Murthy, a first-generation entrepreneur, said he was not at all against subsidies, having come from a poor family himself, being one of the eight children of a high-school teacher father. But while it was a nice thing for the government to provide a free service such as electricity or a subsidy, it should also get something in return from citizens who receive these.
“Nothing should be given free, but there should be contribution from citizens also to make our society a better one,” he said in a fireside chat with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath at the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Wednesday.
The payback, Murthy added, could be in the form of an increase in student attendance in primary and high schools by about 20%. This will help the future generations of the families of citizens receiving subsidies lead a better life.
He commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing free food grains for poor people for five years from January 1, saying about 800 million people in India still had no capacity to earn two meals a day. While Murthy lauded the pursuit of higher revenues and profits by corporates, he urged them to become an integral part of society and lift it to a higher level. “That is the only solution for a poor country to become a prosperous country.”
Karnataka’s IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, in a brief chat with the media later, acknowledged the contributions by the Infosys foundation.
Discover the stories of your interest
As for subsidies, the minister said, the guarantee schemes being implemented in Karnataka had been derived from the universal basic income concept and the government would need about one year to see their actual impact on the ground.
