform, crime prevention,

08:59and particularly education of prisoners' children,

09:02rehabilitation of vocational training for women in prison.

09:06Since then, now it's nearing 11 years,

09:09program has gone on non-stop.

09:11Kiran, you have inspired so many lives.

09:13Who are those who have inspired you?

09:15I look for inspiration.

09:17The books have been inspiration.

09:18Individuals who are strongly courageous and ethical

09:21were my inspiration.

09:22Well, my parents were my inspiration to begin with,

09:25but then if I would go by the individuals,

09:28then it was Mahatma Gandhi who was my inspiration.

09:31Mother Teresa was my inspiration.

09:34Golda Meir was my inspiration.

09:36Vivekananda was my inspiration.

09:38Even Margaret Thatcher, a strong woman

09:40who would take decisions, right or wrong,

09:43would be my inspiration.

09:44Women and men who were strong, courageous, ethical,

09:48self-sacrificing, giving, compassionate, spiritual,

09:53they were all my inspiration.

09:55And books, my teachers, my situations,

09:58my home, my parents, my mother-in-law,

10:01equally sacrificing and spiritual was my inspiration.

10:04You must have faced failures in life too.

10:06Can you name any and also tell us

10:08how you overcame that failure?

10:10I don't consider any moment,

10:12any situation of failure, believe me.

10:14If I would lose a tennis match,

10:16and you know I was a tennis player,

10:18I was a nation tennis champion

10:20and a national tennis champion.

10:21For me, it was never a defeat.

10:23It was a lesson to be learned to do it better next time.

10:27So in fact, the word failure never existed in our family.

10:31This was the one word which was never used

10:34in the family saying, this, you failed here.

10:36It was just said, here's a lesson to be learned

10:39and do better.

10:40So for me, every situation which needs to be bettered

10:44is not a failure, but a lesson to be learned.

10:47Beautiful.

10:48And you have achieved so much in your lifetime.

10:50What would you consider

10:51as your biggest achievement or success?

10:53I think if I would have to say it

10:56because you're asking me,

10:57then it would mean a whole new concept of policing,

11:01the concept of welfare policing,

11:03the concept of welfare and restorative justice

11:06in the prisons.

11:07That a belief and a confirmed belief

11:10that if you work on crime prevention,

11:12you don't have to work on every time on detection as much.

11:16And then if you work on reformative justice

11:19and restorative justice,

11:21then further you will have a better quality

11:23of crime control.

11:24And that if you involve mind, body, environment

11:28and spirituality, you can bring in greater reforms

11:32in the prison system.

11:33You can use persuasive power

11:35and a police officer could be the greatest welfare officer

11:38in the society because he or she could work

11:41on root and branch alongside.

11:43Policing is not just a punitive power.

11:45Policing actually is a corrective power.

11:48It is the largest welfare and security power

11:51a police officer can exercise.

11:52I would do believe that probably these were the new concepts

11:56and participative policing.

11:58Most of my policing came

11:59and all my prison management came through three C models.

12:02It was collective, it was corrective and community-based.

12:06My policing has been these three Cs,

12:08collective, corrective and community-based.

12:11This is a model in fact I've given through my book.

12:13It's always possible in the end to think

12:16this is my contribution to the criminal justice system.

12:19A great contribution indeed.

12:21Kiran, if there's one trait that has characterized

12:23your 55 years of existence, what would that be?

12:27I think I'm very organized.

12:29I'm very disciplined.

12:30I'm basically by nature, very hardworking.

12:33I value time hell of a lot.

12:35I value every moment.

12:37I don't let a moment slip by.

12:39If I'm meditating, then I am meditating.

12:42If I'm exercising, then I am exercising.

12:44If I'm reading, then I am.

12:46I'm pretty focused by nature and I'm very organized.

12:50I'm very systematic in my life and my living

12:53and I'm multitasking by nature, hugely.

12:56There's a huge habit of multitasking right from my childhood

12:59and I think that's how I would say

13:01that's what my life has been the way

13:04and I've loved it so far.

13:05And most of all, I'm grateful for divine good health

13:09because without good health,

13:10it may have been so difficult to do what I did.

13:13So with gratitude for good health

13:16and the good environment I got,

13:17I could achieve all these multitasking, disciplined living.

13:21Kiran, just one last question.

13:23This program, Bhanum Vasapadme,

13:25aims to inspire people by telling them that

13:28if this personality has done it, so can you.

13:31Now, as you turn 56, what would you want to tell

13:33our listeners who may be looking for a spark of motivation?

13:36Well, I would say that anybody who's listening,

13:39you've got your five senses intact.

13:41You've got your five senses which nature gifts you

13:44as you're born.

13:45I think you're already gifted.

13:47You've already gifted.

13:48You've got it all.

13:49And braver are those who got any one sense less

13:53and then do it despite that.

13:55But if you're born with these gifts of nature,

13:59you have it all.

14:00So therefore, God has already given you,

14:02or nature has already given you

14:04as you're born as a human being.

14:06What you do with these five senses

14:08is your gift to the world

14:10or your gift back to nature.

14:12And you use those gifts to optimum utilization

14:16and right use of your ethical use of the time

14:20which one gets 24 hours per day.

14:23This is how I value 24 hours of my day.

14:26And I think that's the gift I return as gratitude

14:29back to society, back to the community

14:32and to my parents who expected this all from me.

14:34Thank you very much, Dr. Kiran

14:35and all the best for your future endeavors.

14:38Thank you for this happy birthday gift.

14:40♪♪♪

14:42♪♪♪

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