The Need for Excellence by N.R.Narayana Murthy
About the lesson .. Having pioneered the IT-based entrepreneurship in India, and taking his venture Infosys to dizzy heights that employs lakhs of young men and women and brings in billions of dollars through IT Exports, Narayanmurthy is uniquely placed to talk on this topic. With countries jostling to get more market share in the international arena, Indian exporters have to re-learn the value of quality that instantly separates the chalk from the cheese. In fact, the demise of a company not adequately committed to quality in its products and services comes much sooner, as customers desert it in droves. The days of protected markets where the seller decided the benchmark for quality have long gone. India, despite its talent pool, is a laggard n manufacturing and services, and has a very feeble footprint in global business. Nrayanmurthy’s words will, therefore, have to be heeded with great sincerity.
A word about the author .. Narayanmurthy had a very modest beginning in life. He, nevertheless, was ahigh performer in academics and got his higher education in the U.S. Instead of settling for a routine life, along with his wife Sudha Murthy who too was a qualified engineer working with the Tatas, Narayanmurthy chose to tread the ‘un-trodden’ path. Initial hurdles were many, but Narayan mrthy never looke back. Now, Infosys is a giant IT Company with offices in every nook and corner of the globe. India is truly proud of this son.
Comprehension check:
Q1. How does the author greet the students on the graduation day?
Ans: Mr. Murthycongratulates the graduates for their completing their studies.
Q2. What are the pluses and minuses………adult life?
Ans: On entering a new phase of life that brings new responsibilities and opens new vistas, a young man or woman has to accept the responsibilities of citizenship, and look at future with bolder eyes.
Q3. What are India’s pluses and minuses? .
Ans: Its large diverse population produces outstanding engineers and scientists. India builds fabulous engineering projects, but fails to make a name as a maker of quality goods. It inherited a depleted economy, and for long years chose to adopt a controlled economy that stifled creativity, and innovation.
Q4. Why does the author invoke Gandhi in the second paragraph?
Ans: The author reminds the students that Gandhi, whose Ashram stands in Saabarmati, had also questioned India’s inability to stick to quality in the many items it produced.
Q5. How does the author make ………………….. skills?
Ans: The author mentions that computing power of modern computers have improved astonishingly enabling IT to enter products and services that we are beginning to use in increasing numbers. So, for such items to be really acceptable to the customer, their quality has to be flawless. This is the reason, soft skills or user-friendliness takes precedence over hard skills.
Q6. What are the ills of License Raj?
Ans: License Raj restricts industrial growth, limits choices available for the consumer, and breeds inefficiency and corruption.
Q7. What are the authors …. socialism?
Ans: The author feels that socialism does not promote free enterprise and creates hurdles for wealth creation. So, it curbs growth and poverty alleviation.
Q8. What are the ills ….. India?
Ans: Bureaucracy acts like a stranglehold on growth. It abets red-tapism, needless delays, and more worryingly, corruption. It is ant-growth.
Q9. What are ………………….. technologies?
Ans: Globalization is impossible without technology. The more the adoption of technology, the smoother will be the promotion of globalization.
Q10. Why is dreaming …………………… pursuit of excellence?
Ans: Dreaming big implies entering the world market . Being a global provider of goods and services is impossible without attaining really exceptional levels of quality.
Q11. How is idealism reconciled …………… pragmatism?
Ans: A person with common sense will be able to judge when to put ideological considerations to rest and adopt pragmatic policies. So, being sagacious is the key.
Q12. Ans: The two quotes, one by Harold Taylor and the other by Henry Ford underscore the need for ambition and the readiness to work towards it.
Click Here for all of our BA Content!
Good