'The death penalty exists in India for murderers. Is it a deterrent and does it stop murders?'
'We should credit Prime Minister Modi with having foresight and courage and showing leadership on climate change.'
'China held a meeting on the One Belt One Road and India boycotted it.' 'However, all of India's neighbours attended, except for one, Bhutan.' 'India warned those attending that the partnership with the Chinese would come at a heavy price, but almost nobody heard us.' 'The question is: Why not?' asks Aakar Patel.
'Middle-level managers account for 10 per cent -- or 450,000 people -- in the IT industry in India.' 'And of these 225,000 would lose jobs over the next one decade as their work would get automated.' 'This is grim news for many reasons,' says Aakar Patel.
'Many fresh faces have come before him on both sides, and every sort of individual -- liberal, conservative, hardliner, dictator -- has come and gone.' 'I think we just seem to be happier when we hate one another,' says Aakar Patel.
'Today, the State is permanently going after politicians, but also civil society, academics and all those it is threatened by or irritated with.'
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
'There is an observable difference between Nepalis and Lankans and the rest of us.' 'It would serve us well to understand where this difference comes from and, if it is something that is better in some way, how it is that we can access it,' says Aakar Patel.
'Those of us who care for the Indian Constitution worry,' says Aakar Patel.
'None of us has the right to tell Sreesanth what to do with his career and it is childish to expect him to hold the torch of our bogus cricket patriotism,' says Aakar Patel.
'Will this surgical strike of ours put an end to Pakistani terror?' 'And if not, what will we do when the next terror strike happens?' 'Will there be another surgical strike or will we have to do something bigger?' 'How big does it have to be to get Pakistan to totally stop?'
'Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan now act in only about one film each year, and made money through advertisements and television.' 'This meant that many people, even if they had the money to spend on a movie and wanted to go, often had nothing available for them to watch.'
To write a criticism of the finance minister's performance without having included the PM's role is deliberate. It is not difficult to see why Jaitley interpreted it as being Sinha's way of sucking up to Modi.
'It can't be a coincidence that he and his family, uncles and all, vanished from India only days before the scam was discovered.'
When African ambassadors said the attacks against Africans are 'xenophobic and racial in nature,' the MEA declared 'strong Indian institutions are adequate to deal with aberrations that represent an act of a few criminals.' 'This is a lie,' says Aakar Patel. 'India's institutions can't even protect Indians against mob attacks, how will they protect foreigners?'
'There is a discomfort among many of us at the fact that the Republic is not more Hindu than it could or should be.' 'This discomfort is producing laws such as the one we now have in Gujarat,' says Aakar Patel.
"Is this where our country is headed? Had we dreamt of a country where there was no space for dissent, where only the rich and powerful are heard and where the poorest and most vulnerable are oppressed? Where there once was law, there is now only darkness," he said in the video in Urdu.
'As a great democracy, we must be responsible and uphold the rights of those who come to us seeking shelter.' 'Everything in the Hindu faith tells us that this is obligatory on us,' says Aakar Patel.
The numbers, however, look very good for Modi. We could say it is his election to lose, rather than the Opposition's to win, says Aakar Patel.
'You can accuse him of many things but one thing you cannot accuse him of is being bad at politics,' says Aakar Patel.
'There must be thousands if not lakhs of people the government is illegally spying on.' 'Why should we enable this criminal activity by volunteering our details?'
'The Indian soldier will fight where he is asked to, and he always has.' 'It is up to us as a democratic society to see that his service and sacrifice is for the most useful causes, and that we do not needlessly ask him to die for us,' says Aakar Patel.
'For all of the tamasha about these meetings of Modi and the videshi desis, the reality is that they are just entertainment. The question to ask is what does this energy result in? The answer is: not much,' says Aakar Patel.
'The BJP has the opportunity to undo a lot of the damage that we have suffered as a society which looks away from mass violence.'
'The real problem of joblessness and democratic politics is happening here in India. And it is happening now, right before us.'
'A CEO is successful if he is able to retain the confidence of his shareholders. And the shareholders of India Inc have backed their prime minister-CEO to the hilt,' says Sudhir Bisht.
The UK spends about Rs 1.5 lakh per citizen. India spends Rs 260 per citizen. Of course we are a poor nation, but we are a poor nation that last year spent Rs 59,000 crore buying 36 fighter planes and this year is spending Rs 99,000 crore on a bullet train, says Aakar Patel.
'We should be open to looking at Ramdas Athavale's suggestion of reservations. India will not be unique if it chooses to do this, says Aakar Patel.
'One minute and 45 seconds of that clip are on Modi praising gauraksha.' 'In the last 30 seconds he speaks about violence, but says only that killing is unacceptable.' 'We don't need the prime minister to tell us that.' 'We need him to tell us why the killing is happening and what he will do to stop it,' says Aakar Patel.
'If one is looking for evidence of his talents as a mass leader, it has been on display since he announced demonetisation on November 8.' 'Let us look at it and appreciate it, because we are in the presence of a true master,' says Aakar Patel.
'In Bollywood, the power is disproportionately in the hands of a few men, whether they are actors or producers or directors.' 'The woman who makes an allegation against them can forget working in the industry again.'
'There appears to be no relation between a government with a majority and GDP growth as the stock market and its analysts seem to fear.'
'Our priority cannot be better cities. Since real change is not possible, we must satisfy ourselves with a change in name,' says Aakar Patel.
'In a nation where safety standards are the lowest in the world, why make compliance expensive?' asks Aakar Patel.
'With the country is a crisis that directly affects hundreds of millions, we will know if Modi has grip,' says Aakar Patel.
'Why do visas require the intervention of India's Union ministers? Does any civilised nation assure visas like this over Twitter?'
'What does the nation get out of the CBI's fabulous infrastructure? Very little that is useful.'
'The defence minister should concentrate on acquiring a bigger stick, rather than brag of using terrorists as State policy.'
'Sexual violence against women is not something unique to India but in our parts the victim must also have to contend with other burdens. Such as the notion of 'honour' and its loss,' says Aakar Patel.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances