"The Right to Information legislation to yield documents that can show discrepancies between what was supposed to have been done by public officials and what actually was done helps to make people aware of the ‘last mile’ barrier — and such tools need to be spread more widely."
Sunil Khilnani, director, South Asia Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University (Times of India, February 11)
"The desk-breakers it publishes, ruminating on everything from the number of power stations to water quality five years hence, are exercises in wish fulfillment as much as anything."
The Economist on India’s Planning Commission (February 18-24)
"It’s a form of corruption that seeps in deep at a young age. It doesn’t teach a child anything but to crack the system through short-cuts and quick-fixes. The children’s overall attitude to life itself will be wrong."
Maya Menon, founder-director, Teacher Foundation, on the trend of getting homework done online for a fee (Times of India, February 21)
"The importance of long-form journalism cannot be underestimated, and in India we are just awakening to its power."
Prashant Agarwal, management consultant (The Mint February 22)
"I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state are absolute... to say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes me want to throw up."
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum (Huffington Post, February 26)
"Textbooks are prepared by state governments, but I dare say that their content is such that they are not age-equivalent."
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal on quality of K-12 textbooks (India Today, February 27)
"When I heard Rahul (Gandhi) was eating at Dalit homes, I called my cook and asked him his caste. I realised I had been eating food cooked by a Dalit for eight years!"
Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party general secretary at an election rally in Lucknow (Outlook, February 27)