70 Hours per Week
Infosys founder Narayana Murthy recently said that, young Indians must work 70 hours a week. – a phenomenal recommendation from a prominent capitalist. I respect his achievements but a statement like this makes me want to question his intelligence or, take any of these wise old men seriously. His idea is if you want India to realize its economic potential every young Indian must say: “This is my country. I want to work 70 hours a week.” 1
Well, you do not need to work 70 hours to realize its economic potential.2 Maybe he forgot the part where the quality of life also plays a crucial part in economic development? Maybe higher wages would help? I don’t know, I am no expert. Nonetheless for the sake of argument, let’s explore the numbers.
Assuming a five-day work week, and subtracting 70 hours for work leaves out 50 hours.
If we allocate a bare minimum portion for essential activities like sleeping (averaging 8 hours a day) and meals (1.5 hours a day for three meals), we are left with barely a dozen hours.
I have not included commuting, grooming or leisure time for that matter. it’s crucial to acknowledge that quality of life plays a significant role in economic development, which Murthy happily chose to ignore in his statement. Merely advocating for longer work hours without addressing other factors undermines overall well-being.
Oh, and the nationalist angle is ridiculous. for the sake of India, you cannot work 14 hours a day? Oh come on?! Where’s all the energy draining? Don’t you tell me you are working two jobs?? Oh right, that’s called moonlighting. Don’t do that, that’s unethical! You can only slog for us, because we are a big company and you are our modern slave.