Life is nothing without innovation: Kiran Bedi

After being in the news for days, IIMA's annual business summit, Confluence 2010, ended on Sunday with IPS officer Kiran Bedi attending the closing-cum-prize distribution ceremony as the chief guest. Besides activities like debates, the three-day meet provided students an opportunity to interact with some prominent and well-respected Indian minds, and to learn from them.

The presence of Kiran Bedi, India's first woman IPS officer, added more jewels to the crown of the grand event. Laying emphasis on innovation in her address, Bedi said, "For me, innovation is like oxygen. I wouldn't have been an IPS officer and wouldn't have been standing here in IIM, if I hadn't believed in innovations."

The Ramon Magsaysay awardee said that life will come to a standstill if there were no innovation.

"An individual needs to constantly think of innovative ways, or else he would be left behind. Change is the law, but growth is optional. Hence, growth is only possible when innovative ideas are thought of for the society", she said.

Stressing further on the point, the former police advisor to the UN secretary general said that innovation is important to improve the quality of life of the people whom we are destined to serve.

The former cop also presented a few case studies where she had encountered problems like several rape cases in the same village, bootlegging issues in Delhi and others. With the implementation of her simple innovative techniques, the problems had been solved and law and order had been maintained, she explained.

Expressing concern for research institutes in India, she said that the premier institutes should also get involved in this area and try to find answers to India's main problems.