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News of Jan
6, 2007
Only Capitalism can Solve Poverty:
Narayana Murthy
New
Delhi, Jan 6
Infosys Technologies chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy says
capitalism is the only resort for India to solve its problem of
poverty, even as he finds "serious crisis of moral dimension" in
most Indian leaders. The non-executive chairman of one of India's
largest and most admired software companies also advocates some
radical economic reforms such as hire and fire policy, privatization
and foreign investment in retail trade industry.
"If India has to solve its problems of poverty, we have to embrace
capitalism. I believe that is the only hope we have," Murthy told
Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate' programme to be telecast on
CNN-IBN Sunday evening.
"Capitalism is about providing equal opportunity for everybody and
to make sure that people have incentives to perform better and
better. It also thrives in an environment of competition," he said.
"Let's remember that all countries which embraced communism have
failed. Even in Cuba the only person that Fidel Castro could trust
was his brother," he said and suggested that capitalism responded to
human nature better.
Murthy also maintained that the quality of leadership was not that
good and said while the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government
had some good intentions, the need of the hour was to move forward
at a much faster pace.
"I think, barring a few exceptions, we do not have good quality
leadership in the country. That is a fact. We do not have leaders
who put the interest of society above their own personal interest,"
Murthy said.
"We do not have people who can straddle both the worlds - the urban
and the rural, the rich and the poor, the educated and the
not-so-well-educated. I think we need leaders who straddle all these
worlds," he said.
"There is a serious crisis in the moral dimension of most of our
leaders, in the ethical dimension of our leaders, in the competence
dimension of our leadership, in the ability of our leaders to
connect with large masses of people."
Yet, he singled out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an able leader
with vision, political capacity and courage to force change, but
observed that the "fragile coalition" he was heading was holding him
back.
"Unfortunately he leads a very fragile coalition. If he were to lead
a majority Congress party government, I have no doubt at all he
would move much faster than he has been able to. I'm 100 percent
certain."
Turning his attention to radical reforms India needs to implement to
tackle the challenges it faces, Murthy began with the need for laws
permitting retrenchment and suggested privatization of state-run
firms as opposed to divestment.
"All over the world it has been demonstrated that only when you have
the right to retrench, then only you will become bold to create more
and more jobs. I would say that is one of the primary things we have
to do," he said.
"Corporations and the government must work together so that even if
people have to be retrenched they would have the wherewithal to
support themselves for six months or a year before they can get
another job."
Asked if he advocated privatization of India's vast public sector,
including the so-called 'Navratnas' (nine gems among
state-run firms), Murthy replied in the affirmative and said even
infrastructure development should be in the hands of the private
sector.
"There is no doubt at all. I don't believe the government should be
in business. I think the Navratnas would perform better if
they are in private sector hands or if they operate as if they are
in the private sector," he said.
"I believe even infrastructure should be built by private sector.
The government should create policies that encourage private sector
to create infrastructure - for example, airports, roads, power
companies, distribution companies, ports."
Murthy said that the retail trade industry in India - that is open
only to single-brand multinational corporations - should be thrown
open to investments from overseas.
"When we have opened it to large Indian groups, it means the mom and
pop stores are likely to suffer anyway. So why not open it to large
multinationals? Let them bring the best technology, best practices
so that at the end of the day the consumer benefits."
IANS
News of Jan
6, 2007
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