India has to blame itself for its low ranking in the Human Development Index as it is not tending to be proactive even when solution to the problem is staring us in the face, Infosys Chairman and mentor N R Narayana Murthy said in Ahmedabad on Monday.
"The reason why India still ranks low in HDI (Country ranks 119th as per recent ranking) is our unwillingness to take proactive action even when the solution to our problem is staring us in the face for a long time," Murthy said while speaking at a convocation ceremony of Ahmedabad University.
"We escape from our responsibility to solve our problems by blaming destiny," he said.
"We have political freedom but we still do not have freedom from hunger, illiteracy and diseases,"
Murthy said.
In a nation of 1.2 billion, only 62 per cent are literate. About 420 million poor live in only eight states.
Almost 250 million people do not have access to basic medical care. Around 350 million do not have access to safe drinking water, he observed.
"A whopping 53 per cent of our children are undernourished and sadly, 52 per cent of our primary schools have only one teacher for every two classes," Murthy said.
Advocating inclusive and equitable growth, Murthy said, "Our urban economic progress comes to zero if we do not take steps to achieve inclusive and equitable growth, as our Prime Minister has warned us repeatedly."
"The only way to solve poverty in this country is to create more jobs and more wealth. This requires entrepreneurship," he said.
Image: N R Narayana Murthy
