"S.377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises men who have sex with men must go. Structural discrimination against those who are vulnerable to HIV ... must be removed if our prevention, care and treatment programmes are to succeed." -- Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss speaking at the 17th International Conference on Aids in Mexico City (August 8)
"The city most affected with the IT virus is Bangalore, which has the biggest concentration of brainless young men. What we see today in Bangalore is an imbalanced city with people who have a lot of money and no minds because of IT. A balanced society needs scientists, musicians, artistes, and playwrights." -- Renowned scientist C.N.R. Rao at a seminar in Bangalore (August 10)
"There is a lot of immediate agitation to express discontent on new issues such as price rise or the agreement with a foreign country on nuclear issues, but there is little political murmur about the actual living conditions of Indians." -- Nobel laureate Amartya Sen criticising India’s political class for “quietly accepting consistent deprivations” in a speech to members of Parliament (August 11)
"I can’t describe how happy I am after winning India’s first individual Olympic gold medal. It’s the thrill of my life. That’s about it." -- Abhinav Bindra, gold medal winner in shooting at the Beijing Olympics (August 13)
"India’s story is its human capital, its people. They have realised very, very clearly that if they are going to make something out of their lives, they need education. And therefore, I think having our population fully educated is very critical." -- Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, Bangalore in The Times of India (August 18)
"We are one of the youngest nations and India has the potential to create over 500 million trained people by 2022, which is over a fourth of the global workforce. The big opportunity for India will come from an education revolution that we must undertake as our most important national endeavour." -- Prime minister Manmohan Singh at the IIT-Guwahati campus (August 27)