Usually, civil service officers must be ready for hard postings to serve the nation by working even in remote places. Such hard posts can affect their families and childrens education. Hence, the Govt of India provides certain benefits like admission to Schools (Kendriya Vidyalaya) and quotas for higher education for children of such officers. The logic is simple: A resident of Karnataka is given the first preference for engineering seats in Karnataka whereas students from other states have to literally struggle to get a seat under the Non-Karnataka category. Now consider a situation where an IPS officer from Karnataka is posted in Kashmir and his son must complete his 11th & 12th in Kashmir, which places him under non-Karnataka, thereby denying him the engineering seats in Karnataka under normal category. i.e Serving the nation penalizes him by denying a seat in Karnataka (his home state). Hence, there will be a certain quota for such Govt officers working in other states so that their children are not denied of such opportunities which they would have automatically got if their parents were not transferred. So, that IPS officers son can compete within this quota and apply for engineering in Karnataka. In the early 1990s, Kiran Bedi was transferred to Mizoram (a hard posting) which she readily accepted and took her family. Her daughter was offered a seat in Kendriya Vidyalaya where she completed her 11th & 12th with flying colors (She secured 89% in 12th). Since she was interested in pursuing higher education in medicine, applying for medical colleges in Delhi was the most logical step. But the problem was that applying for medical colleges in Delhi required the student to have completed their 11th & 12th in Delhi itself, thereby denying her application under normal category. To avoid such awkward scenarios, the Govt of India had allocated 13 seats for the children of those officers who were working for Mizoram and Kiran Bedis daughter was one such beneficiary. All that she needed to do now was to get a domicile certificate from the State Govt of Mizoram, which says that she completed her 12th in Mizoram, which she successfully obtained and as a result her daughter was enrolled into a medical college in Delhi. This is where Kiran Bedi encountered one of he biggest obstacles in her life. Due to her aggressive policing, she had invited the wrath of most of the big shots & ministers in Mizoram, especially due to her efforts in curbing the drug menace in the state. Surprisingly, the CM interfered and nullified her daughters domicile certificate & notified the medical college to cancel her admission. The issue gained prominence when politicians provoked student community by pointing out that an outsider like Kiran Bedi was using Mizo quota for her daughter. There was nothing illegal or unethical about this, but the issue turned emotional, due to which several local students started agitating, demanding for revocation of the medical seat. Within 2 days, the student group of 50 began to swell into rioting mobs of 2000 students demanding Kiran Bedi to surrender her daughters medical seat. Kiran Bedi rushed to the law minister (Dr. Thansanga) requesting him to pursuade the state machinery to intervene and take control of the situation, but in vain. The minister said that the issue has now turned into Mizo vs Non-Mizo and adviced her to leave Mizoram before the mob would even try to kill her!! As the mob surrounded her house, and the state Govt being blind to the situation, Kiran Bedi had no choice but to vacate. She & her family took the exit route out of Mizoram that night and safely reached Delhi. -------------------- Ok. Now why am I sharing this slice of history? Because the AAP social media cell is now planning to defame Kiran Bedi as a Bhagoda who quit Mizoram. But the reality was that without the support of state machinery, had she stayed any longer in Mizoram, she would be killed by the mobs. Also, AAP is planning to defame her by calling her A cheater who exploited loopholes in the system to get a medical seat for her daughter. But the fact of the matter is that what she did was perfectly legal & ethical to get the medical seat. Even the State Govt admitted that there was nothing wrong (and hence had issued the domicile certificate), but the issue turned into Mizo vs Non-Mizo issue due to which the CM succumbed to pressure & sided with the locals, thereby cancelling the seat which eventually forced Kiran Bedi & her family out of the state. Later, the issue was taken up in court which justified Kiran Bedis actions and her daughter was allowed to continue in the medical college without any more obstacles.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 06:36:46 +0000
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