'I've seen the craze for English education even among the poorest. But that is only for their sons. Parents feel thrilled when they see their sons going to school wearing a tie. They don't mind paying for their sons' private tuitions too.' 'But daughters are sent to municipal schools, madarsas, small schools where teachers with no teaching skills are paid Rs 2,000 or Rs 4,000. That's why more girls come to my class.' Syed Feroze Ashraf, who has sent 500-odd girls (and a few boys) -- all first generation learners, children of grave-diggers, hawkers, rickshaw-drivers, tailors and watchmen -- to college, speaks to Jyoti Punwani. A Rediff.com Special.
'If he gets bail, he will bounce back.'
'If Modi-Shah had not changed the leadership, one section would have parted ways with the BJP for sure.'
'Gogoi will be remembered as someone who recovered Assam as a state, as a people and society from the fear of insurgency that had struck the state from the 1980s till 2000.'
'With over 50 per cent of medical seats reserved for those who have the ability to pay a fee ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore for a five-year MBBS course and quotas in accordance with affirmative policies in government colleges, the band of seats available for the not-so-rich and non-OBCs is very narrow.'
'If it is not possible for the Indian Railways to have separate non-vegetarian and vegetarian compartments, then what is the harm in railways serving only vegetarian food?'
'PM Modi is not taking Kashmir's stance as far as the Naga issue is concerned.'
Onkar Singh, a valuable member of the Rediff.com team over the years, breathed his last on January 13. Syed Firdaus Ashraf, who knew him intimately, remembers the ultimate newsman.
'This is not the right way to speak about farmers. How can Kumaraswamy call farmers goondas?'
'The politics of Goa is moving around a sole entity, which is land.'
Chandrashekhar Sawant halted the train by applying the emergency brake when he saw the debris falling as the train was approaching the collapsing bridge.
'After the Parliament election results many people are confused and that is why this crisis has erupted
'I don't believe that it beholds democracies like us who claim to be the largest democracy in the world, to have such a thin skin about the possibility of foreign commentary.'
'Although Narendra Modi had no direct participation in the Ayodhya agitation, he would not have been in the dominant position he is now had it not been for the Ram Janambhoomi agitation.'
Will he take Modi's 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' route? Or will he turn UP into Egypt under Morsi, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Akbar said around 30 members belonging to various constituents of the Geelani's faction have been invited by the Pakistan High Commission. They include Geelani, Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan.
Within four years of winning a single party majority in the Lok Sabha with 282 seats -- the first time it has happened in 30 years -- the BJP has lost it.
'Muslims should not justify demolition of temples by foreign invaders.'
'Mamata's numbers will reduce this time compared to 2016.'
'We are only amplifying the voice of scientists and experts. We are gathering information by talking to experts and are sharing it. If the government chooses to ignore that, what can we do?'
Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala explains why he thinks Modi should be at the helm of India.
'After the NRC in Assam, things have changed for Muslims in India.'
'Oh god, these workers will now spread the virus! Their only concern was to think about themselves.' 'The middle class was only concerned with flattening the curve of coronavirus and they were not bothered about how these workers live in one room with 10 people or 20 people.'
'If there is effective prosecution, only then we will get justice, but first let them (NIA) run the case honestly in court.'
'The Congress today has lost contact with the Hindu clergy.' 'They go to to Hindu clergy only during the time of elections.'
'This election was the first opportunity where Kashmiris told the world they do not agree with the Centre's policies and are unhappy about their disempowerment.'
'Let Modi not be in the news, I will stop making cartoons on him.'
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
Amjed Ullah Khan, who carried out investigations of his own and helped rescue 15 women from Hyderabad, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com how the women get trapped in an underground slave market that 'sells' them to employers who force them to work for less or no pay and often under inhuman conditions.
'We all know that when the Babri Masjid was demolished, P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.' 'He did not do anything to stop the demolition.'
'They want to establish the silence of the graveyard in university campuses across India.' 'They cannot bear any questioning or dissent. They want subordination and obedience.' 'And that is not going to happen,' says Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat.
'We moved out just in time. The fire spread so fast.'
It was Dev Anand's dream to put Indian cinema on the world map and he thought Guide was the perfect film for it.
'If people want to blackmail others to get information or harm things, so why will someone give them information?'
'On the Kashmir and Pakistan question, it is startling that Vajpayee and Advani did more than anybody in Indian history.'
'BJP leaders are trying to save their lives in Punjab.'
'This government will end after five years, but farmers will not end after five years.' 'This is the source of our confidence.'
Uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar has joined the test squad from the Pakistan A team currently in Hamilton.
'The government is saying that essential commodities are exempted, but on the ground there is no competent officer from the government who can say which is an essential commodity and which is not.'
General Bajwa remains in command as army chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan did not play any role in the reshuffle, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
