Narayana Murthy trolled for remarks on parenting: ‘Parents are busy working 70 hours a week’

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has once again come under fire from social media - this time for sharing his insights on parenting.

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has once again come under fire from social media - this time for suggesting that parents need to foster an environment of discipline at home to help children focus on their studies. A section of the internet was quick to recall Murthy’s earlier statement suggesting that employees need to work 70 hours a week for nation building, and wondered how these overworked and exhausted employees would find time to spend with their children.

IT industry veteran N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday said India is still a long way off in solving its “grand problems” relating to areas like nutrition and shelter, as he stressed that it requires a cultural transformation of the Indian mindset. (PTI)

NR Narayana Murthy was speaking at an event in Bengaluru on September 9 when he said that parents cannot watch movies themselves while asking children to study.

He also shared how he and his wife Sudha Murty dedicated more than 3.5 each day to reading with their children Akshata and Rohan Murty during their schooling days to create an environment of discipline.

“My wife's logic was, if I am watching TV, I cannot tell my children to study. So she said, I will sacrifice my TV time, and I will also study,” Murthy told the media at the unveiling of Paul Hewitt’s 13th edition of Pearson's best-selling book Conceptual Physics in Bengaluru, reported Moneycontrol.

Mocked on social media

The Infosys billionaire’s insights on good parents went quickly viral on X, where many mocked him for his remarks suggesting that parents should spend three to four hours with their children every day.

“But if parents work for 72 hours as you recommend then when will they devote time to kids?” asked one X user named Renuka Jain.

“Sir, with due respect, you were working 14 hours a day for the office, 3.5 hours for your children, leaving 6.5 hours for sleeping and other routines. Hats off to you,” another person did the math and found it problematic.

“Sir, after working 72 hours a week, there is no time left to have babies. Maternity and paternity leave will reduce productivity,” X user Aman joked.

Some people shared more nuanced arguments, like the person who asked for parents to create a balance. “It's unrealistic to expect every parent to dedicate hours to reading or studying with their kids, especially in today's world where many parents are juggling jobs, household responsibilities, and more. Not all families have the same resources or time," the user wrote.