“There was no mention of my candidature in the ‘largest circulated language daily in the world. They offered to report on me if I paid up like the others. It was disappointing that a paper we nurtured spoke the language of money to me.”
Lalji Tandon, BJP MP from Lucknow on newspapers demanding money for coverage during elections (Outlook, December 21)
“To achieve our objective of inclusive growth we need to pay much greater attention to education, health care and rural development, focusing on the needs of the poor…”
Prime minister Manmohan Singh at the 92nd Indian Economic Association conference in Bhubaneshwar (December 28)
“The government school system is broken beyond repair and everybody knows that, including the poor. Yet the Right to Education Act turns a blind eye and instead seeks to impose impossible burdens on private schools, not just elite institutions but others catering to the common man.”
Rajiv Desai, well-known Delhi-based public affairs commentator (Times of India, December 29)
“It is baseless, fake… It is risky to even talk to a woman. Anyone can make an allegation. It is 100 percent wrong allegation.”
Former governor of Andhra Pradesh N.D. Tiwari, reacting to allegations of sexual misconduct against him (December 29)
“Social boycott of corrupt persons is the only radical measure that can curb the practice. Corrupt officials should be isolated so that others realise making money is not the only thing in life.”
Justice N. Santosh Hedge, Lokayukta (ombudsman) of Karnataka, on measures to battle corruption (December 30)
“To an extent, government has got out of education. Majority of school kids are in private schools. Not as if government decided to get out. But parents pushed it out. Do we want it back? Im not sure.”
James Tooley, author and educator, on the role of government in providing education to the poor (Times of India, December 30)