Quotes by Rohini Nilekani - Page 2

We need more imagination, more innovation and more public financing for projects and programmes that harness the positive energy of young men.
Rohini Nilekani /
Financing
Harness
Positive Energy
Programmes
Young Men
Copy Quote
If anything, all homes should have piped water supply and sanitation, which could improve public-health indicators and reduce infant mortality.
Rohini Nilekani /
Infant
Infant Mortality
Mortality
Sanitation
Homes
Reduce
Supply
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Yield
Collective
Modes
Copy Quote
Depending on which of the many hydrogeological zones of India you tap into, the water can either be easy to reach or incredibly difficult to suck out.
Rohini Nilekani /
Zone
Tap
Depending
Copy Quote
Governments do have the duty to protect national interest. But we should not be afraid of foreign funding of Indian CSOs, unless malintent can be proved.
Rohini Nilekani /
Funding
Indian
Protect
Afraid
Governments
National
National Interest
Proved
Unless
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Philanthropic
Ours
Copy Quote
Work from home will relieve the pressure on urban infrastructure and land, which can be released for mass housing or public transport, and critical lung space.
Rohini Nilekani /
Housing
Infrastructure
Transport
Urban
Work Space Home
Lung
Released
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Digital Technology
Inspire
Schooling
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Point Of View
Articulate
Philanthropists
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Breathe
Lungs
Indians
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Sanitation
Account
Calculate
Toilet
Copy Quote
In India, while there are some initiatives working with and for adolescent girls, there are too few state sponsored programmes for adolescent boys, be it rural or urban.
Rohini Nilekani /
Programmes
Urban
Adolescent
Initiatives
Rural
Sponsored
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Corporate
Giving Back
Philanthropy
Referred
Separated
Copy Quote
We can be inspired by and renew our ancient culture of sustainable design and living. Why not set standards for producers and importers of all goods and services sold in India?
Rohini Nilekani /
Ancient
Goods
Standards
Why Not
Sustainable
Renew
Sold
Copy Quote
Once you are wealthy, you are in a nice comfort zone and want to stay there. So I always look in the mirror and ask, is my philanthropy making the world a more just and fair place?
Rohini Nilekani /
Comfort Zone
Philanthropy
Zone
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Happy
Citizens
Consumers
Good Governance
Governance
Cannot
Earned
Outsource
Passively
We Cannot
While
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Deficit
Governance
Sanitation
Education Work Health
Addressing
Copy Quote
The young men of India need us to do more for them. And we need to do it for men in their own right, and we need to do it even more urgently if we really want women to be empowered too.
Rohini Nilekani /
Empowered
Men Women More
Women Men Young
Urgently
Young Men
Copy Quote
You cannot say that I get water to people. I don't physically do that. Through Araghyam, we support several NGOs across the country which are tackling the problem on a day to day basis.
Rohini Nilekani /
Tackling
Ngos
Copy Quote
I think those who are already in philanthropy and enjoying it and making a difference have a responsibility to share their stories widely, and to be very transparent about their giving.
Rohini Nilekani /
Making A Difference
Philanthropy
Transparent
Enjoying
Widely
Copy Quote
I was always clear that I didn't want to just do pure charity. My thinking was definitely about looking at the levers in society that will change the system of inequity, not one person's misfortune.
Rohini Nilekani /
Charity
Clear
Pure
Inequity
Misfortune
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Cooperation
Recycled
Waste
Authorities
Worldwide
Copy Quote
The uncontrolled and rapacious exploitation of oil has led to unintended consequences, and if we continue on a similar trajectory with water, the oil crisis will seem like the trailer of some horrible disaster movie.
Rohini Nilekani /
Disaster
Exploitation
Trajectory
Unintended Consequences
Trailer
Uncontrolled
Unintended
Copy Quote
Climate change and air pollution know no borders, and antibiotics resistance respects no boundaries. Bacteria from Africa can make people in America sick. The burning of Indonesian forests can keep Asia gasping for breath.
Rohini Nilekani /
Change
Air
Air Pollution
America
Antibiotics
Asia
Bacteria
Borders
Boundaries
Burning
Climate
Climate Change
Forests
No Boundaries
Pollution
Resistance
Sick
Africa
Change People America
Make
Breath
Copy Quote
Among the most important lessons to be taken from the history of oil is not taking essentials for granted. Conserve oil, but also conserve water. If our Hummers are a red flag in oil, maybe our Jacuzzis are the same for water.
Rohini Nilekani /
Essentials
Granted
Conserve
Flag
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Catalyst
Compass
Grammar
Moral Compass
Persist
Bold
Continuously
Creates
Intent
Societal
Steward
Sustains
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Adaptation
Beach
Creation
Job Creation
Modelling
Plans
Tourism
Future Must Will
Crop
Incorporate
Investments
Copy Quote
A low-water economy should rest on the principle that water be left in its natural state in the environment as much as possible. Every drop extracted must be justified. Every drop used must be recycled and reused whenever possible.
Rohini Nilekani /
Justified
Recycled
Drop
Extracted
Natural State
Principle
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Deny
