Andhra Pradesh

Peace a must for development: Kiran Bedi

— Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Kiran Bedi with the children who won the prizes in the elocution competition at K.S. Gupta Memorial Trust function in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Magsaysay Awardee and first woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, on Saturday strongly advocated revival of peace movement, asserting that peace was a prerequisite for development and its absence would lead to decay and stagnation. Speak peace, teach peace, nourish peace, have peace marches, she said, pointing out that all creative activities were linked to peace. Our struggle for independence was the biggest peace movement in the world she said.

Delivering the K.S. Gupta Memorial Trust Lecture here, Ms. Bedi, who opted for voluntary retirement in 2007 after an eventful and illustrious career spanning more than three decades, described Visakhapatnam as an ‘island of peace’. So, when people of Visakhapatnam go out for various reasons, they also carry this heritage. She wanted Visakhapatnam to attain 100 percent literacy. It does not require money, she asserted, recalling how she had achieved it in Tihar Jail with ten thousand inmates. In her hour-long address, she touched upon the subjects of education, leadership and patriotism.

Continuous education is essential. It would nourish one’s character and lead to peace. Education should not stop when a person takes up work. Talking about role models, she said that parents and teachers are the best role models for any person. Right kind of teaching and parenting would result in moulding right kind of character. ‘I admire sons and daughters who remember and love their parents’ she said. Patriotism also means remembering our heritage and people who made sacrifices for getting independence, she said. She wanted history of freedom fighters to be made compulsory subject in education.

Leadership is all about courage and taking risks. The very fact of teenagers coming up to dais and speaking was itself a leadership quality, she said, referring to the school students who had just participated in the elocution competitions.

We should encourage youth to take up leadership, she opined.

President of the Trust, Badam Madhava Rao said that when we have a number of models but no role models, Kiran Bedi stood tall as a role model for the youth.

He congratulated the Gupta family for remembering K.S. Gupta in whose memory the Trust was founded. Introducing Kiran Bedi, Director Center for Policy Studies, A. Prasanna Kumar recalled how, as a tennis player, ‘she came, played and conquered’. Navajyothi and India Foundation Vision, the two organisations started by Ms. Bedi had been reaching out to 10,000 beneficiaries every day, which shows the social commitment of Ms. Bedi, he said.

Later, Ms.Bedi distributed prizes to the six winners, incidentally all girl students, from various high schools, in the elocution competitions.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu