'Narayana Murthy and Bill Gates should sit down together': Here's Shashi Tharoor's innovative solution to 70-hour-work week debate

Congress MP and English language aficionado Shashi Tharoor has weighed in on the recent statements from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy regarding the optimal number of hours or weeks an individual should dedicate to work.

In a recent podcast with TV, Mohandas Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital Partners, Murthy had suggested that young people in India should commit to working 70 hours per week to contribute to the nation's growth. Murthy's comments had caught the social media by storm, with many coming to his support and many criticising the statement. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, in another interview, has, instead, proposed that the purpose of life extends beyond work and envisions a three-day work week made possible through the intervention of artificial intelligence.

Addressing the divergent opinions of these influential business leaders, Tharoor remarked on Sunday that Murthy and Gates should collaborate to find a middle ground in the ongoing debate. He expressed, "Bill Gates says a three-day work-week ought to be possible.' In other words, if Mr. Gates and Mr. Narayana Murthy sit down together and work out a compromise, we will end up exactly where we are, with a five-day work week!" The Congress MP shared this comment on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Since Tharoor's post on Sunday, it has gained viral traction on the microblogging site, with numerous users participating in the discussion.

One user humorously remarked, "Hahaha, and if @elonmusk joins them, the average might go up to 10 days in a week."

Another user delved into the financial aspects, stating, "Bill Gates makes money when people buy his productivity and AI software to do things faster, Narayana Murthy and co make money mostly using billable hours - so the more time you spend in the office and bill the client, Murthy makes money."

A third user contemplated the notion of passion in work, commenting, "One notion says that when you do what you love, you don't count how much of it you have done. Does all the buzz around creating a new norm for how much time we should work mean that most people in the workforce don't love what they do?"

Also Read: 'Don't think you need to work so much': Kishore Biyani says number of hours will be same in lifetime