Quotes from Rohini Nilekani

Good laws are fair, do not discriminate against any group and are reasonably implementable.

Personal philanthropy must be separated from corporate philanthropy. Personal philanthropy is more about giving back to society, or giving forward, as it is now referred to.

People have to clearly see the connection between their family's health and their sanitation habits.

What works at scale may be different from scaling what works. Pilots often succeed, while scale-up often fails when the context changes.

As ordinary citizens, we don't spend much time reading about and thinking through the creation of new laws or amendments of old ones.

It is not easy to calculate the cost of land to build individual or community toilet systems. But we need to account for it when we total up the true cost of sanitation.

Unmanageable waste has turned into a worldwide crisis. No matter how much local authorities do, no matter the level of public cooperation, no matter how much is recycled, the problem continues to grow.

When a government is in fear of dissent from its own citizens, and when its reaction is to shut out that dissent, we should all worry.

As citizens, we have to co-create good governance, we cannot outsource it and hope to be passively happy consumers. Like everything worth its while, good governance must be earned.

I came from a seedha-saadha middle class family in Mumbai. The Infosys story changed our life drastically but we have remained the same.

Luckily, water, though finite, is infinitely renewable.

As with oil, water exploitation raises an inter-generational debt that will be hard to repay.

With the approaching winter the air quality in many Indian cities, especially in Delhi, becomes a public health hazard. Something so fundamental as breathing easy can no longer be taken for granted. It's a wake-up call worthy of a civic revolution.

We must incorporate climate modelling in future plans and investments. Whether it is policies on crop procurement, skilling and job creation, urbanisation or even beach tourism, climate adaptation pathways will have to be imagined.

We all require equal access to the justice system.

We must overcome our cultural barriers that giving should be a private and silent activity.

India is a groundwater civilization. Almost all Indians use groundwater, directly or indirectly, each day.

Frontiersman ideas of individualism stand exposed as we realise just how much our actions impact others.

Children's ability to learn is infinite when they are engaged.

It is inevitable that we will need digital technology to re-imagine learning beyond schooling. Even if it is only to inspire people to do more things physically.

Climate change is already upon us, and its effects are being felt with increasing intensity.

Addressing governance issues are important because whichever silo you work in, be it education, microfinance, sanitation, food or health, you would eventually hit governance deficit.

Rich or poor, we all need organizations that can represent us; we all need modes of collective action when individual action does not yield justice.

Often, our laws and policies reflect patriarchal biases that can trap men in stereotypes - for example, the idea of guarding the modesty of a woman serves neither men nor women nor any other gender - instead, it comes from the same strong patriarchal framework that we need to confront and reject.