Tag Archives: India

What 70 Hours/Week means?

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So, in the recent past, there has been a lot of commotion, at least in India, where Mr. Narayana Murthy, the co-founder and ex-CEO of Infosys talked about 70 hours a week effort to ensure that we become economically stronger. Here is the interview if you have missed.

Look at the points he makes:

  1. India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world.
  2. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the Government, unless we reduce decision making times in the Government, we will not be able to compete with those countries.

BTW, all these are true.

However, individuals like you and me (who are reading this) cannot fight the politicians and their atrocities, lets accept that. But there are two ways to give back to the country, contribute more so that the economy grows and help the right people win elections so that things can better up.

In this video by Ms. Palki Sharma (who I personally respect a lot), said that according to WHO, long work hours leads to health problems. (Amongst others, this caught my attention)

See the comments in either of the videos. One says “Billionaires exploit and they should donate wealth” and another one says “in the west people just work 8 hours and any additional work is compensated with money.”

Let me break these two comments down before I share my thoughts.

  1. Billionaires should donate their wealth – Not necessarily. Why should they? They worked very hard to be where they are today and have made money with their work. Can you question your politician with the wealth they amass and don’t even give a single rupee in charity? No. Why? Because they will ensure you are out of the map if your comments come to hurt them. But these self-made men should distribute their wealth and up the economic status. If you ask me, more than Billionaires, Governments should stop giving free and meaningless schemes to everyone.
  2. The person who commented said that he/she worked overseas in IT field and people are compensated when they put in long hours. I really don’t know which country or which company, but let me honestly give you my personal experiences.
  • In US, people are at their desk by 8AM (or even earlier). They have breakfast at their desk and also I have personally seen many having even their lunch at their desk. They focus without distractions and complete their work by 5 PM and leave. What is wrong with that?
  • Let’s come to India. First, we don’t come to work on time, giving lame excuse of traffic (In general). So, you are lazy to plan your day and you blame others for your delay. This is exactly the problem. We don’t take ownership of our mistakes but happily live by blaming others. Now, after coming to work, first switch on laptop, check mails and then will be a coffee or chai break catching up on last nights game of cricket.Then get to work and in short time, planning where to eat lunch. Get back to work and in a little while, chai break again. When is serious work getting done?

(I apologise if i am coming across strong, but this is the reality and this is my view and it is generic, does not and will not apply to everyone)

So, you see the trend? We do not actually put in extra hours, we only stay at office for late hours and then blame the company for that.

I am very sure that I will get very nasty comments. But, before you comment, just see for yourself and around you and tell me if i am wrong. This is 60% of the cases.

Yes, genuinely I have seen companies pushing their employees to over work and underpay. That happens every where in the world. Not only in India. Thats a very different problem to have.

All people who have a problem with 70 hours work, please listen to what he says. How Germany and Japan pushed their country men to work hard and today, you see the result. If you cannot see the result, then you are reacting and not understanding what he is saying.

As Ms. Palki was saying, today, China’s workforce has a problem with 9-9-6-6, but what is the result? We know where China is. There are pro’s and con’s to every thing and they might be wrong in a number of ways, but we know how China is the Manufacturing capital of the world. It didn’t come easily. How they are treating their workforce is a different conversation again.

Do US, Germany, Japan, China take aid’s from any country or institution? No. Fortunately, India too has stopped taking aid in the recent times.

Why should self made people donate their money to charity? They need not, and those who give, give with their personal interest.

Next time, if anyone is saying the rich should donate, just ensure politicians also give. Else, its meaningless. Public servants don’t make so much money, but they amass large assets, while hard working people should pay taxes and also donate to charity, which is not fair.

Don’t put 70 hours, just put in 40 hours, but very truthfully work for those 40 hours and see the results for yourself.

I am not in support of any arguments, but these are my views.

How did I arrive at these views, the day I heard, read and then memorised what a great person said in the European Parliament..

Where there is righteousness in the heart There is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character, There is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home, There is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation, There is peace in the world.

  • Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Don’t think what the country has done for you, rather ask yourself what you have done for the country.

To close, what Mr. Murthy said is nothing wrong. Listen to him completely and then think and then debate. Lets put 40 meaningful hours at work so that it impacts our productivity score.

Shaping future of India

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Yesterday, I read an article on Rediff, illustrating that Singapore ranks number 1 in Innovation and the US is slowing down on its speed. 

If you notice the eco-system trend, US has always been a proactive supporter of Innovation and Entrepreneurial spirit. Singapore has always been one of the best countries in the world which provides world-class education and ecosystem for Innovation. However, due to its size and other limitations, it has never got its due recognition. 

Now, I would like to share my views as to why we in India are not able to stand up to the demands of the growing needs of sustaining ourselves. 

History

As long as the history goes, we have not been proactive in nature. But, as time passed by, we have become more re-active than nurturing ourselves into being proactive. 

If you look at the great Indian Epic, Mahabharatha, Arjuna has not been proactive in the war. Lord Krishna motivates him and enlightens him on the need for the war and why he should fight. This trend existed earlier too, but it has gained a lot of momentum with this episode. Basically, we are the kind of people who need motivation and someone should show direction for us to move. 

Over the period of time, the trend continues. Our ancestors, parents and today we, would love to continue the same way. I am not saying this is wrong, but what we need today is the shift in our thinking. This cannot happen in a day or two, but the seeds of the thoughts need to be planted. 

We have read many articles on how other countries are looking at nurturing themselves to be in this global war for gaining economic independence. Even, we here in India have embarked on this journey. 

What do we need to do?

There are few things which I notice in my daily life and I would like to address them here for us to start thinking as to what we can do. 

  • Ask Questions – We are the kind of people who do not ask questions. We are from childhood taught to obey, rather than question back (to our parents, teachers, family, friends, colleagues, boss etc). Our general tendency and comfort zone is to follow rather than question and understand. We should start inculcating the habit of asking questions when we don’t know rather than just accepting what we see or hear. 
  • Share Information – Around 5 years back, one western in one of the mailing groups mentioned “Indian’s are eager to learn, but they never share their learnings with others”. Even though I had a tough conversation with him after that, I needed to accept that comment, because Yes, we do not share. I have been following various technological and recreational groups on Yahoo and Google. The general trend is that we ask, learn and keep the information to ourselves, but never share anything new what we learn. Why? 
  • Education System – Today, from a kindergarden school to University, we are taught everything. Opportunity to learn, explore and share what we learn is missing (I am sure it is existing in few institutions though). How many of us apply in our daily lives, what we learnt in our school/college days? I am sure, 90% would agree with me, when I say that it is almost negligible.
  • Aspirations – We aspire big, but when it comes to the reality of working on our aspirations, we tend to take a back step. Why? We are not risk takers. Always we have been taught to be careful. “Don’t take a risk, just play safe”. But, how will it be if we shift our thinking to “Take calculative risks”? Playing safe has been our motto and we continue to do so. 
  • Support – Unfortunately, we do not receive support in many things which we want to do. But, if you dare and aspire to do something different, you will receive support…. that too, only after you show success. 

We need to change our thought process and being to learn and share. I am sure, and I am seeing the change in quite a few areas, but still there is a long way to go.   

Do not always follow the path which everyone takes, instead, take a different one and leave a trial.

For all the above what I stated, if we are waiting on someone to come and change things for us, take it from me that it would never ever happen. We need to begin the Change. And as all great things are not accomplished in a day, even this change would take time, but I am sure, that each of us can witness the power this change would create for all of us. 

Jai Ho!