Justice Markandey Katju-
Indian billionaire and founder of the Indian IT giant Infosys Narayana Murthy has said in an interview which has gone viral, that Indian youth should work for 70 hours a week.
He gave the example of Germany and Japan, and said Indians must increase their work productivity and be disciplined.
Many comments have been made by various people on Murthy’s statement, and my own comment is that it is cruel, callous, and heartless, and is an insult to Indian youth, considering the massive, record, and rising unemployment in India.
Where are the jobs on which our youth are advised to work for 70 hours a week?
To give an idea of the level of unemployment in India I will illustrate. If 100 peon (class 4) jobs are advertised in India by the government, there are often 500,000 applicants, some Ph.D, M.Sc, MBA, or engineering degree holders, all begging for a menial job.
When army recruitment for enlisting jawans takes place in India, there is usually a huge horde of youth at the recruitment centres, and often chaos, or even violence, takes place there. A soldier can be killed in battle, but death is preferable to the living hell of unemployment.
Apart from that, Mr Murthy’s comment is a call for exploitation and reducing our youth to coolies. Why did he not mention what should be paid to a person working for 70 hours a week? No one would object to working even longer if he/she is well paid.
And what about job security? How can one work with a free mind if he is on an ad hoc, temporary, or contract job, and could be fired at any time? Much of the labour force in India is on such jobs, which employers have increasingly resorted to in recent years to avoid implementing Indian labour statutes, e.g. the Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act, Employees State Insurance Act, Provident Fund Act, etc.
Surveys have disclosed that Indians are the most overworked and underpaid workers in the world, minimum wages being the world’s lowest.
So Mr Narayana Murthy is talking through his hat.