Dubai: Dr Kiran Bedi, a notable name among India’s social activists who was formerly a top-ranked police officer, launched a book on the country’s anti-corruption movement, co-authored by her, in Dubai yesterday.
She and her co-author Pavan Choudary, have both been close to the war on corruption, led by social activist Anna Hazare.
The book, Uprising 2011, chronicles the movement through newspaper clippings and photographs. It was launched in India two days ago.
“The book will serve as a reminder of the movement. It will keep it etched in the minds of Indians and prevent it from being erased from public memory over time,” said Bedi, proceeding to explain the motivation for the book.
When doing her own research on the issue of corruption, she came across huge reference books, but there were no concise books that presented the facts and allowed the readers to form their own opinions, she added.
She urged all students to read the book, to connect with what happened.
Further, she called on the larger community to play an active role in building skills of the Indian youth, by giving back to the community through meaningful initiatives such as her Navjyoti India Foundation, a non-governmental organisation devoted to educational sponsorship programmes.
Quoting facts from a report, she said that the average age of Indians will be 29 by year 2020, which is why “India needs to desperately improve the skills of its youth.”
“Educating them, while instilling values of patriotism and of being good human beings, will go a long way,” she said.
Pavan Choudary, who is a best-selling author and management strategist, also spoke on his other new book How a Good Person can Really Win. “When virtuous people lose, they are the biggest blow to goodness, because people will be turned away from being good,” he said.
He said that although the world is full of people who cheat, manipulate and create evil plans, it is possible for perfectly honest and good people to succeed. The book elaborates on how to use wisdom to progress in life.
