"The naysayers of the SP, RJD and BSP stand exposed for what they are: casteists who cultivate criminals and appease the most retrograde elements in the Muslim community to protect their fiefdoms against the rising tide of modernity."
Well-known journalist Dileep Padgaonkar on the controversy surrounding the Women’s Reservation Bill (Times of India, March 13)
"The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill is a milestone which will enhance choices, increase competition and benchmark quality. A larger revolution than even in the telecom sector awaits us."
Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal after the Union cabinet cleared the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill (March 16)
"A ban on eating them would show China has reached a new level of civilization."
Chang Jiwen, a professor at the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences, on the Chinese government’s consideration of legislation that would make eating cats and dogs illegal (Time, March 22)
"It’s important that we do not lose sight of the fact that the education and training needs of India’s adolescents and young adults is truly the 800-pound gorilla in the room."
David Bloom, professor of economics and demography, Harvard University speaking at the India Today Conclave in Delhi (India Today, March 29)
"The Maoists are not the only ones who seek to depose the Indian State. It’s already been deposed several times by Hindu fundamentalism and economic totalitarianism."
Arundhati Roy, author and activist in 'Walking with the comrades' (Outlook, March 29)
"Both Bill and I grew up in families that really believed in giving back. So we came to the marriage knowing that the money that had been amassed from Microsoft would be given back to society. In fact we have made a commitment that 50 years after the last of the two of us has died... all our money would have been given away."
Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (The Hindu, March 29)