Shobha Warrier has been associated with Rediff from its inception and currently works as Senior Editorial Director. She is also the author of five books in English, Battlefield India: 25 years of Politricks and Economix, Dreamchasers: Entrepreneurs from the South of the Vindhyas, Dreamchaers: Women Entrepreneurs from the South of the Vindhyas, His Days with Bapu, and The Little Flower girl and Others- A diary of a journalist. Her three Malayalam short story collections include Jalavidya, Meghana and Ramakundam. She won the Lalitambika Antharjanam special award in 1996 for her book, Jalavidya. She likes talking to people and listening to their stories! You can e-mail the author at shobhaw@rediff.co.in
'You want to create a law to give the death penalty to those who kill cows.' 'But you don't want to give the death penalty to the man who rapes an 8-month-old baby.'
'With this amendment, permanent employees will cease to exist.' 'The government should give a human touch and human face to labour reforms.' 'Ideas like survival of the fittest, might is right, etc, are rules of the jungle.' 'They cannot give new terms like hire and fire to jungle law.'
'Slaughter of cows will be opposed by all parties in UP, Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc while it is different in Kerala, Goa and the north east.' 'Every national party adapts and take a view on various issues depending on the local situation and the feelings of the local people.' 'So, the Kerala BJP will look at each issue from the Kerala perspective, and not that of UP.'
'The TDP walking out of the NDA is a victory for the YSRCP.' 'The YSRCP wanted it to happen so that it would help them in coming elections.'
'30 to 40% of the industry needs to be reskilled as existing jobs will go to automation.' 'Reskilling is required as some existing jobs will not be required in the future.'
'We feel there is definitely something murky in the system.' 'Will anyone believe that Nirav Modi will go to a branch and bribe a low-level officer?' 'Just look at the people with whom he had moved around.'
'According to politicians, farmers are the fourth grade citizens of India.' 'We farmers could meet the prime minister and ministers during Congress rule.' 'But none of the BJP ministers want to even meet us.' 'The prime minister has time only for foreigners, but has no time to meet us farmers.'
'Is it not a crime to physically harm children?' 'Piercing children with needles is a crime.'
'Four weeks have passed after the scam was exposed, yet no big guy has been arrested.' 'This gives the impression that he wants to be soft on the biggies.'
'The Kanchi Mutt was energised by Pudu Periyava.' 'Instead of people coming to the Mutt, he has taken the Mutt to the people in several dimensions.'
'Sharing of water from a river which flows through several states is a crucial challenge which comes in the way of maintaining the spirit of good neighbourly relations.'
Jamida K is the first Indian Muslim woman to lead the Friday prayer.
'The middle class stood by the BJP, especially after demonetisation, and they expected something in return.' 'Some section of the BJP believes the middle class is condemned to vote for the BJP as they have no other choice.' 'They think they can treat them any way, still the middle class will run to vote for it.' 'That's what the Budget seems to convey.'
'The middle class is already alienated.' 'If the stockmarket is destabilised, the BJP is finished; the party will lose in every town.' 'And if the stockmarket crash happens now, the BJP will not cross the 150 mark in 2019.'
'What we need is right skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling.'
'It is high time the government of Kerala stops appointing policemen without teaching them the IPC.'
'By the combined reading of Articles 101 and 102-1, and 191 and 192, and 239 AA, how did the President become the arbitrator of the disqualification of the members of the Delhi legislative assembly?'
'What has he done for the state and the people?' 'The state has witnessed extraordinary problems. Where was he then?' 'Has he spoken about any issues or taken a stand?'
'The BJP has been wooing him for quite some time.' 'But he didn't join the BJP; he started his own party.' 'Remember he has Hindus, Muslims and Christians as his fans.' 'He will never antagonise any of his fans.'
'Just like we have accepted that more Indians have hypertension and diabetes, lower lung capacity of Indians should not be construed as normal.'
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