“ There is now a surge of expectation from an increasingly empowered and articulate public, for more responsive, transparent, participative, clean and efficient governance… I have no doubt that the energy and the passions of our citizens, particularly our youth, will be a force of positive change in our country… This is an imperative for us because we need rapid growth and a healthy economy to meet the aspirations of an increasingly young India and make our economic development more inclusive and more sustainable .”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

“I think these are sound economic decisions. I think we should not politicise these decisions. Of course, economic decisions are taken by a political government but they do not cease to be economic decisions… Railway fare hike is an economic decision. Railway fares have not been hiked for 10 years.”

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram

“ We will come out with Oil India issue in the second fortnight of January, and in the first fortnight of February NTPC will hit the markets.”

Disinvestment Secretary D. K. Mittal

“We are not worried. We have been saying we are on right track. But people still distrust us and ask whether we will able to achieve fiscal deficit target... We will adhere to fiscal consolidation roadmap.”

Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Arvind Mayaram

“For an outsider looking in, the RBI is like a black box. Everyone knows people in there do important things, but cannot figure out the connection between that and their lives... The quid pro quo for autonomy is accountability. We must be sensitive to the fact that we are a group of unelected technocrats handling important public policy and we should be able to explain and defend our policies and, where necessary, learn from the feedback we get.”

RBI Governor D. Subbarao, in New Year message to colleagues

“Investors need to be convinced about the long-term prospects of their proposed investment in Kingfisher and this takes time. Please rest assured that we are in discussion with multiple investors and remain confident that we will secure a deal.”

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya

“The big picture challenge is that the (business) environment is going to be tougher and more complex than it was in 1991. In 1991, there were less people aspiring to succeed in this newly opened economy. Today there are many.”

Tata Group former Chairman Ratan Tata

“A major source of inflation has been in the case of cereals and this is where we have a clear case of mismanagement of food system. It is not production shortfall… Mismanagement of food system means the inability to have a long-run price policy which says that this is what we are going to guarantee the farmers.”

Planning Commission Member

Abhijit Sen

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