Manish Tewari backs Murthy’s call for Sunday working

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Friday extended support to Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s “70 hours per week work” remark and advice that 70 hours a week with one day off and 15 days of vacations in a year should become the norm.

The Congress leader’s reaction came days after Murthy stirred a little storm on social media when he said young people should work 70 hours a week to level up the country’s productivity.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Tewari said, “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. 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. 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!”

In a conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai in the inaugural episode of 3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’ recently, 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,” he had said, comparing India with China, Japan and Germany.

He added, “So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week.”

Murthy’s remarks were lambasted for apparently promoting an “overwork culture” by some, and praised by few others for trying to stoke the young ones into action.