IT'S ALWAYS POSSIBLE...

… AND DR KIRAN BEDI IS LIVING PROOF OF IT, WORKING RELENTLESSLY TO IMPROVE THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF PRISON INMATES. SHE SHARES WITH SHRADDHA KAMDAR HOW SHE TRANSFORMED TIHAR JAIL FROM A ‘HUMAN ZOO’ TO A ‘HUMAN DWELLING’

- SHRADDHA KAMDAR

She has inspired thousands of young girls across the country, not only to become a part of the police force but also to stand up for what they know is the right thing to do. Dr Kiran Bedi, a trailblazer in her own right, has been at it for decades now, and is still working relentlessly for the improvement of health and hygiene of women inmates in Indian prisons – just one of the many activities she undertakes.

Even before she set up the India Vision Foundation, the seed of which was sown at the ceremony at which she was conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay Award (the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize) for forging ‘positive relationships’ between people and the police through creative leadership during her tenure as Inspector General of Tihar Jail, she was working towards the betterment of the lives of the inmates. “The reforms I had put in place when I took over as the IG of Tihar were making news and, with that in mind, during my acceptance speech I spoke of a foundation, with the primary objective of ‘saving the next victim’,” Dr Bedi tells us.