“What does the scientific community expect to see in a Union Budget? The current level of expenditure in S&T is hopelessly inadequate if India is to compete at the international level in knowledge generation. So, the scientific community expects to see a significant increase in the outlay for research.”

Dhrubajyoti Mukherjee, president, The Breakthrough Science Society (The New Indian Express, February 3)

“Universities are not just spaces for learning but also for discussion, debate & dissent. The cowardly attack on Tamil students by ABVP and vandalising portraits of leaders like Periyar, Karl Marx at JNU, is highly condemnable…”

M.K. Stalin, Tamil Nadu chief minister (Twitter, February 20)

“Our education system should be practical, industry oriented… the Budget has laid the foundation for it. Over the years, our education sector has been a victim of rigidity. We have tried to change this. We reoriented education and skilling according to the aptitude of youth and the demands of coming times.”

Prime minister Narendra Modi addressing a post-budget webinar ‘Harnessing Youth Power — Skilling and Education’ (The Hindu, February 25)

“We were not a considerable force either economically or militarily throughout the 1950s and early 60s but people listened to us. We were involved in a whole lot of issues, mediating crises far far away from us because we had that kind of moral stature, the reputation for sticking to principles, Today’s India is sadly a very, very far cry from that. Not only are we not punching above our weight, we are actually punching far below the weights that we like to boast about having acquired in the last decade or two.’’

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, criticizing the BJP government’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Telegraph, February 28)