“Learning is about so much more than filling in the right bubble.” US President Barack Obama calling for a cap on time spent on standardised testing in US classrooms “to make sure that we’re not obsessing about testing” (Time, November 9) “There is an imperative need in India to have these issues discussed openly, beginning with the pervasive violence in our schools and colleges, to the larger intertwined matter of whether fear-based schooling traditions need to be jettisoned in the interest of building a more just India.” Siddharth Dube, author of No One Else — A Personal History of Outlawed Love and Sex, on his dark days as a student at The Doon School, Dehradun (Mint Lounge, November 21) “A serious setback for the BJP in Bihar need not be a substantial gain for progressive forces. The euphoric moment of an electoral battle is dangerous for it could take eyes off the retreat on multiple fronts in the ongoing political war for the very idea of India.” Yogendra Yadav, political activist, on the victory of the Mahagathbandan in Bihar state elections (The Hindu, November 23 “There cannot be a bigger platform for a dialogue than the House. Debates, disputes and dialogues are the soul of Parliament. For other things, the entire country is available as an arena.” Prime minister Narendra Modi on a debate on the ‘Commitment to India’s Constitution’ (November 26) “It hasn’t been as bad as this in a long time. The government doesn’t seem to be working and little of the common minimum programme has been implemented.” Radha Kumar, head of Delhi Policy Group, criticising the BJP-led NDA government at the Times LitFest in Mumbai (November 29) “If secularism and pseudo-secularism are bandied about freely, and abusively, today it is because partisans on both sides are clueless on how to develop our economy.” Dipankar Gupta, well-known sociologist, on the raging secularism debate (The Times of India, November 30)
