“My parents came in search of the American Dream, and they caught it. To them, America was not so much a place, it was an idea. My dad and mom told my brother and me that we came to America to be Americans. Not Indian-Americans, simply Americans.”
Bobby Jindal, Indian-origin governor of the US state of Louisiana in a prepared remark released by his office (January 16)
“We have just been hit at the heart of our liberty.”
Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks that shook France (Time, January 19)
“BJP has got the world’s most beautiful face with it, i.e, Narendra Modi and his leadership. After that we are just stars who are revolving around him.”
Kiran Bedi, Delhi chief ministerial aspirant, after joining the BJP on prime minister Narendra Modi, previously a target of her criticism (January 19)
“If we don’t fix the problem, we will have hundreds and millions of job seeking, hungry youth with little qualification and no educated worldview in the next decade or two. If we don’t want this time bomb of human mediocrity to explode on us, let us work on reforming rural education now.”
Chetan Bhagat, well-known author, on ASER 2014 which reveals that learning outcomes of primary school children in rural India are abysmal (Times of India, January 26)
“India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith, as long as it is not splintered along any lines, and it is unified as one nation.”
Barack Obama, US President, in a town hall address to young Indians in Delhi (January 27)
“Save the girl child is not a new battle cry... Every government pays homage to it. India has laws and projects galore to deal with the problem, yet the crisis of dwindling number of girls continues.”
Patralekha Chatterjee, journalist and columnist, on the BJP government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign (Deccan Chronicle, January 29)