Quotes

The first time I went to the Planning Commission was when it was under KC Pant, a long time ago. Since then I have been back there many, many times to the point where the many people who seem to spend their lives sitting outside the various offices and even the patches of grime in the hallways and stairwells began to look familiar.

There is nothing remotely dignified about sorting through rotting trash to find something to feed your child, or asking someone for money because you have none (anyone who has contrived to give people money before they had to ask will never forget the look of gratitude in their eyes).

My sense of my own superiority over many of my classmates would have been much more muted if I knew that they had seen me failing miserably at woodwork or cross-stitch.

If there can be films about why hockey (and not just cricket) is cool, there can be a film or two about the virtues of honest, hard work.

It is possible that Modi sees his life as evidence that hard physical work can triumph over every disadvantage, but if so, most of us Indians do not share his faith.

One does not have to agree with his views to be intrigued by the possibilities opened up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emergence as communicator/harangue-master in chief.

Public conversations about who we are and who we want to be are key to the vitality of our democracy, and leaders can seed those conversations when they speak out their own views.

The degree of political pressure to make MGNREGA jobs available varies massively from state to state - which is why access to MGNREGA jobs is worse in a very poor state like Bihar than in a richer state like Andhra Pradesh.

Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi, the ultimate didi and dada of Indian politics, should really commiserate.

To insist that no one can support the interests of the aam aadmi without being one himself is like saying that no man can support women's rights.

Most farmers know that their children's future will probably not be in agriculture, but they have a hard time imagining a different life.

If you are a natural scientist, a publication the journal Science carries enormous prestige.

Our democratic culture does not prioritise protecting an individual's right to live life her way, especially if that is not our way or the way of the community.

Mass protests often get books or films banned, but very few people take to the streets to challenge the right of the State to decide what we can read or watch - it's still someone else's problem.

Jawaharlal Nehru did a huge amount for education in India.

Like many free market economists, with whom he had little else in common, Nehru seemed to believe that people will find a way to get their children educated.

In my own work, I have written about how our public sector bank officials avoid making any new lending decisions - because lending always exposes them to some (infinitesimal) risk of being blamed for the loan going wrong.

Corruption is a huge problem and the poor and the powerless are often its most egregious victims. But it is not an accident that the most effective bureaucracies in the world rely much more on internal controls rather than on independent ombudsmen.

I am no Rushdie. The only people who think of silencing me are my students, on days when my lectures are more opaque than usual.

In a world where audiences listen for attitudes rather than arguments or information, speakers must feel the pressure to posture rather than engage.

The world's poorest people use the cheapest available fuels - dung and twigs and even leaves.

Milk production is one of India's great success stories.

Climate change is something that we cannot fix alone - it is the original collective action problem - it will not work unless almost all the large economies of the world act together.

I have always found it difficult to wrap my head around population policies.

It is undeniable that the looming environmental crisis is partly the consequence of population growth.