Narayana Murthy bats for more English-medium schools; stresses on quick decisions to compete with China

Bengaluru: Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy on Wednesday batted for establishing more English-medium schools to nurture the young talents, working in three shifts, and taking quick decisions to compete with China.

He said this while speaking at the Fire Side Chat at the Bengaluru Tech Summit with co-founder of Zerodha, Nikhil Kamath.

Sharing his thoughts, when asked to chart a trajectory for Bengaluru for the next 5 to 10 years, he said: “Bengaluru contributes to about 34-37 per cent of software exports of the country. But, what can we do to make Bengaluru even more attractive?

“The first task of a good public governance system for Bengaluru to become even stronger is we have to provide total freedom to set up English medium schools, whether we like it or not.

“I am a Kannadiga, I speak Kannada. I enjoy reading S.L. Bhyrappa, Shivaram Karanth… (at the same time) I have met some prominent personalities in different areas. They all have sent their children to English medium schools. I have not come across anyone who is a prominent one, and yet sent his/her children to Kannada medium schools,” he said.

“We also need to improve our infrastructure. In 2004, the Chinese government came to know that we were looking for starting a development centre in China. The mayor of Shanghai invited me and asked me ‘what I want?’. I asked for 25 acre land in the centre of the city. He gave three options and asked me to visit. By next day, the letter of allotment and possession was given,” Narayana Murthy said, adding: “I am speaking from the perspective of taking quick decisions”, while noting that the government can handle the diplomatic issues.

“The people in the infrastructure industry must work in three shifts. They should not work at one shift, come at 11 a.m. and leave by 5 p.m. In the nations that have high aspirations, I have seen two shifts. I would return at midnight and see people working like they would disappear tomorrow. I can not vouch for three shifts, but definitely I can vouch for two shifts,” Narayana Murthy said.

He further said: “We want to be better than all those countries. Our people will work for three shifts. Ask them what are the requirements? Provide them what they want. These can be done by our leaders. If this is done, I don’t see any reason why India won’t grow faster than China.

But, we will catch up with China and hopefully one day overtake China. That requires taking quick decisions, making sure and all hurdles to entrepreneurs are removed.”

Narayan Murthy earlier stated that it is compassionate capitalism which works for India.

–IANS