Letter to the editor of The New Indian Express:
Ponder over that advice
Sir,Information Technology guru N.R. Narayana Murthy‘s suggestion that the industry go rural would be quite the opposite of Mahatma Gandhi‘s vision for rural India. NRN’s suggestion is most unsuitable for our society. The advocacy reveals his tunnel vision of IT as a panacea for the country’s ills. Already, the IT sector has affected the urban set-up by creating a big economic divide, encourgaging ostentatious displays among those who earn huge amounts of money, but have little time for leisure or culture. The new approach to life has generated restlessness, vulgar display of wealth and marital dischord. Westernised, wealthy youth in the IT sector cause others to feel a sense of deprivation and insecurity. The ugly disparity and vast differences in people who otherwise occupy the same spaces creates an imbalance in society. It would not be advisable that this be replicated in our rural areas too. NRN’s suggestion deserves critical consideration.
A. Srinivasa Murthy, Bangalore
Link via Ashwini A.
churumuri 
What the hell is this ‘writer to the editor’ saying and churmuri thinks that it is some great wisdom to be purveyed!!! Why is Churmuri targeting NRN unendingly….there are thousands of others who really deserve your attack, certainly not NRN. Issue-based debates are ok, but this pre-occupation seems prejudicial
Coming to the contents of the letter: Yes, IT is creating a divide, thats why it should go to rural areas….
Public sector created such a divide, every instrument to progress has created a divide. We cannot unfortunately remove the very sources of the divide as they simultaneously are the sources of progress as well. What we need is the right kind of public policy to address the divide. Hope Mr Srinivasa Murthy does not chop off his nose because he has got a cold….I see here nothing in contradiction with what Gandhiji had advocated. As if everything else going rural is in true Gandhian spirit!!!
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Sure, and the IT sector is also responsible for global warming,
the Iraq War,
caste violence,
religious riots,
political corruption,
terrorism,
language riots,
Rajkumar’s death,
the riots after Raj Kumar’s death,
the troubles in Singur,
water disputes,
the flooding in Bihar,
the tsunami in 2005,
Saurav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Indian cricket team,
India’s exit in the group stages in World Cup 2007,
India’s poor Olympic record,
the death of Indian hockey,
the Aarushi murder,
the decline of the Kannada movie industry,
piracy on the high seas,
the collapse of Lehmann Brothers,
the credit crunch and the sub-prime crisis….
I think I must have missed out a few. Care to add a few?
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Mahatma Gandhi on English education:
It is my considered opinion that English education in the manner in which it has been given has emasculated the English-educated Indian…. The process of replacing the vernacular has been one of the saddest chapters in the British connection. … No country can become a nation by producing a race of imitators.
It [the system of English education] was born in error, for the British rulers honesty believed the indigenous system to be worse than useless. It has been nurtured in sin, for the tendency has been to dwarf the Indian body, mind and soul.
Young India 27 April 1921
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If every Tom, Dick, Srinivas and Murthy were to be given importance, we might as well begin to learn to hunt animals and live in caves like savages.
One Tom says, Decongest Bangalore, move to tier-II cities.
One Dick (as in ‘Dickenson’) says, keep further economic growth limited to large cities.
Yet another Harry will have something new to say. At the end of it all Afghanistan will begin to seem like West Europe compared to India.
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NRN should just stand for elections and his wife should just distribute her literary efforts for free. Then we can be free of articles like this.
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After his failed bid to be the President of India, he uses media in all possible ways to be in the limelight. He is a publicity hungry soul and wants to enter politics and the media is all for it.
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NRN is trying to bridge the gap between Urban and Rural areas. The suggestion is most welcome.
Son or daughter of a farmer can dream big. They dont have to wait for monsoon to light up their life always.
Urban growth of IT is not sustainable anymore. Awareness of IT needs to spread to rural India.
Like Gandhi stated that India lives in its villages. NRN is trying to live that dream for the rural Indians.
Kudos to NRN
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I blame the IT sector for making me waste my time reading that letter on the Internet. I could have so easily used it for some welfare of the society.
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The original letter writer Mr. AS* Murthy and its republisher M/s Churumuri appear to be chronically suffering from a malady called IT-phobia.
I sincerely prescribe them
1. One full yeleneeru after lunch
2. A Bale hannu or two after dinner
3. Go to sleep by 9 pm wearing a Monkey cap secured by a Muffler.
If found still fearing the IT join Janata Dala secular, to feel secure against IT.
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China does it while India is obsessed with clerical jobs (IT services with its army of English speaking Engineers)
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/21375/?a=f
Imagine a cell-phone battery that recharges in a few seconds and that you would never have to replace. That’s the promise of energy-storage devices known as ultracapacitors, but at present, they can store only about 5 percent as much energy as lithium-ion batteries. An advance by researchers at the Research Institute of Chemical Defense, in China, could boost ultracapacitors’ ability to store energy.
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HMMMM so you dont want IT in the rural areas, how do telecom operators operate now using software switches, if VOIP is enabled everyone can connect to everyone NRN did not ask anyone in the rural sector to buy finacle their finance software to manage their loans he might have said if we can use IT in the rural sector in the ways it can help maybe we will have less people migrating and more tech savy farmers doing good business and escaping the clutches of greedy middle men and brokers.
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Dear ASM saar,
I read your letter about the ills of IT with great interest. How bad for the poor rural populace if IT were to affect their simple lives. But while we are looking at IT, don’t you think we should start with electricity, saar? Electricity lets them to play music, watch movies and make them succumb to various other ills. Surely we cannot allow their poor minds to be corrupted like that. Of course, it goes without saying that communication is an absolute no-no for these folks. Just imagine them wasting hours talking on the phone.
While we are at it, you will also agree that proper (tarred) roads are another urban menace the rural people can do without. Their bullock carts just don’t need such roads. We don’t want them zipping around in cars like like these arrogant urban chaps.
Hope you will critically consider the points I have made.
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Oh, I think he is thinking to open “Call centre” in rural areas as they are cheaper labors compared to cities.
He is another capitalist and just want to make money wherever it is possible with less effort.
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one doubt… :-)
By the way, when NRN said “IT industry should go rural”. What exactly he meant…?
Whether to develop IT infrastructure for rural areas? or To open Call Centre/software services in rural area..?
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Finally the menu is breakfast mouse,Lunch CPU,Dinner Monitor in 2018.
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Doesn’t Churmuri have anything better to publish that it has to stoop to such things to gain publicity?
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