When I took over the ministry for science and technology, our weather systems were in shambles. Nobody believed in the IMD. Nothing was in digital mode. I changed all that. We got automatic rain gauges, automatic weather stations, Doppler radars.
I would welcome satirical references to political leaders as part of freedom of expression.
Ever since Modi became prime minister, he has given a free rein to his ministers and BJP functionaries to create an environment of communal tension and violence.
You may dislike what somebody else has said; that is perfectly valid. You may not agree with what somebody else has said. But saying something cannot possibly amount to sedition.
We're trying to create a better world, not a perfect one. It cannot ever be perfect.
The press in India, I believe, is more free, and happily so, than perhaps media anywhere in the world. Right? Which is a good thing.
We are great believers in the idea that the Internet can help bring justice, but justice varies from place to place across the world.
The genesis of Public Interest Litigation in listening to the voice of the voiceless and giving access to the poor, the marginalised, and the weak is a unique experiment to be lauded.
When the state machinery defends criminals and the public prosecutors collude with the accused in certain cases and the victims are members of a particular community, then 'Justice to all' is empty rhetoric.
The overreach of the judiciary can be attributed to, one, the inability of the executive to deliver; and two, the tendency to issue judicial pronouncements for national good. The second element is dangerous because that's the function of the government.
In India, by and large, women are not educated enough to be bread winners and, within the moorings of traditional cultures, do not have the courage and the capacity to leave the matrimonial home. Given the inequality prevalent in family structures, the woman's right to opt out is suicidal.
A single element in transactional mode can never be analysed to calculate either loss or presumptive loss. The losses or gains of all elements in the transaction need to be analysed.
I have been writing poetry for a long time now. I started writing in my school days.
How do you trust a prime minister who said one thing before the elections and does exactly the opposite after the elections?
When you have a limited resource and you have a lot of people wanting that resource, then those who get more justify as to why they got more, and those who get less say they have been treated badly.
I believe a true Hindu in India could never have endorsed the killing of the Mahatma.
There is an urgent need for the Central government to take the lead in ensuring health and nutrition service delivery.
You learn on the job. When I was a young lawyer and got a case, I knew nothing about the subject. You start reading, you look for the philosophy behind it, and by the time you are actually in a court of law, you are a master.
My voice is not good enough for me to sing a song.
Every child should get an opportunity to study irrespective of the economic status.
Internet governance is an oxymoron. The Internet must govern itself. But you can't play cricket without any rules.
Given an opportunity, Modi has violated the freedom of press both in letter and spirit. He destroys freedom of the press whenever he gets a chance.
By limiting access to surrogacy based on flimsy and exclusionary criteria, the government may just give rise to a mushrooming black market.
The greater the power, the greater the responsibility in its exercise.
The government must understand that it cannot substitute the health, nutrition, and overall development outcomes of Indian citizens with 'efficiency gains.'
If two people cannot live together, both should have the right to opt out of the marriage. In an ideal world, that would be an acceptable solution.
Normally, the law of nature is such that one who rises falls, and one who rises quickly falls as quickly. I don't know how the law of nature will work as far as Modi is concerned. But some time or the other, all bubbles burst. This bubble will also burst.
The DNA of a true Hindu is liberal. We are, by essence, liberal.
The appointment of judges to the higher judiciary cannot be the sole domain of a few members of the higher judiciary. This turf must be shared.
Just as judges have enormous stake in the appointment of judicial officers in the higher judiciary, the government has an equal stake. Since both of us have stakes in the appointment of members of the higher judiciary, the consultation of both of them is absolutely necessary. The government must have a say.
M&A guidelines need to be liberal.
What the government and we in society need to do is to address the issue of gender justice.
We must make the government accept that at a time when we are expected to look ahead, we cannot afford to start discriminating against our own people in the name of 'ethos.'
Modi may be rich in politics but is poor at heart.
Politics runs in every human being, and so does music.
If there are malpractices in sports, part of the solution lies in the organisations themselves taking a very strong view and cleaning up the mess from within.
Universities are not places where police can come and arrest people. Let the children have a discourse as they want to. They will learn as they move on in life. But to target individuals and institutions is dangerous.
Market mechanisms are totally irrelevant when resources are used to serve a larger purpose, especially for the underserved, unserved, or marginalised.
It would be a matter of concern for government if intrusive data capture has been deployed against Indian citizens or government infrastructure.
Natural resources must be so distributed, by way of auction or otherwise, that they serve a larger public purpose.
To fix India's healthcare scenario, what is most needed is 'systems thinking.' For far too long, India has followed a vertical approach in its health sector, which translated into disease-specific national programmes being set up.
Unless the issue of the empowerment of women is addressed, the practice of women being unfairly treated will remain unresolved.
Our party never tolerated those who use violence for political ends. Our leaders lost their lives standing against terrorism.
Corruption is in society and in every strata of society.
The fabric of our Constitution and our civilisational culture is based on tolerance.
All of us have a romantic streak in us. That's why we are fallible, aren't we?
Ownership is a very complex judicial concept.
Cleanliness is a good thing, which the society should embrace. But it has nothing to do with Modi, nor can he implement it.
The great challenge before the IITs is to act as a catalyst in the growth of quality technical education in the country.
