'These young men have become religious fundamentalists and gone to lead the life of Salafis somewhere.'
'India should start leveraging rather than banning crypto.'
'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.'
'What do the moves towards protectionism suggest?' 'That we do not have Aatmavishwas.' 'If you have self-confidence, confidence in your ability to compete with the best in the world, why do you need protectionism?'
'The next fiscal year will be a good one.'
'When you talk badly of the country and project a bad image of the country to the rest of the world, is it not sedition?'
'The accident happened because the railway track was at the same level as the ground, so the people walked over it.'
'Mortality or hospitalisation has not increased in South Africa because of the new variant.' 'There is nothing to show so far that it is more infectious.' 'I am of the opinion that at the moment, there is no reason to panic.'
'Since we have to stop the pandemic, we have to use the vaccines now and that is why the emergency-use approval is justifiable.'
'We behaved as if this disease is not a problem for India.' 'We acted as if it would go away. But it didn't go away; it exploded.'
'Why do they talk about Narendra Modi insulting Oommen Chandy when he himself informed the PMO that he would not be available? Why did he write to Delhi that he was preoccupied on the 15th? After that, he should not make such noise about the function.'
'Are they assuming that by the end of May or the 15th of June, we will see the end of the pandemic?'
'The vaccine policy should be such that all people should get the vaccine free.'
'Whenever Yogiji said something which was against the party line, we distanced ourselves from that.' 'He will not speak his personal opinion now.'
In this interview with Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, Ashok Kumar E R, the CEO and co-founder of Scripbox shares some more interesting observations about the way Indian women make financial decisions and offers advice on how, with the apt guidance and information, they could do a lot better.
'Businessmen are reluctant to invest because there is a fear that private investors are being targeted by various agencies.'
'There is lack of demand because people have no jobs, and no income.' 'Lakhs of people have lost their jobs and they have no income which has led to no demand in the market.'
Shashi Tharoor speaks to Shobha Warrier on the controversy over his article seen as praising Narendra Modi and what the future holds for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
'I hope the Centre and the states will both act in the spirit of cooperative federalism and find acceptable solutions without testing the law and the limits of each other's power.' 'This should not be considered a wrestling match.'
'The advocate tells me not to worry as truth will prevail one day.' 'I don't know... I am losing all hope...'
'The virus has been ahead of us till now, and we have been chasing the virus.' 'It is time we have to be a step ahead of the virus, and this is possible only by checking the oxygen level.'
'During Amit Shah's recent visit to Kerala, the strategy of concentrating the attacks on the CM on false charges was clear enough.'
'The BJP will be the ruling party.'
Gopalan Balachandran recalls his eldest sister Dr Sushila Gopalan and her daughter Kamala who is now the US vice-president-elect.
'The current financial year will see the full impact of this crisis, and we will start seeing the recovery in the next financial year.'
'Both the CPM and the BJP have one agenda, and that is to keep the Congress out.' 'That's why they are coming together.'
'Modiji's programmes are efficient and with foresight, and needed for the country.' 'I also like his way of functioning. So, in whatever way I can, I would like to contribute.'
'China pumps in a lot more money than what we do. China's space budget is close to $5 billion while it is hardly $1 billion for us.' 'We manage the programmes within the constraints of our budget. The main difference is we prioritise.'
'India was fortunate to have a late entry into the pandemic; even the first wave entered India 2-3 months after many other countries experienced it.' 'Similarly, the second wave reached here after other countries went through it.' 'Despite having seen what other countries faced, we didn't ramp up our infrastructure sufficiently enough.' 'We remained highly under prepared.'
'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.'
'If they add a small paragraph that no purchase will be allowed below the MSP, they have a winner on their hands'
'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.'
'If the government does its job of vaccinating all the population with the booster dose, and also monitoring the virus, and we do our job of wearing a mask and avoiding crowded places, we will be free of this virus in a few months.' time.'
'I didn't want the biopic on Swami Chinmayananda to be a propaganda film,' filmmaker R S Prasanna tells Shobha Warrier/ Rediff.com
'The government has realised that the finances of the government are in a precarious state.' 'We are borrowing to fund the ever-burgeoning revenue deficit.' 'Then you are paying interest on the fresh borrowing.' 'For the first time, the government has realised that this cannot go on.'
'This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then.'
'These people want to create fissures among the Hindus and they have been trying to do this for quite sometime.'
'Unless Modi uses his power to make people work, he will not succeed. He may cry hoarse but he will not succeed.' V Kalyanam, Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com why Modi's Clean India campaign won't succeed easily.
'In 1981 when I had a project in Qatar, those in charge told me they would not like Indians in high positions; they felt Indians could work only as drivers, cleaners and labourers.' 'I challenged them and showed that Indians could do great work in all areas.' 'Today, in the Middle East, they insist on having Indians in all fields. Everybody believes Indians are capable, hard working and trustworthy,' Ravi Pillai, one of the most influential businessmen in the Middle East, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'The common belief in political circles is that if you provide reservation to somebody, s/he will automatically come up.' 'This is a very faulty understanding.'
