They said it in April”A donkey is like a housewife. In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents‚ home, you‚ll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master.” — Excerpt from a class IX-X Hindi-language textbook of the Rajasthan state education board “No one who visits India can fail to be impressed by the huge advances the economy and the education system are making and I returned determined that we need to radically to improve our links with a country that is producing hundreds of thousands of graduates each year.” — British prime minister Tony Blair in The Guardian (April 18)”We all need to ensure that no group feels excluded from enjoying the fruits of rapid economic growth. I urge industry to seriously consider enhancing educational and employment opportunities for weaker sections in an affirmative manner.” — Prime minister Manmohan Singh in his address to members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (April 18)”As mandated law, reservation can impede competitiveness. But industry has to come forward and help in skills development.” — Yogi Deveshwar, chairman of ITC on a proposal to introduce reservation in private sector jobs”The Union government‚s new-found policy of quotas in professional institutions smacks of vote-gathering populism, claims to fulfill social equality and threatens caste tensions in the name of justice.” — Rajeev Dhawan, Supreme Court counsel in The Times of India (April 18)”The executive power of the kingdom of Nepal, which was in our safekeeping, shall from this day, be returned to the people.” — Nepal‚s King Gyanendra (April 21)”India too should think seriously about its Muslim population and rising radical Islamic terrorism. Can India remain completely immune to its Muslim population given the kind of Islamic terrorism that is rising in the Middle East?” — Former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill (April 26)
