She relishes the power to drive the change

Kuala Lumpur

KIRAN Bedi, the first woman to join the prestigious Indian Police Service (IPS) and reach its highest ranks, would have made an interesting corporate chieftain had she been so inclined.

After an illustrious career in public service - including as an inspector-general of prisons, joint commissioner of police (training), deputy director of Narcotics Bureau Control, and police adviser to the United Nations secretary-general - she stayed away from the corporate world and politics to go into social service.

"I am a very strong situational leader, very self-reliant," is how she describes herself.

Now retired, the Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient and subject of a documentary observes: "Unfortunately, a secure job in my country for the bureaucrats makes them most insecure. That is the reason they are always looking for the next posting, next transfer. I never looked at the next p…