2023-11-08 23:30:00
In a podcast, Infosys co-founder NR Narayanamurthy called for youth to volunteer for 70-hour days to make India competitive in the global market. The Indian corporate world enthusiastically welcomed and supported Narayanamurthy’s call. Naturally, trade unions and human resource experts came forward to oppose the proposal with logical arguments. Narayanamurthy’s proposal and the support it received from the corporate world exposes the endless profiteering of capitalist industrial enterprises. The examples of advanced industrialized nations that Narayanamurthy cites to justify his position do not match the facts. Moreover, working hours, working environment etc. are contrary to Narayanamurthy’s depiction of the reality in developed countries. In countries like Germany, Japan, France, etc., official statistics reveal that weekly working hours have decreased significantly over the past century and a half and productivity has increased. In Germany, the working week decreased from 68 hours in 1870 to 28 hours in 2017. In 1961, working hours in Japan dropped from 44 hours to less than 35 hours.
In France, working hours are limited to 35 hours per week. If these are the models, then why and how developed industrialized countries have been able to achieve higher productivity needs to be examined. Industrial growth and productivity in developed countries undermines the argument that restless and long working hours are the basis of productivity. Making modern industries and alternative work enterprises productive and efficient depends on the continuous process of innovation in those fields. That would be in line with the research and development activities of each business enterprise. Niti Aayog’s ‘India’s Innovation Index’ 2021 sheds light on this reality. According to this, it can be seen that in 2018, only 0.65 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was spent on research and development activities, and in 2020-21 it will further decrease to 0.64 per cent. This is the least of the world’s investments for this purpose, according to statistics. The share of private sector in the above investment is only 41 percent in 2020-21. This is four per cent less than in 2012-13. In 2020, the private sector invested 79 percent each in R&D in Korea and Japan. 75% of the investment was in the US, 67% in Germany, 77% each in the UK and China. These figures show that there is no need for other explanations for the reason why Indian enterprises are not competitive in the global market.
Various reports of the International Labor Organization (ILO) have scientifically assessed that working hours, rest, recreation and healthy family life of workers significantly influence the efficiency and productivity of enterprises. There is no need for many studies and researches to show that long working hours and excessive workload can adversely affect efficiency and productivity. The prevailing political and working environment in the country proves that Narayanamurthy’s revelation is not a new phenomenon. All corporate thugs use patriotism as a cloak to loot the workers, the public and the nation’s wealth itself. When the Hindenburg revelations came out, patriotism was used by Adani to justify the betrayal of the nation and the people. The Modi government is doing nothing but umbrella for corporate loot. The proposed labor codes of the Modi government also target labor exploitation. Twelve hours working time is the target of BJP and Modi administration. Narayanamurthy has come out with an exploitative attempt wrapped in the national flag to make the life of the Indian working class slave-like and make profit instead of achieving a better working environment and reducing the workload by investing more.
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#Hours #Employment #Endless #Profit