ROHINI NILEKANI

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.

India's waste problem is gigantic, and with its economy growing steadily, it will be compounded manifold.

One size doesn't fit all, and I don't have a monopoly over good ideas.

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.

The Giving Pledge is not meant to be prescriptive or restrictive.

Bihar has always drawn me, ever since I was a child, brought up on the stories about my grandfather Babasaheb Soman.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As a philanthropist, I fund a lot of NGOs.

My mission is to put a book in every child's hand.

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.

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.'

Poor governance affects us all - entrepreneurs, homemakers, farmers, labourers, whatever identities we might have.

We all need good laws, and an independent, impartial, and efficient judiciary to verify the constitutionality of those laws.

No doubt there are dangers involved in letting children go online unsupervised.

When you keep un-bundling various aspects of a social problem, you can arrive at a very basic, common space.

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.

We all require equal access to the justice system.

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.

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.

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.