“This is a budget that will take the country’s villages, poor and farmers on the path of prosperity. In the last 10 years, 25 crore people have come out of poverty. This budget is a budget for the continuation of the empowerment of the newly emerged Neo Middle Class.”
PM Narendra Modi on the Union Budget 2024-25 (Mint, July 23)
“Coaching has become commerce, a flourishing industry with high returns… Every time we read a newspaper, the front one or two pages are filled with ads from coaching centres. Every penny spent on advertisement is coming from the students, every new building is coming from the students.”
Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India, on the death of three students at a coaching centre in Delhi (July 29, Rajya Sabha)
“It’s a critical moment. I’m a boy from Bombay and it’s great to see an Indian woman running for the White House. And my wife is African American, so we like the fact that a Black and Indian woman is running for the White House.”
Salman Rushdie, author, endorsing Kamala Harris, Democratic nominee for the US Presidency (India Today, July 29)
“… Since the government is already slow walking its promise of more visas to the Chinese, this moment must trigger action on the real culprit: woeful Indian education.”
Ashoka Mody, former Princeton University professor, on why India’s economic growth increasingly depends on foreign expertise, particularly from China (The Hindu, July 30)
“Our employment problem is mainly an education problem. Substandard schools and colleges have produced millions of semi-educated, unemployable young people with degrees, but no real skills. Overhauling the entire education system will take decades.”
Swaminathan Aiyar, economist-columnist (The Economic Times, August 1)