Quotes from Rohini Nilekani

It was only in 2001 that I set up a foundation, Arghyam. That was pretty much to learn the ropes of how to give, what to do.

We all want and need the rule of law to be upheld.

The better off Indian can engage more deeply with political process to demand effectiveness from the institutions of the state. We can raise our voices for better education and healthcare, for better public infrastructure, for cleaner air.

We forget that the main constitutional responsibility of the MLAs and MPs that we vote for is law making, and oversight of the executive to implement those laws. During my husband's 2014 election campaign, I did not hear a single voter mention this aspect of the legislator's role.

For the lakhs living along its banks, the Aghanashini has given people life and livelihoods.

India's water challenges are intractable, messy and perennial.

For India's sake as much as its own, Bihar needs to be strong again, less vulnerable to the many forces that would deny democracy and curtail choice. Its people are its strength, and have many skills that other states have benefited from.

It is one thing to obey a government order. It is quite another to succumb to resurrected irrational fears, especially of 'the other.'

As we draw bad fumes into our nostrils, let our suffering lungs issue a call to serious action. Let's fight for all, not just some Indians to breathe and live free.

As a philanthropist, I fund a lot of NGOs.

What role can such philanthropy play in a society like ours? For one, philanthropic capital can go where markets will not go and where states often cannot go.

Indian philanthropy doesn't take enough risk.

We have to get smarter about our cities. Especially when it comes to the most basic of public services - water supply.

If anything, all homes should have piped water supply and sanitation, which could improve public-health indicators and reduce infant mortality.

Water is ultimately a finite resource. With all finite resources, there is a continuous need for sustainable and equitable management, by capping demand, improving efficiencies in supply and developing substitutes. This exercise is complicated by the sociocultural beliefs, values and affinities around this precious resource.

At a physical level, India is blessed with a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. We have a predictable monsoon, and a vast network of rivers and water bodies. We have one of the longest coastlines. We have enormous access to solar energy.

The Indian elite send their children to expensive private schools, bypassing the public school system. They have their own infrastructure for water, with sumps to store it, pumps to lift it, and fancy filters to de-risk from erratic, polluted government water. Most access private healthcare to bridge the health services deficit.

We cannot be mere consumers of good governance, we must be participants; we must be co-creators.

We cannot imagine democracies without a vibrant civil society.

In this great nation of saints and poets, public administrators and ingenious architects, has our national and local imagination shrunk so much that we cannot leave the last major free flowing river of peninsular India alone, for future generations to explore, enjoy and benefit from? Let the Aghanashini flow with Aviral, Nirmal Dhara.

I have never hesitated to say that all philanthropists do have their politics. All of us have a political point of view; some of us articulate it, some of us don't.

Everything does not have to be a commodity.

Any societal platform needs a bold steward, willing to hold the moral compass and risk failure. A system steward must persist as a positive catalyst that continuously creates opportunities and sustains the grammar of the intent.

Climate change has the potential to swallow up all other issues of development.