Interactive session "Women- Agents of Change" with Ms. Kiran Bedi

FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), Jaipur Chapter organized an interactive session Women- Agents of Change with Social activist and a former cop Kiran Bedi. Dr. Bedi urged women to “remain in charge of your own thought,your own commitment and your own wealth” and should follow their role models that could give them strength and try to become a significant figure in the society so that others could emulate them.

She said if a woman manage to her own in charge she empowers herself to meet any challenge and derives strength from her family and in turn help her children become a good citizen.

Speaking at a gathering of women entrepreneurs under the aegis of FICCI FLO on the topic of “women-agents of change”she urged the women not to confine only as a reproductive machine,but should feel proud that they were capable of handling and achieving anything that the men feel was their forte.

The women should be proud that its only they who could produce humanity and keep the world going. The women relives life as a mother. A woman is a migrant, she is born in different home and after her marriage go to a different home. She often changes home and always go for a better place. The migrants need support and its the support that they need which help them grow and create a space for themselves.

Bedi, who in the seventies became the first Indian woman Indian Police Service officer said she as a working woman required support system to run her family and her official affairs. But she used the support system to enable her meet her targets and fulfil her responsibilities both as a mother and as a police official. She urged the women to gauge her own strength and weaknesses and and soothen the rough edges from their persona.

She said in India, the girl child do not enjoy equal opportunity and the male child are treated superior than the female. But in her own case, her parents provided her anything that they would have provided to their son.

She first excelled as a sports person by becoming the national and Asian women champion in tennis. In academics also she tried to excel and when she was chosen as the first woman Indian Police Service(IPS) officer, more than her its the women of the country who were happy.

She spoke about the prison reforms that she undertook as the inspector general of prison in Delhi and said it was the urge to give the prisoners a new lease of life so that they could become a better citizen once they were free that encouraged her to start meditation, teaching classes and counselling and she did it without any funding from the government.

“It gave me great satisfaction that I was changing the life of a person by educating them. The illiterate prisoner was using his left thumb impression when he entered jail and returned as a person who could now sign papers. It was the will that enabled me to get support from people who sent me truckloads of stationeries and books, and the programme which I started is still being pursued” added Bedi.

She also talked about how she improved the road congestions in Delhi and how used the cranes effectively to clear the traffic. The system worked so well that she was given the name “Crane Bedi”. She asked the FICCI FLO members to become mentor and help those who want their support in understanding the society. The sisterhood of talent once effectively used would make the society stronger and the world would be a better place to live, said the activist.

Apra Kuchhal, the chairperson of FICCI FLO introduced her to the audience.She also initiated the Q&A session in which a large number of questions were answered.