Tharoor says no to 90-hour work week

Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has disapproved of suggestions for a 90-hour work week in the country.

In an interactive session organised by the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday (January 12), Dr. Tharoor said improving efficiency and quality of work was more important than hiking working hours. For the record, Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and many others had recently called for a sharp increase in working hours in the country. Dr. Tharoor pointed out that in countries like Denmark, work time was 35 hours a week, according to a release issued here.

Manufacturing holds the key, he said. Earlier, delivering ‘The India Forward Talk Series’ organised by the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Tharoor said India needed to make rapid progress to emerge as the global manufacturing hub and to address jobless growth.

“We have the talent, the vision, and the capacity to become the world’s manufacturing hub, especially as global supply chains increasingly look for alternatives to China in a ‘China+1’ strategy. However, despite this immense potential, the growth of manufacturing in India has been stifled by systemic challenges that hold us back from fully seizing this opportunity,” he said. He also said that countries like Vietnam and Indonesia were making every effort to become key players in the China+1 strategy.