“It is such a shame that India and Pakistan where large segments of population live in such desperate poverty must spend so much on weapons.” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party chairman, commenting on twitter before his first visit to India (April 9) “Almost 70 percent of unaided schools are of minority status. If they are excluded from the clause of admission reservation, then it is as good as no reservation. Good quality schools are either minority institutes or are of really high standards where children from economically backward background cannot adjust.” Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education on the Supreme Court judgement exempting minority schools from the quota provision of the RTE Act (DNA, April 13) “‘Boy worship’ is a terminal disease. In India, it is an epidemic with no end in sight. We really are doomed.” Well-known author Shobha De on the growing incidence of female infanticide in the country (Sunday Times, April 15) “There are few politicians who have made the journey from the sublime to the ridiculous in so short a time as West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee.” Well-known columnist Swapan Dasgupta on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (Deccan Chronicle, April 20) “90 percent of people in India are fools. Their minds are full of superstitions, communalism and casteism.” Justice Markandey Katju, former judge, Supreme Court (India Today, April 23) “I did tell her… she was moving from an icon to a politician. I know that that’s not easy.” Hillary Clinton, explaining the advice she gave to Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is about to enter her country’s Parliament (Time, April 23) “The children that this great law will produce will be different from us and they will be better.” Writer and columnist Aakar Patel on the recent Supreme Court judgement validating the Right to Education Act, 2009 (Mint, April 28)
