"Today, what I am, I am because of education. So, I want that the light of education should reach to all… The government is committed to ensuring that all children irrespective of gender and social category, have access to education and fund constraints would not be allowed to hamper implementation of the Right to Education Act."
Prime minister Manmohan Singh addressing the nation on the RTE Act, which came into force on April 1
"We have million of Barack Obamas sitting here in India. It’s a question of channelling them, moving them into the political system and giving them power."
Rahul Gandhi in India Today (April 12)
"Our world-class research programmes and our culture of multi-disciplinary collaboration, which relies on having a critical mass of expertise in a variety of disciplines, cannot be easily replicated and transplanted elsewhere."
John Hennessey, president, Stanford University on foreign universities entering India (Forbes India, April 16)
"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes."
Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, an Iranian Muslim cleric, blaming women for a spate of recent earthquakes around the world (The Guardian, April 19)
"Consolidated power in Russia is the instrument of modernization. I would even insist it is the only one."
Vladislav Surkov, the Russian president’s deputy chief of staff (Time, April 19)
"I am sorry. I feel for what you people have suffered. We hope that we can turn the page and move toward a better future together."
Pope Benedict apologising to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests (April 29)
"Goldman’s actions demonstrate that it often saw its clients not as valuable customers but as objects for profit."
Carl Levin, chairman of the permanent subcommittee investigating allegations of fraud against Goldman Sachs (Mint, April 29)