"An educated woman would ensure that the entire family becomes educated. Education has the power to transform women’s position in the society."
President Pratibha Patil in India Today (July 14)
"They (English medium schools) are free to teach German or French or any other language. But Marathi cannot be an optional language in Maharashtra. All English medium schools must make Marathi a compulsory subject from class I."
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray at a press conference in Mumbai (July 14)
"The developing countries believe that Western powers will keep them in second-class economic status while they try to manage their own growth. The Indians feel the same way… If India and China and the other emerging economies don’t join in some sort of limitation, they can burn up the planet."
Bill Clinton, former US president, in an interview to ABC News (July 15)
"I have no hesitation in saying that I envy China. I want to emulate China, and I want India to become an economic superpower. But some people in the country do not agree with this philosophy."
Union finance minister P. Chidambaram in Parliament (July 22)
"If workforce training can take the output of an education system as weak as India’s and turn its graduates into world-class engineers and scientists, imagine what could be done with an American worker base that has received among the best education in the world."
Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University on how India is fast becoming a global hub for research and development without a good engineering education system (Mint, July 24)
"There is a problem of energy security. We all need to solve it by working together. We must never ever be guided by fear… Fear of the unknown."
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Deccan Chronicle (July 25)
"Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights, of opportunities, not of income."
Raul Castro, Cuban President, warning citizens to prepare for a reduction in government subsidies (Time, July 28)