“India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world… So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week.’ You know, this is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War; they made sure that every German worked extra hours for a certain number of years.”
N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies (WION News, October 27)
“Some people oppose NEP 2020. I don’t see why anyone should oppose NEP 2020, which is hailed as one of the best visions we have set for our country. For academic reasons, if you oppose NEP 2020, there have been several occasions where your input could have been given.”
Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC), on NEP 2020 (NDTV, October 30)
“Grave human rights violations against children are mounting by the minute in the Gaza Strip, and there are no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed… The Committee calls for an end to the devastating harm being wreaked on children’s lives in the occupied Palestinian Territory. ”
UN Child Rights Committee on the Israel-Hamas war (Livemint, November 2)
“Thinking that reducing prosperity or growth in a sector in one part of the country will enable development in another is foolish.”
Mihir S. Sharma, economist, on a recent National Medical Commission directive prohibiting promotion of medical colleges in ‘surplus’ states (Business Standard, November 4)
“Not my own creation: this is going around @whatsApp as exasperated Delhiites choke and splutter under an AQI of 462, nearly 19 times the @who safe limit of 25. As someone remarked, ‘no wonder the government has renamed the main road the Martavya Path’!”
Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, taking a dig at the government’s response to high pollution levels in Delhi (twitter, November 5)