N R Narayana Murthy is perhaps the most respected figure in Indian IT sector. He is one of the pioneer figures behind Indian success in outsourcing. He feels that the benefit of economic reforms (that started in 1991) is not reaching the common people and that is not a good thing for the society. In a book release function today, he talked about this matter. I found a nice report in Rediff titled, India has not made real progress: Murthy. Here are some of the things that Mr. Murthy felt that India was doing wrong:
1. Indian government has carried out economic reforms but more should be done to give more space to the private sector.
2. 800 TV channels are available to Indian people and most of the channels are getting ads from Indian companies. This shows the size and strength of Indian economy. But most people are still poor and their life is not improving a lot.
3. Indian education system is still not up to the mark and there is hardly any scope for the private sector to contribute. He gave an example:
"One of the strangest things that I have not understood (and) which I have asked many ministers in the Centre including the Prime Minister - I have received no answer - why we delicensed our industrial sector in 1991. But even today our primary and secondary education is not delicensed".
"If you want to start an English medium school, you have to get permission from the state government. If you want to start a university, you have to get permission from the central government. It makes no sense," said Narayana Murthy.
4. He suggested that in the big cities primary and secondary education should be run by private sector while in the rural areas parents' associations could run them. In other words, government should let the private sector to participate more in education.
5. 89 days to start a business in India- He stated about this matter and opined that something substantial had to be done in this regard.
6. Mr. Murthy recalled his own experience that he could not get a loan for his company, Infosys in 1982 and it took him a long time to get a telephone connection.
Well, I agree with Mr. Murthy in everything including privatization of the education sector in India. However, I have just one concern. If education becomes expensive then most people will not be able to afford. I would surely love to see what Mr. Murthy has to say about this concern of mine.
I would also love to know your view about it. Am I right?
Mr Narayan Murthy has the right vision and unbiased ideas free from political overtones in suggesting that education should be privatized. It might push up the cost of education initially but experience tells us that with competition it would come down as has happened in many cases like aviation.
Moreover the choice has to be between low-cost third-rate education and high-cost first-class education.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 12, 2006 11:32 PM | Permalink to Comment