No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women.

Outsourcing, information technology revolution, the access to India's human resources, India's pool of scientists. It will help American companies to become leaner, meaner, more efficient, and they become more competitive, both in the United States and in dealing with the rest of the world.

We are a coalition government, and that limits our options in some ways. Privatization happens to be one such area.

China is not I think a country which does not regulate, but there is a difference between the Chinese system and the Indian system.

My top most priority is to deal with India's massive social and economic problems, so that chronic poverty, ignorance and disease can be conquered in a reasonably short period of time.

Let me say that I think the economic history of the last 150 years clearly shows that if you want to industrialize a country in a short period, let us say 20 years, and you don't have a well-developed private sector, entrepreneurial class, then central planning is important.

China is very important. The future growth of China, China's influence is bound to rise.