'If at all there is going to be a second wave, it will not be very strong unlike in the US and Europe.'

'There is a Covid vaccine-mania that is happening in the world now and the vaccine makers are using this mania for their own gains'

'What steps have the higher level of political leadership taken to remove corruption from the system and bring in honest governance?'

'I am sceptical of the Indian economy returning to a sustained high-growth trajectory any time soon'

'On the evening of the 17th, the RBI said the bank was put on moratorium.' 'Within an hour, the RBI said it would be merged with DBS.' 'How did DBS come to know within an hour that LVB was in trouble?' 'It means, what happened was match-fixing.'

'The question is, how soon we can expect to re-attain the pre-lockdown levels of output and income.'

'... while leaving the dirty work he orders to his subordinates.'

''None of the existing vaccines have 100% efficacy.' 'Each vaccine will work openly on a certain percentage of the population.'

'You will not have a vaccine for everyone initially.'

'The propagation of an absolutist narrative that shuts down any dissent is dangerous, irresponsible, and unbecoming of India's proud democracy.' 'The government must do better.'

'MGNREGA is definitely like a lifeline and is the employer of the last resort'

'It may take two years for the economy to return to normal.' 'We should ensure that the vulnerable do not dig into their savings or give up their assets because that will set them back by several years.'

'When Arnab Goswami's arrest became a talking point, the case of my husband who was arrested much earlier, was totally ignored.' 'When so many people spoke in support of Goswami, they were silent on a journalist named Siddique Kappan'

Gopalan Balachandran recalls his eldest sister Dr Sushila Gopalan and her daughter Kamala who is now the US vice-president-elect.

'One cannot take it that the economy has recovered, and the GST payment has increased because of that, or that production is back to January 2020 level.'

'Without reviving employment, consumer confidence will not go up.'

'Better hygiene practices could lower a person's immunity and make the person susceptible to auto-immune diseases.'

'The group having rice flour and wheat flour showed an increase in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), and the group that took the jackfruit flour had a significant decrease in HbA1c.' 'Our results showed a decrease in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and postprandial glucose (PPG) after the green jackfruit flour meal.'

'How many people have died in India so far due to Covid?' 'Multiply that by at least four, and that many people in intense grief are there in the country.'

'I knew there was a huge business opportunity, but it was Dr Kalam who made me jump into it as an entrepreneur.'

'If they add a small paragraph that no purchase will be allowed below the MSP, they have a winner on their hands'

'It is a political failure, and not a medical failure.'

'The SJM has requested the government to bring a change in the law which will ensure MSP as the floor price for all farmers below which nobody should buy anything from them.'

'You have come out with a package for the kisan.' 'You have a package for industry.' 'But has anyone addressed the issues concerning small traders?'

'When you oppose a policy, you are labelled anti-government.' 'The problem is, the policymakers have never done any business in their lives.'

'No matter how much you fast track, you cannot say, here is a highly efficient vaccine even by the middle of next year or the end of next year'

'When restaurants are open, pubs are open and people are moving around, a second wave will happen because you are giving a chance for the virus to spread.'

'The skills and abilities of civil servants are still respected, even though they become whipping boys when things go wrong.'

'Today, political formations seem to adopt an 'us' versus 'them' approach which shows up even in their attitude towards civil servants.'
'This creates an added layer of fear.'

'You just make the bureaucracy honest and make them function with integrity.' 'Everything will be taken care of after that.' 'But this Mission Karmayogi does not even mention these two words -- honesty and integrity.'

'The babus in Delhi are not able to understand the pain industry is facing.'

'If you want Aatma Nirbhar, your policies should favour self-reliance, but your policies do not help the idea.' 'How are we going to be self-reliant if you make things difficult for us?'

'Right now, we are increasing production in anticipation of the demand during the festive season.' 'If the demand doesn't come back, all the production will languish in the factories.'

'Industry realises we cannot overly depend on imports from anywhere including China.'

'So far we have paid our salaries and pension in full because we had some reserve fund.' 'But we cannot afford to do so for more than another three months.'

'The Sangh Parivar's position is that whatever gold that is there in a temple should remain there. It shouldn't be taken away by anyone.' 'See, we are not misappropriating anything; we are only using it for the welfare of the temple and the devotees.'

Prof Ananth Narayan, well known financial expert who works as a faculty member at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and the RBI's nominee director on the board of Yes Bank, expects a double-digit contraction in India's GDP this fiscal year. In the first of a two-part interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, Prof Narayan, below, says, "Giving liquidity and loan to cover the cash flow problem is not sufficient because you are essentially increasing the debt of many of these companies. And they might not be able to bear the burden."

'We first need to acknowledge the truth.' 'We are trying to diminish the problem and say, everything is okay and green shoots are emerging.' 'Imagine you are a doctor and not getting accurate medical reports, how do you diagnose and treat the illness?' 'We are not dealing with a terminal illness here, we are dealing with BP and cholesterol, which are imminently curable.'

'The government has failed to understand the seriousness of the situation, and that's why they are underestimating the problem.' 'They think some tinkering here and there will fix the economy automatically.'

'Just see what kind of political, social and economic impact it will have when the number of unemployed goes up four times in one year suddenly.'