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Real face of India!

PTI August 12, 2006

Software icon N R Narayana Murthy, who has often termed Infosys a shining example of economic reforms initiated in 1991, said economic liberalisation has not touched the poor and makes no sense unless it addressed their basic needs.

"I keep telling my colleague Nandan (Nilekani, CEO of Infosys) that it's funny in this country that we can buy whatever...BMWs...We can have 800 channels on TV...all of that," the chairman and chief mentor of Infosys said.

"But the real progress in India has not taken place simply because the reforms have not touched the poor people," he said

"Unless you address the basic needs of the poorest of the poor, which are decent primary and secondary education, decent health care and decent nutrition...all of this (reforms) makes no sense".

Murthy, one of the most admired business leaders of the country, sought to find fault with authorities for not delicensing primary and secondary education in the country.

"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," he lamented.

"Unless, we completely delicense the primary and secondary education, unless we create an environment where more and more investment get into primary health care, I don't think we can truly claim to have embraced reforms".

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