“It is worth asking whether Mr. Trump’s candidature and victory signify something that had gone horribly wrong with America’s democracy, especially its system of education. Such a question is especially relevant for us because we are passing through a phase in our polity when many key ideas and projects are being borrowed from America.”
Krishna Kumar, professor of education, Delhi University on whether US president-elect Donald Trump’s victory is the outcome of the American education system (The Hindu, December 17)
“What India has done is commit a massive theft of people’s property without even the presence of due process — a shocking move for a democratically elected government.”
Steve Forbes, editor of Forbes magazine, on the BJP/NDA government’s demonetisation initiative (December 22)
“A mere re-prioritisation of the existing quantum of budgets for school education would certainly not help most of the states address the deficiencies in their government schools system. There is clearly a need for significant enhancement of the overall resource envelope for this sector.,”
Subrat Das, director of Centre for Budget & Accountability, in Public Financing of School Educaion in India: A Fact Sheet (December 22)
"Indians who are likely to shout foul in the face of racism when discriminated against on the basis of their appearance overseas, refuse to acknowledge their own racism, defying any idea of shared victimhood and struggle in a common past.”
Vedita Cowaloosur, postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in an essay ‘Not quite black: black skin in popular Indian cinema’ (Economic & Political Weekly, December 24)
“Access to education, nutrition, healthcare, finance and markets for all our citizens is a moral imperative, precisely because it is a precondition for sustainable — and democratic — economic growth.”
Dr. Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, in an essay ‘Democracy, inclusion and prosperity’ (Mint, December 30)