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Diploma Engineering Sem I English (3300002)
SECTION 2-A: COMPREHENSION PASSAGES
What We Must Learn from the West- Narayan Murthy
Prepared and Presented by
Imran Khan Mh. Yusufzay(Asst. Prof. in English)
Om Engineering College, Junagadh.
1What We Must Learn from the West
Origin of the passage
This is actually a Lecture – “Role of Western values in
contemporary Indian society” – delivered at the Lal
Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management on October
02, 2002 by Mr. Narayan Murthy, the Chairman of the
Board, Infosys Technologies Limited, Bangalore, India
Please visit: www.lbsim.ac.in
2What We Must Learn from the West
Who is Narayan Murhty?
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy
Commonly referred to as Narayana
Murthy,
Indian IT industrialist
The co-founder of Infosys,
(a multinational corporation
providing business consulting,
technology, engineering, and
outsourcing services.)
3What We Must Learn from the West
Who is Narayan Murhty?
Born: August 20, 1946 (age 68), Mysore
Wife: Sudha Murthy (m. 1978)
Children: Rohan Murthy, Akshata Murthy
Awards: Padma Vibhushan
Education: University of Mysore,
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur,
National Institute of Engineering
4What We Must Learn from the West
Some of the lessons N. Murthy learnt from the West regarding values are applicable to us as a Nation. Those are as below:
1. Respect for the public Good
2. Acknowledging the Accomplishment of Others
3. Accountability
4. Dignity of Labor
5. Professionalism
6. Intellectual Independence
7. Honoring Contracts
5What We Must Learn from the West
1. Respect for the public Good
• Our attitude towards community is very different
from our attitude towards the family.
• We keep our homes spotlessly clean, when we go
out we do not think twice before littering.
6What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
11What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
12What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
13What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
14What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
15What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
16What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
17What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
18What We Must Learn from the West
On the other hand, parks in the West are generally free from litter and their streets are clean.
19What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
20What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
21What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
22What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
23What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
24What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
25What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
26What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
27What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
28What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
29What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
30What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
31What We Must Learn from the West
We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problems around us but behave as if they are someone else’s responsibility. e.g. Drought in India
More than thirty years ago, irrigation expert
Dr. K. L. Rao suggested solving this problem by
creating a water grid interlinking the Ganga and
Cauvery and several other rivers. Unfortunately,
nothing was done about this!
32What We Must Learn from the West
Other occasions when we were careless…
• In1983, the project of thermal power plant for the power
shortage problem in Bangalore could not be done…
• Five years ago, because of the constant foreign travel required
in his software industry, N. Murthy had suggested 240
passport facility for to eliminate the frequent visits to the
passport office but he did not hear any answer from External
Affair on this.
33What We Must Learn from the West
• Why do we believe that solving problem is a
responsibility of a foreign ruler and not ours?
• Is this all because we were ruled by the foreigners
for years?
• Even our decision makers look to somebody else to
take decision…
Narayan Murthy’s sarcastic questions
34What We Must Learn from the West
In the West
• People take responsibility to solve the societal problems..
• They are responsible to their community
• They care for their society
• They make sacrifice for their society
• They solve societal problems proactively
“Successful societies are those that harmoniously combine loyalty to family
and loyalty to community”
35What We Must Learn from the West
2. Acknowledging the Accomplishment of Others
• We are contemptuous…
• This attitude is nothing new..
• The 11th century logician and traveller, Al Biruni
referred to this trait of Indian. (He spent 20 years in
India)
• If we want to progress, we must listen to and learn
from people who have performed better than us…
36What We Must Learn from the West
Al Biruni
Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and became the most important interpreter of Indian science to the Islamic world. He is given the titles the "founder of Indology". He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography.
37What We Must Learn from the West
3. Accountability
• We must learn Accountability from the West..
• It means you are responsible for what you do,
irrespective of your position…
• In India, the more ‘important’ you are, the less
answerable your become…
38What We Must Learn from the West
3. Accountability
• A senior politician once declared that, he ‘forgot’ to
file his tax returns for ten consecutive years – and got
away with it.
• There are over a hundred loss making public sector
units belonging to central government, (NM says) I
have not seen action taken place against top managers
for bad performance in any of these organizations…
39What We Must Learn from the West
4. Dignity of Labor
• Integral part of the West’s value system
• In India, we revere only intellectual work
• Fresh engineers, in India, want to do only cutting-
edge work. They avoid doing the work of
relevance to business and the Nation
40What We Must Learn from the West
4. Dignity of Labor
• To get success, everyone – from CEO to the
person who serves tea – must discharge his or her
duties in a responsible manner.
• We, therefore, need a mindset that reveres
everyone who puts in honest work, no matter
what work it is.
41What We Must Learn from the West
5. Professionalism
• In the West, people do not mix their personal
relations with their professional dealings.
• They do not hesitate to chastise a colleague for
incompetence, even if he is a friend.
• Indians tend to view even work interaction form
personal perspective (point of view)
42What We Must Learn from the West
5. Professionalism
• We are also the most thin-skinned society in
the world – we see insults where none is meant
• We are not punctual in time. We do not respect
other person’s time. Indian Standard Time
always runs late, and deadlines are not met.
43What We Must Learn from the West
6. Intellectual Independence
• Western parents teach their children to think for
themselves from the time they are very young. So,
these children grow up to be strong, confident adults.
• Indians suffer from feudal thinking. (this means) in
India (even clever people) cannot think independently.
44What We Must Learn from the West
6. Intellectual Independence
• Even bright people prefer to be told what to do by
their bosses.
• We need to overcome this attitude if we are to
succeed globally.
45What We Must Learn from the West
7. Honoring Contracts
• Western value system teaches us to respect for
contractual obligation
• Example of Indian Students whom N. Murthy had
recommended to American University for higher
studies for National Scholarship on a contract to
spend five years in India after getting their degrees but
most of them did not turn back.
46What We Must Learn from the West
7. Honoring Contracts
Right and Duty – the two sides of a same coin.
“ A people that values its privileges above its
principles soon loses both”
47What We Must Learn from the West
N Murthy thinks
“We are living in the past. No other society gloats so
much about the past as we do, with as little current
accomplishment.”
- N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY
48What We Must Learn from the West