MPs ask govt in Parliament: ‘Evaluating Narayan Murthy’s 70 hour idea’?
Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy’s advice to youngsters to work 70 hours a week had triggered a massive debate across several sections of the society. In his conversation with the company’s chief financial officer Mohandas Pai, he had said if India wanted to compete with countries like Japan and China, it needed to boost up the work productivity, which is very low.
“Our youngsters need to work for at least 70 hours a week,” he had said.
Murthy’s advice also found a mention in the winter session of the parliament which commenced on Monday.
Three Lok Sabha MPs asked the Narendra Modi government whether it is evaluating the suggestion posed by the Infosys co-founder.
Congress MP Komati Venkata Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s Manne Srinivas Reddy and Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju of the YSR Congress Party in an unstarred question to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, asked, “Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state: Whether the Government is evaluating the 70 hour work proposal made by Infosys co-founder in order to make the country competitive and increase productivity; and if so, the details thereof and the stand of the Government in this regard as compared to working hours in foreign countries set out in the International and basic principles?”
Rameswar Teli, the minister of state (MoS) for labour and employment, replied,” No such proposal is under consideration of Government of India”.
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Murthy”s suggestion had found support from Ola chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal. “Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations!”he had posted on social media platform X.
However, film producer Ronnie Screwvala did not agree with Murthy’s ‘70-hour’ suggestion. ““Boosting productivity isn’t just about working longer hours. It’s about getting better at what you do – Upskilling, having a positive work environment and fair pay for the work done. Quality of work done > clocking in more hours,” he had said in an X post.
