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Running head: The Best Use of Power within a Leader

The Best Use of Power within a Leader

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Introduction

Power is a concept of leadership that is generally taken to be the capacity of a person to exert

influence over others. If a person has power, it means he is able to influence the behavior of

other individuals. Power has both negative as well as positive influences such as personal

dominance is negative and socialized power is positive.  This write - up is about the best use of

power within a leader (Kiran Bedi) I’ve read about in Mandala some years ago. I was inspired by

the way Bedi being a lady police officer, exerted her powers to bring a change in the system of

the Indian police force system to serve humanity.

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A few years ago, I read about Kiran Bedi, an ex-super cop who became the first women Indian

Police Services officer of India in 1972 and I was inspired by her commendable use of power to

bring a change in the Indian Police Force system to serve humanity. Bedi served as an Inspector

General of prisons at Tihar Jail, South Asia’s largest prison and in just two years (1993 – 1995)

transformed Tihar Jail with a population of 10,000 inmates to Tihar Ashram.

On the first day of her duty, she got an insight of the prison and she said,

I had heard about the gang wars, prisoners running extortion centers from within

the prisons, and tales of rampant corruption, violence and heart-rending tragedies.

But I was a soldier, duty-bound to take charge of this hellhole, (The Power of the

Human Heart, n.d. para. 1).

Bedi noticed how half the inmates were addicted to tranquilizers and the majority of them

were illiterate and she decided to reform the jail. The first areas she concentrated on were

the rampant drug problems followed by the provision of wholesome – palatable food to

the inmates and further turning the entire Tihar jail into a school as well.

More than 300 rooms of the jail were split into classrooms and the educated inmates were

told to educate the prisoners. The schedule of every prisoner was fixed. In the mornings,

literacy activities were followed by voluntary training and in the evenings, sports and
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ethical therapy congregations along with education of soul-stirring music and yoga

exercises were introduced.

 All in all, it was a total transformation of Tihar Jail to Tihar Ashram and upon her achievement

Bedi remarked, "I had 10,000 people who could be reformed. So I converted a ‘punishment' into

‘reformation'. That was the power to change.'' (Bedi, 2020, para.11.).

To sum up, Bedi not only became an inspiration to other police officers but also used her

powers in the best possible ways to give right guidance to the people who were groping

in the darkness of ignorance and were ruining their lives due to their wrong deeds.

References

Bedi, K. (2020.). Retrieved on October 3, 2020 from

https://fridaymagazine.ae/life-culture/people profiles/ex-supercop-kiran-bedi-on-not-

wasting-a-day-1.1039938

The Power of the Human Heart: Transforming Asia’s Biggest Prison, (1999). Retrieved from

https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/older/mandala-issues-for-1999/may/the-power-of-the-

human-heart-transforming-asias-biggest-prison/