'Not per capita income...that's the holy grail': Narayana Murthy flags what India must really achieve

What measures the true development of a nation? Is it the GDP or the size of the economy or is it per capita income? Infosys founder, NR Narayana Murthy, believes that none of this can gauge the true measure of development. He believes that the true measure of a country’s development lies in the metric of something that is far more simplistic but way harder to compute.

In an interview with Moneycontrol, Murthy said that the “holy grail” is what the founding fathers of the nation believed is the true assessment of a nation’s progress. Murthy said that his father was very proud of the nation and often repeated what the founding fathers of the nation wanted for India.

“I want a country where the poorest child in the remotest village has decent access to nutrition, shelter, healthcare, and education….and hope that by hard work, smart work, and discipline that child can enhance the quality of life not only for himself but for his progenies too – that is what the founding fathers said as early as pre-independence days. Therefore, all of us have to keep that in mind, that’s the end goal. That is the holy grail, so we should all look at how far we are from that, not that we have produced this thing or that thing or our per capita has gone up by some $100,” he said.

Narayana Murthy, further said that he and his peers received education at “unbelievably low costs”. His friends paid Rs 300 per year for their education, said Murthy, adding that that would be around Rs 90,000 now, which is very low compared to globally.

Murthy said that thanks to our governments and taxpayers, people are able to receive education at low costs. He said that those who have been fortunate enough to receive this extraordinary opportunity owe a huge responsibility to those who have not received such chances. “We have to ensure that those who are less fortunate than us will also reach the same level as us,” he said.

The Infosys founder, speaking to the audience at the Infosys Prize ceremony hosted by Infosys Science Foundation earlier, emphasised on the importance of paying better salaries to teachers.  "We must show much respect and pay better salaries to our teachers and researchers. We must also provide better facilities to our researchers. We must honour them,” he said.

Murthy said that India could invite 10,000 retired and highly-accomplished teachers from the developed world and the country in STEM areas to create 2,500 ‘Train the Teacher’ colleges across 28 states. They could be paid $100,000, said Murthy, adding that India, targeting a GDP of $5 trillion soon will not find it a financial burden.

Also read: '$100,000 a year for retired teachers': Infosys founder Narayana Murthy wants India's teachers to be paid better

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