Sake
Be Strong
Curtail
Copy Quote
Millions of Indians have moved from just surviving or accepting life as it used to be to imagining a life where they can thrive and rise up to their potential. This rise of individual hope could generate massive amounts of creative energy.
Rohini Nilekani /
Creative Energy
Surviving
Thrive
Generate
Imagining
Indians
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Better Off
Demand
Effectiveness
Healthcare
Infrastructure
Cleaner
Political Process
Voices
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Biodiversity
Flora
Predictable
Rivers
Vast
Longest
Solar
Copy Quote
Having our own children in good schools does not inure us from the ill-effect of others having theirs in poor schools. Having great roads within our gated homes and offices does not help when our fancy cars spill out on to poor public roads.
Rohini Nilekani /
Fancy
Good Great Children
Good Schools
Homes
Offices
Roads
Spill
Copy Quote
The urbanising middle class of the 1960s and 1970s had schools, hospitals, roads, energy services, even cultural institutions - all created by the state, or under its aegis. When liberalisation came along, they were poised and ready for take-off.
Rohini Nilekani /
Hospitals
Middle Class
Poised
Roads
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Quality
Air
Cities
Delhi
Granted
Indian
Public Health
Revolution
Taken
Taken For Granted
Wake Up Call
Winter
Worthy
Approaching
Becomes
Fundamental
Hazard
Longer
Copy Quote
As we celebrate a culture of giving, however, we must also sharpen the question of how extreme wealth generation happens in the first place. And we must recognize that just societies cannot be realized merely by the willful distribution of surplus wealth.
Rohini Nilekani /
Celebrate
Distribution
Surplus
First Place
Merely
Societies
Sharpen
Willful
Copy Quote
Is water the next oil? Motives behind the question vary, depending on who asks the question. Those who see water as a future core commodity - therefore as profitable a prospect as oil - pose the question to create the right market conditions for water trade.
Rohini Nilekani /
Commodity
Conditions
Profitable
Vary
Depending
Motives
Pose
Prospect
Copy Quote
Societies have debated the severity of punishment for vile acts over millennia, with complex moral arguments on both sides of the question. But citizens and society should pay more attention to the trend of over-criminalisation of common human failings and frailties.
Rohini Nilekani /
Both Sides
Punishment
Severity
Sides
Acts
Debated
Failings
Millennia
Societies
Vile
Trend
Copy Quote
Because of its gradient, it is the site of many spectacular waterfalls, like the Unchalli Falls, near which, on a full moon night in winter, you might even glimpse a moonbow - a rainbow generated from the moonlight. This is the river Aghanashini - 'the cleanser of sins.'
Rohini Nilekani /
Full Moon
Glimpse
Moon
Rainbow
Site
Spectacular
Winter
Falls
River
Sins
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Election
Oversight
Constitutional
Executive
Implement
Legislator
Mention
Voter
Copy Quote
When 9/11 happened, it changed things overnight, giving the biggest shock treatment to individual agency. People in the U.S., the absolute stronghold of individualism and libertarianism, had to give up many cherished freedoms and privacies in exchange for the promise of public safety.
Rohini Nilekani /
Agency
Individualism
Promise
Public Safety
Safety
Shock
Treatment
Absolute
Cherished
Exchange
Freedoms
Overnight
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Example
Framework
Gender
Guarding
Modesty
Biases
Confront
For Example
Women Men Woman
Instead
Neither
Nor
Patriarchal
Policies
Reflect
Reject
Serve
Stereotypes
Trap
Copy Quote
History has shown us many times that if the state repressively forces the redistribution of wealth and social justice, it becomes dangerous both for democracy and for human creativity. Yet, restraining the excesses of a capitalist structure that creates new inequities seems to need more than good public policy.
Rohini Nilekani /
Capitalist
Excess
Public Policy
Restraining
Social Justice
Creates
Redistribution
Shown
Copy Quote
Most disciplines invite us to more mindfulness, and more contentment. Not by consuming more externally, but by harvesting more from within, and by sharing more without. Neurosciences and behavioural sciences increasingly corroborate this ancient wisdom - joy can come from giving, and unlimited happiness from bonhomie.
Rohini Nilekani /
Wisdom
Ancient
Consuming
Giving
Joy
Mindfulness
Unlimited
Behavioural
Disciplines
Harvesting
Increasingly
Invite
Sciences
Sharing
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Demand
Developing
Equitable
Finite
Improving
Management
Substitutes
Beliefs
Continuous
Sustainable
Efficiencies
Precious
Resource
Supply
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Access
Deficit
Erratic
Expensive
Fancy
Filters
Health Services
Healthcare
Indian
Infrastructure
Public School
School System
Water
Bridge
Elite
Lift
Polluted
Private
Private Schools
Send
Services
Store
Copy Quote
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.
Rohini Nilekani /
Administrators
Flow
Generations
Ingenious
Architects
Flowing
Future Generations
Great Nation
Poets
River
Saints
Shrunk
We Cannot
Copy Quote
In the ideal world, philanthropy should be redundant or at least it should be at the edges, as innovation or risk capital. But it's far from an ideal world; the wealthy are cornering more and more opportunities and resources from this planet. So, the big challenge for philanthropy is... can it engage with the distribution of wealth itself?
Rohini Nilekani /
Distribution
Edges
Ideal World
Philanthropy
Redundant
Big Challenge
Ideal
Copy Quote

