Why working 70 hours a week won’t increase India’s economic productivity

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Synopsis
In the modern world, the key to economic output is the province of entrepreneurs and industrialists who decide what kind of value-added activity workers are engaged in. Government policy, bureaucratic efficiency, and great infrastructure have a role to play, but the biggest gains in productivity would be from other factors, and not just 70 hours a week.

The icon has got it wrong! Media won’t stop asking him, and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy won’t back off from his comment on the 70-hour week. Without doubt NRN worked 70-hour weeks; achievers usually do! A few achievers go on to become super-achievers and the rarest of rare become icons. So, when an icon speaks, we all listen with reverence. If NRN was talking about 70-hour working weeks as part of a discussion on work ethics of