“People often forget that this is the way refugee children have a future: you educate them. Otherwise it is a generation lost.”
Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, after a visit to Hassan Shami camp for displaced people outside Mosul, Iraq (Time, July 24)
“Here is the tragedy. We have the second or third largest country of people with college degrees in the world. But everywhere, whether public or private institutions, we have a shortage of talent. You know that old poem? Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. We have graduates, graduates everywhere, but who do I hire? Yet we are setting up more IITs.”
Devesh Kapur, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, on the steady decline of Indian higher education (The Hindu, July 25)
“I request General V.K. Singh to help us procure an army tank so that we can place it at a prominent place in JNU. The presence of the tank will remind thousands of students about the great sacrifices and valour of our Indian Army.”
Jagadesh Kumar, vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, which has been in the news for alleged anti-national sloganeering by students (July 24)
“In a country where most government schools don’t have laboratories and basic equipment, should the government be spending scarce resources promoting astrology? In a country with an abysmal public healthcare system and widespread superstition and quackery, can we afford to officially promote stargazing?”
Patralekha Chatterjee, development journalist (Deccan Chronicle, July 27)
“There has been a double defeat of liberalism and pluralism in India... Hindu liberals have been defeated by RSS... Somehow progressive Muslims don’t have a voice within the community. They have become outcastes.”
Ramachandra Guha, historian and author (Times of India, July 28)