Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday joined the ongoing debate over Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's advice to young people on working 70 hours per week to increase the country's productivity, saying that 70 hours a week with one day off and 15 days of vacations in one year should become the norm.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Congress MP has said that various public representatives and elected MPs even work for 12-15 hours a day 7 days a week while balancing careers with public service.
"I do not understand the brouhaha around @Infosys_nmurthy statement on a 70 hour work week. What is wrong with it ? Some of us Public Representatives work 12-15 hours a day 7 days a week balancing careers with Public Service," he said.
Tewari further said that he works even on Sundays and doesn't even remember when he last took off on the weekend.
{{/usCountry}}Tewari further said that he works even on Sundays and doesn't even remember when he last took off on the weekend.
{{/usCountry}}"I do not recall when I last took a Sunday off. Sunday is also a full working day in the Constituency / field whether you are elected or unelected," he added.
He further said 70 hours a week with one day off should be a work ethic if India and its youth need to increase its productivity provided that there's enough work.
"If India has to truly become a great power one or even two generations have to make 70 hours a week their work ethic. 70 hours a week with one day off & 15 days of vacations in one year must become the norm. Provided there is enough work!" he said.
In a conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai in the inaugural episode of 3one4 Capital's podcast 'The Record' last month, Murthy had said that youngsters should put extra hours at work to compete with leading economies.
"India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity...we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress. If we want to compete with the fastest growing countries like China and Japan, we need to boost up our work productivity," he had said.
"So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week,'" he added.
Several corporate bigwigs including Shaadi.com's Anupam Mittal, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani, Marico's Harsh Mariwala, Emcure Pharmaceuticals CEO Namita Thapar, author Chetan Bhagat voiced their opinions after Murthy's remarks sparked a discussion on work-life balance.
RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka shared his opinion on the 70-hour workweek debate saying that hybrid work culture is the ‘present and future’. He further added, “It’s no longer about working 50 or 70 hours, but about your own ambition, your purpose, and your productivity.”
Anupam Mittal weighed in on Murthy’s remark and said, "After all these years, still working 70 hour weeks.” Subsequently, Namitha Thapar tagged Mittal and wrote, “if we listen to you and other experts about working 70 hour/ week (plus horrendous commute time) will we ever find time for family, creating precious memories & most importantly for mental health?”
Author Chetan Bhagat, in an Instagram post, shared thoughts on working. He wrote, “Work 35 hours a week. Doesn’t have to be 70.” He, however, added that those 35 hours should really be productive.