The problem of getting from home to the metro, BRT or bus stop makes many people take their cars to work. Why not start a fleet of electric buses that just circle through neighbourhoods connecting them to the various public transport hubs?

For me, psychologically, I am very much an Indian.

In the development business doing something for both women and the environment is the equivalent of holding a royal flush in poker.

When I was a graduate student, I actually took a course in development economics and I thought it was the most boring thing in the world.

The first time I went to the Planning Commission was when it was under KC Pant, a long time ago. Since then I have been back there many, many times to the point where the many people who seem to spend their lives sitting outside the various offices and even the patches of grime in the hallways and stairwells began to look familiar.

You don't boost growth by cutting taxes, you do that by giving money to people.

It is undeniable that the looming environmental crisis is partly the consequence of population growth.

Mass protests often get books or films banned, but very few people take to the streets to challenge the right of the State to decide what we can read or watch - it's still someone else's problem.

This is why universities, and civil society more generally, are so important for a democracy like ours, founded on a genuine idealism that we have a hard time holding on to. They provide a space to question whatever we are doing in the name of things we say we believe in or might believe in.

In terms of being a professional, I want to be professional with everyone.