Direct benefit transfer is a big reform. Earlier who knew where MNREGA money was going? Now it is sent by DBT. So are gas subsidy payments and student scholarships. For me all these are reforms in governance, transparency.

As quickly as you start spending federal money in large amounts, it looks like free money.

In 1913 for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government.

Old men are always advising young men to save money. That is bad advice. Don't save every nickel. Invest in yourself. I never saved a dollar until I was forty years old.

It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been. The failure of global summits on the environment make it plain that our politics are subject to technology and finance.

Taxes are not good things, but if you want services, somebody's got to pay for them so they're a necessary evil.