the identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather than the discovery of an immutable attribute

You have to be interested in inequality. The issue of inequality and that of poverty are not separable.

we must go on fighting for basic education for all, but also emphasize the importance of the content of education. We have to make sure that sectarian schooling does not convert education into a prison, rather than being a passport to the wide world.

I think that so many of our abilities to do things depend on interaction with each other.

I don’t think that India is much celebrated for its democracy. Democracy has been a very neglected commodity at home and abroad.

The anti-globalization movement is one of the biggest globalized events of the contemporary world, people coming from everywhere, —Australia, Indonesia, Britain, India, Poland, Germany, South Africa—to demonstrate in Seattle or Quebec. What could be more global than that?

I was told Indian women don't think like that about equality. But I would like to argue that if they don't think like that they should be given a real opportunity to think like that.