All stories by SHOBHA WARRIER
'Miracles do happen if you are patient'
Rediff.com4 Jul 2016When 27-year-old Karthik Kamalakannan founded Skcript with his friend Swathi Kakarla in December 2013, little did he realise that it would become the Pied Piper of India one day.
'The energy of the youth is driving India's economy'
Rediff.com1 Jul 2016'India's economy is growing faster compared to the developed economies of the world.' 'More importantly, it is growing faster compared to most of the developing economies.' 'The monsoon is not the only thing that drives the rural economy and certainly not the national economy.' 'It is too simplistic to reduce everything to the monsoon.'
'Young India will look at Raghuram Rajan as a terrific achiever'
Rediff.com29 Jun 2016'India's biggest loss is that we will not have anyone as principled and as courageous as Rajan.'
Freshdesk: An Indian product wins global recognition
Rediff.com27 Jun 2016'We had a great product for the global market and we could sell it globally resulting in this amazing growth.' 'When customers come online and buy a product, they don't look at whether it is created in India or somewhere else.'
'Crony capitalism happened right under Rajan's nose'
Rediff.com22 Jun 2016'Raghuram Rajan is a wonderful economist, but he is not a wonderful Indian economist.' 'He doesn't understand India in the granular form.' 'India exists only from Delhi to Nariman Point for him.' 'India is much, much bigger and complex.' 'The new RBI governor shouldn't get ready to open his umbrella when it rains in America'
'Without the Gandhi family, the party will disintegrate'
Rediff.com19 Jun 2016'Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.' 'The Congress is losing touch with the common man.'
'If a company can get FDI, an NGO too can get foreign funds'
Rediff.com17 Jun 2016'The government is using the Intelligence Bureau to go after NGOs.' 'It is not only the NDA, the UPA also didn't like NGOs.' 'NGOs predominantly work with the poor. So, when you cancel an NGO, the affected are the poor, the Dalits, the tribals, the street children and the marginalised.'
'Talaq must go through the court of law'
Rediff.com16 Jun 2016'My religion is great and it has given a lot of rights to women, but these intermediaries are interpreting it wrongly and ruining it.' 'I have great faith in our judiciary. I am sure they will see through the drama of men.'
'Vajpayee was a statesman, Modi is a doer'
Rediff.com14 Jun 2016'Narendra Modi is one person who came up fighting many injustices. So, he is a fighter all the time, and that makes all the difference.'
ISRO is ready to give the Americans a run for their money
Rediff.com25 May 2016'What we are trying for is to make space travel easier like air travel.' 'We have already established ourselves... the fact that other countries are coming to seek our help shows our technology is mature.'
Why Amit Shah is happy with the Kerala poll results
Rediff.com25 May 2016'It is our aim to capture power and rule in Kerala. We may not be able to achieve our target in one attempt.' 'By just hammering once, you will not be able to break a rock; you need to hammer the rock several times.'
'The Left has been a major enemy of development'
Rediff.com23 May 2016'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
Exclusive: Kerala CM's wife on her husband
Rediff.com20 May 2016'He only talks about what concerns our home, like what I have made for lunch or dinner. No politics at home and no controversies too.' 'If I want to know something, I have to update myself from the newspapers or the local people; unfortunately no inside information.' 'He is like a strong fort, which no one can break and get in, not even his wife.'
'It has turned out to be a humiliating defeat'
Rediff.com20 May 2016'I was very much aware of what was coming, but not to this extent.' 'If I had expressed what I felt, our campaign would have been in trouble.'
Kerala: Victorious Left worries about the BJP's rise
Rediff.com19 May 2016With Pinarayi Vijayan set to be chief minister, what will be the role for party patriarch V S Achuthanandan? And what are the key takeways from the election results in Kerala?
'I will show you 100 Somalias in Attapady'
Rediff.com14 May 2016'The condition of some of the Adivasi hamlets is worse than Somalia, worse than what the prime minister described.' 'There are instances when Adivasis have to demolish the hut they live in to bury the dead as they do not have any other place to bury their dear ones.' 'There are tens of thousands of Adivasis who do not have land, a house or even good food to eat.' 'What kind of human development are you talking about?'
'In Kerala, people do not vote for the same party again'
Rediff.com14 May 2016'Once I went to meet an MLA with a complaint, but he refused to even listen to me.' 'I was insulted. That is when I decided not to vote for anyone.'
'Today, only Sangh Parivar's agenda is given importance'
Rediff.com13 May 2016'In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism the BJP would not have become a force today.'
Bank woes: 'When they need surgery, they are using a bandage'
Rediff.com13 May 2016'The day-to-day control of banks is in the hands of political bosses and bureaucrats who are not answerable.' 'The political system uses the banks as a helicopter to throw money to the sector they want to patronise in order to win the next election.'
Meet this unusual BJP candidate from Kerala
Rediff.com10 May 201632 years ago, CPI-M activists hacked both the legs of Sadanandan Master, a former party member who has moved over to the RSS. Master learnt to walk using prosthetic legs and rebuilt his life. Today he is the BJP candidate highly-sensitive Koothuparamba constituency of Kannur. He told Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com his story.