Related Authors

Voltaire
Writer
Sunday, Nov 21, 1694
Saturday, May 30, 1778
Bob Marley
Singer
Tuesday, Feb 06, 1945
Monday, May 11, 1981
Kim Kardashian
Television Personality
Tuesday, Oct 21, 1980
Isaac Newton
Physicist
Sunday, Jan 04, 1643
Monday, Mar 31, 1727
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Commander
Tuesday, Aug 15, 1769
Saturday, May 05, 1821
Steve Jobs
Entrepreneur
Thursday, Feb 24, 1955
Wednesday, Oct 05, 2011
Oprah Winfrey
Media Proprietor
Friday, Jan 29, 1954
Les Brown
Author
Saturday, Feb 17, 1945
John Muir
Author
Saturday, Apr 21, 1838
Thursday, Dec 24, 1914
Pope John Paul Ii
Priest
Tuesday, May 18, 1920
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005
George Carlin
Comedian
Wednesday, May 12, 1937
Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
Stephen Covey
Author
Monday, Oct 24, 1932
Monday, Jul 16, 2012
Theodore Roosevelt
26Th U.s. President
Wednesday, Oct 27, 1858
Monday, Jan 06, 1919
Winston Churchill
Former Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
Monday, Nov 30, 1874
Sunday, Jan 24, 1965
Dolly Parton
Singer-Songwriter
Saturday, Jan 19, 1946

View All Quotes

Top Authors

Elon Musk
Investor
Monday, Jun 28, 1971
Groucho Marx
Comedian
Thursday, Oct 02, 1890
Friday, Aug 19, 1977
Thomas Sowell
Economist
Monday, Jun 30, 1930
Voltaire
Writer
Sunday, Nov 21, 1694
Saturday, May 30, 1778
Maya Angelou
Author
Wednesday, Apr 04, 1928
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
W. Edwards Deming
Statistician
Sunday, Oct 14, 1900
Monday, Dec 20, 1993
Heraclitus
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Robin Williams
Actor
Saturday, Jul 21, 1951
Monday, Aug 11, 2014
Francis Of Assisi
Saint
Thursday, Jun 24, 1182
Saturday, Oct 03, 1226
Will Rogers
Actor
Tuesday, Nov 04, 1879
Thursday, Aug 15, 1935
John F. Kennedy
35Th U.s. President
Tuesday, May 29, 1917
Friday, Nov 22, 1963
John Lewis
U.s. Representative
Wednesday, Feb 21, 1940
Walt Disney
Animator
Thursday, Dec 05, 1901
Thursday, Dec 15, 1966
Charles Spurgeon
Preacher
Thursday, Jun 19, 1834
Sunday, Jan 31, 1892
Billy Graham
Evangelist
Thursday, Nov 07, 1918

View All Authors

Rohini Nilekani Quotes - Page 2

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page