“If the government moves away from development to treat this strictly as a law and order problem, it is not going to be a solution. It will only worsen the problem, as experience so far has shown.”
E.A.S. Sarma, former bureaucrat, on Maoist terror (Outlook, June 10)

“The next election will not be between the Congress and the BJP but between the Congress and the RSS. It is quite clear the RSS is calling all the shots.”
Union minister Jairam Ramesh on the growing influence of RSS on the BJP (Governance Now, June 16)

“The public needs to decide whether these programs and policies are right or wrong.”
Edward Joseph Snowden, former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who admitted on June 6 to one of the most significant thefts of highly classified secrets in US history (Time, June 24)

“Moreover Ms. Jins is still a lone voice, at least in public. Few others seem to realise that a new approach in Tibet is in Chinas interest. Not only would it ease tension in Tibet, it would help relations with other minorities in China, make reunification with Taiwan more likely and improve Chinas relations with the outside world.”
The Economist on Chinese scholar Jin Weis call for a creative new approach to Tibet (June 22-28)

“The national medias focus on the plight of tourists has grossly distorted the true nature of the tragedy even in the Char Dham area. It has not reported on the fate of thousands — almost all male — who come from the villages to earn a major part of their families annual income on the yatra routes during the tourist season.”
Ravi Chopra, director of Peoples Science Institute, Dehradun on the flash floods which killed thousands in Uttarakhand (The Hindu, June 25)

“Only foreign priests believing in a foreign religion felt compassion for the multitude. They begged for funds in Europe and America and used the money to rescue lakhs of people from the jaws of death without a thought to their caste or status.”
Bhailalbhai Patel, founder of Vallabh Vidyanagar on the Gujarat famine of 1900 (Mint Lounge, June 29)