'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.'
'Since we have to stop the pandemic, we have to use the vaccines now and that is why the emergency-use approval is justifiable.'
'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.'
'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.'
'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.'
'The people of Tamil Nadu are fed up of these people, whether it is Panneerselvam or Palaniswami.'
'Today, we have 150,000 orders a month. And a monthly sale of Rs 1 crore.'
'The controversy created by a Gujarat minister was totally unnecessary and unwanted.' 'It is a disgrace that a person who happened to be Gujarat's finance minister, spoke this kind of rubbish.'
'The advocate tells me not to worry as truth will prevail one day.' 'I don't know... I am losing all hope...'
'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.'
'How can I pursue my dream forgoing my identity? I want to fly as a trans man.'
'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.'
'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.'
'The accident happened because the railway track was at the same level as the ground, so the people walked over it.'
'Both the CPM and the BJP have one agenda, and that is to keep the Congress out.' 'That's why they are coming together.'
Gopalan Balachandran recalls his eldest sister Dr Sushila Gopalan and her daughter Kamala who is now the US vice-president-elect.
'The next fiscal year will be a good one.'
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.
'These young men have become religious fundamentalists and gone to lead the life of Salafis somewhere.'
'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.'
'Businessmen are reluctant to invest because there is a fear that private investors are being targeted by various agencies.'
'If they add a small paragraph that no purchase will be allowed below the MSP, they have a winner on their hands'
'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 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.'
'The current financial year will see the full impact of this crisis, and we will start seeing the recovery in the next financial year.'
'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.'
'I was not scared because I knew I had not done anything wrong. And I was walking for a good cause.'
'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.'
'We have struggled to pay the rent, we have struggled to pay the electricity bill, we have struggled to send them to school, to buy books and uniforms but there was food on the table every day!'
'Why should my vaccine certificate, which I got paying my own money, have the picture of the prime minister?'
'Whenever Yogiji said something which was against the party line, we distanced ourselves from that.' 'He will not speak his personal opinion now.'
'We keep worrying about this variant or that variant. Forget about that.' 'Every variant can be stopped with a mask.' 'We don't want to do the simple thing of wearing a mask, but we worry ourselves to death about different variants.'
'What was the message that was going to them?' 'The message was, we are a great country and we have beaten Covid!' 'No one talked about the precautions to be taken.'
'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.'
'The Congress cannot appreciate people with an independent opinion.' 'That's why many people left the party.'
'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.'
'Storms push a lot of water into land, then there is heavy rainfall due to the cyclone.' 'Along with this, we see the gradual rising of the sea level.' 'We see this during and after the latest Cyclone Tauktae.' 'This kind of overlapping events are increasing and we do not know much about how to tackle them.'
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.
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