The speaker of today's memory lecture. Sri Narayan Murthy ji. Ladies and gentlemen.

I on my own behalf and behal

f of the lal bahaddur shastri national mutual trust would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you this evening to
the 22nd lal bahaddur shastri memory lecture being delivered by Narayan Murthy founder of infosis. One of the top
IT companies not only in India but in the world. Respected the shiraj patil,sri Anil shah street,sri sunil shastri disting
uished ladies and gentlemen. Sri lal bahaddur shastri Was a much respected prime minister of India. He was a role
model for politicians all over the world. He immortalized the contribution of soldiers and farmers. By his famous slo
gan, Jay jawan Jay Kisan. What distinguished Shastri ji from other politicians,was this steadfast adherence to truth.
His unwavering accountability to the responsibility that he sholdered. And his limitless passion. For the betterment o
f India. These qualities brought him admiration. From pundit Nehru. And his other colleagues in the cabinet. No wo
nder. Pundit Nehru chose him as his successor. Today I will speak on a topic. That was. Very dear to his heart. Very
dear to the heart of our prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi. As well as to the heart of every Indian. That is. How do w
e fulfill the dreams of our founding fathers. That the poorest child in the remotest village of India has decent access t
o basic education,healthcare,nutrition and shelter. How do we ensure that every child in India has opportunities, to m
ake India stronger. And its own life better. How do we make every citizen, confident about the fairness and equity in
the national policies. How do we make India a respected nation in the committee of nations. Thanks to the emergenc
e of a significant middle class in India. There is tremendous confidence. Amongst This class, the middle class to solv
e our problems. That still impact at least half a billion Indians in education in health care in nutrition and in shelter.
The middle class wants to see India recognized as a respected country by foreigners. They want India to improve her
exports and to win in every tournament and every competition abroad. They want our politicians and the bureaucrat
s to be the best in the world. They want India to be the best governed nation in the world. And they want India to be
corruption free. They want India to play a crucial role in multilateral issues and make this a better. They want Indian
achievements past and present to receive due recognition by countries more developed than hers in essence, my frien
ds. We all want India to become a highly respected nation. Friends, how do we create respect for India. Right from d
ay 1 ,my Infosys colleagues and I have acted according to a belief that performance leads to recognition. Recognitio
n leads to respect. And respect leads to power. Therefore, if India wants to be a respected global power. Then there i
s only one instrument and that is Performance in whatever we do. What does performance mean in the context of our
nation. It means ensuring that the poorest have decent access to education to health care, nutrition, shelter and an op
portunity to better their future. Without discrimination. And without man-made hurdles. It means Indian exports are
attractive in the global market. It means creating financial security for our essential imports for the country. It means
that India performs among the top three on every international platform beat in corruption, free and good governanc
e. Beat in sports, beating experts. Or beat in academia. It means India's voice is listened to with attention and acted u
pon by multilateral platforms. It means Indians are regarded with all an admiration for this smartness. Hard work, in
genuity and accomplishments. It means we have the best and most fulfilling democracy in the world. Folks, I have s
pent some time studying various forms of political and economic systems. That result in sustained economic develop
ment in an environment of social equity equal opportunity for all for economic uplift. And social harmony. I have co
me to the conclusion. That compassionate capitalism flourishing in a true democracy is the best form for such a deve
lopment. The data shows that all other forms of political and economic systems. Or political economic systems. Like
Unbridled, less affair capitalism. Communism,Socialism. And dictatorship have not ensured sustained Economic a
nd social development. Fortunately We have a vibrant secular democracy today. Our task therefore, is to make it eve
n stronger. Let me first talk about the attributes of a true democracy. A true democracy. It doesn't matter what party i
s in rule in whichever country you can think of means that every citizen irrespective was her of his or her religion,ca
st or ideological affiliation has four freedoms as enunciated by President Franklin De Roosevelt of the United States.
