Infosys Founder N. R. Narayana Murthy Sparks Freebies Debate

Calling for a different approach to freebies, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy said that "nothing should be given free". People availing government services and subsidies should be made to contribute back to the betterment of society, suggested the IT veteran. He also advocated for capitalism and regarded it as the only solution for a poor country like India to become prosperous.

"When you provide those services, when you provide those subsidies, there must be something in return that they're willing to do. For example, if you say -- I will give you free electricity, then it would have been a very nice thing for the government to have said, but we want to see the percentage attendance in primary schools and middle schools go up by 20 percent, then only we will give you that," Narayana Murthy said at the 26th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023 on Wednesday. After presenting his idea, Murthy made it clear that he was not against free services being provided and stressed the importance of these subsidies for the poor and underprivileged. "I am not against free services being provided. I fully understand, as I also came from a poor background once upon a time. But I think we should expect something in return from those people who received those free subsidies to take a slightly bigger responsibility towards making their future generation, their own children and grandchildren, better in terms of going to school, you know, performing better. That's what I mean," he added.