“India has smart, hardworking people, and now it seems the country truly wants its people to succeed and become wealthy. Historically, India wasn’t like this. But now something has changed.”

Jim Rogers, American investor (Mint, October 24)

“…a narrative that begins in 1492 with the mythic arrival of Christopher Columbus. This moment is still described in textbooks, museums and mindless school rhymes as the “discovery” of America. The truth, of course, is far more brutal. Columbus did not discover a new world. He invaded one, and that invasion set in motion one of the most ferocious chapters in human history. Columbus’s arrival heralded not discovery, but genocide. The devastation was total.”

Shelley Walia, former professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh in an essay titled ‘Rethinking immigration in the age of exclusion’ (The Hindu, October 29)

“Geopolitics today is no longer about territory and force alone. Supply chains are the new borders, technology the new territory, data the new diplomacy, climate the new conflict line and narrative is the new battleground. In short geopolitics now determines corporate destiny.”

Nirupama Rao, former foreign secretary delivering the 52nd Foundation Day lecture at IIM Bangalore (October 29)

“For decades, one family has towered over Indian politics. The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty — including independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and current opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — is bound up with the history of India’s struggle for freedom. But it has also cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright. This idea has penetrated Indian politics across every party, in every region, and at every level.”

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP (The Indian Express, November 4)