President appoints Kiran Bedi as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed BJP leader and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi as the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Puducherry as per Article 239 of the Constitution.
The a post LG was vacant for the past two years after the Union Government had sacked Virendra Kataria from the post in July 2014.
Since then, it was under the additional charge of Ajay Kumar Singh, Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

About Kiran Bedi

• Kiran Bedi was the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972. She remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007.
• At the time of retirement, she was posted as Director General (DG), Bureau of Police Research and Development.
• She had started her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Chanakyapuri area of Delhi. In her service she also had served in Delhi, Goa, Chandigarh and Mizoram.
• As DCP of North Delhi, she had launched a campaign against drug abuse. Later it evolved into the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation (renamed to Navjyoti India Foundation in 2007).
• In 2003, she became the first Indian woman to be appointed as a Police Advisor to UN Secretary-General in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations.
• She was one of the pioneers of anti-corruption crusade in 2011 along with Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal against then UPA government.
• In 2015, she had joined BJP and had unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly election as the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate.
• Awards and Honours: President’s Police medal (1979), Ramon Magsaysay Award (1994), UN Medal for outstanding service (2004).

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2016