These four freedoms are Freedom of expression. Freedom of faith. Freedom from fear. And freedom from want. Be
fore I go on to define how this freedom should operate. I would like to remind you. And you all know that that in a c
ivilized society. Duties must come before rights. Responsibilities, please must come before privileges. And self restr
ained must come before unbridled and uncivilized demonstration of disagreement. Power and profligacy . Let me no
w first talk about freedom of expression. Freedom of expression provides every individual. The right to express his /
her opinion in a constructive and agreeable manner. Based on data and facts. And in a way that does not intentionall
y hurt the feelings of other citizens. Or endanger the unity of our nation. It means we operate according to the words
of Evelyn hall, who said,"I may not agree with you. But I will defend unto my death,You are right to say so". It mea
ns that majority groups should not force their views on minority groups. It also means that minority groups should n
ot wantonly hurt the feelings of the majority groups. The first duty, according to this freedom of expression is that ev
ery citizen recognizes that nature comes first. And then the well being of fellow citizens. Therefore, any differences
will have to be settled. In a peaceful and harmonious manner. No group should resort to violence or terrorism nor sh
ould any citizen support such acts either implicitly or explicitly,
 any such support implicitly or explicitly should be condemned unequivocally and firmly and punished heavily if ap
propriate. Any person or persons proved responsible for causing violence should be dealt with swift and appropriate
punishment. This is what freedom of expression means this is what freedom of expression translates to. Now let me
get to freedom of faith. Faith is very important to achieving mental peace and overcoming our anxiety. Our dilemma
our diffidence and to enhance our energy, enthusiasm and confidence to make India nation that fulfills the dream of t
he founding fathers of this nation. Friends, I am very religious at home and I pray every morning. But my religion an
d my faith are private affairs between my God and me. I do not bring them to public discussions and public activities
. I grew up happily with children from middle class Muslim and Christian neighbors. As a child, I listened to sanskrit
shlokas from my mother almost every day. I spoke and read in kannada, my mother tongue at home and in my gove
rnment middle school. I studied in English medium from high school onwards. I will start the grandeur of ancient In
dia by my father,Who was a high school teacher. I have supported various charitable causes belonging to different r
egions, different religions, different ideologies different caste, and different causes in India. I have Hindu, Sikh. Jane
, Christian, Muslim, Jewish. Buddhist, and parsi friends whose friendship and advice I value very much. The only ti
me I participated in a religious function at Infosys that was the first and the last time was when I invited a Hindu pri
est, a Muslim Maulvi and a Christian Padre. And gave them equal time for their religious switching. I believe that s
uch a diversified experience that my parents taught me and that my teachers taught me has benefited me immensely.
My father exhorted us every day to follow the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, who is said ,the Allah of Islam is the sam
e as the God of Christians and the Ishawar of Hindus. I believe I am a better person today because of this advice of t
he father of the nation. I'm happy that by and large. We have accepted mahatma's advice and are working towards m
aking 1.2 billion Indians enthusiastic,happy, energetic and productive participants to create a strong Indian. Now let
me come to the third one. Freedom from fear. Freedom from fear is an extremely important prerequisite for fast and
equitable economic growth in any country. The law of the land, the legislature. The judiciary and the police should p
rotect our rights to speak freely on any issue based on data on facts should protect our right to live wherever we want
in this country and to access every public facility. It could protect our absolute right to our property. Our rights to pr
actice our vocational. Our faith and our customs. Our rights to worship whatever God we want and our right to work
peacefully and harmoniously towards our betterment and India's betterment. The law of the land. The court system a
nd the police should prevent the harassment and discrimination against the poor, the downtrodden and the minorities
by huge punishment to perpetrators of such crimes swiftly. Now let me come to the last freedom that is freedom fro
m want. Friends, no nation has received respect from the world without ensuring that every citizen has freedom from
want. That's why it is important for our nation to provide support to the poor and the downtrodden in basic educatio
n, in health care in nutrition and in shelter. The nation should concurrently enable the poor to create opportunities for
themselves to obtain these facilities from their own earnings. If we want to make this 400 million plus 4 people or a
bout hundred million plus families self sufficient. So the only instrument we have is providing employment to these
people with a reasonable income. The prime minister Mr Modi have created three very attractive platforms for this p
urpose. Start up India. Stand up India and make in India. Start up India is a good platform for creating jobs for reaso
nably educated, urban and rural youngsters . Stand up India is a powerful instrument to achieve the prime minister M
odi's vision of 'sub ka sath sub ka vikas'. It is make in India that has the potential to create a large number of jobs for
the less educated. It is very important to remember that most of these poor people are in rural India and that they are
either illiterate or semi-literate. Therefore, they can only be employed in low tech manufacturing companies with so
me training. The number of jobs required to be generated is about 10 to 12 million jobs every year for the next 10-15
years. Our low tech manufacturing sector therefore has to grow sufficiently to allow job creation of this huge magnit
ude. There is also the issue of whether our economy can indeed afford to consume all this output produced by these
people. Hence a combination of export and domestic consumption strategy with about 60 to 70% of this growth com
ing from exports and about 30% to 40% coming from domestic consumption either reasonable as that proposition. S
uch a strategy requires that we become attractive exporters in the global markets with our products and services prov
iding best value for money and receiving global respect for our quality, our customer focus, our integrity and our livi
ng up to contract. Such a massive job creation, exercise requires investment of at least. US dollars 200 billion to 250
billion every year. Obtaining such a capital requires that we attract investment from both domestic and international i
ndustrialists. This means we will have to enhance the trust of these investors in our public governing system by follo
wing globally accepted business practices. And through transparent accountable and speedy decision making without
any corruption and pronism. While the current government in the center has brought in a large number of efficient, i
ndustry oriented and very smart bureaucrats in critical positions. This urgency of action has to percolate down to stat
e government level. We have to make it easy for foreign executives to travel to India. Our ambassadors and missions
abroad will have to enhance the prestige of India and position her as an attractive investment destination. A swatch
Bharat Which has been started by prime minister Modi, the very important initiatives. Not just for the health of India
ns alone, but also to make the stay of foreigners in India more bearable and to attract more and more of them. Let me
now get to the second ingredient for realizing India's ambition of fast economic growth that is compassionate capital
ism. This economic system requires following commitments from the corporate governing system and the public go
verning system. The corporate leaders should follow fair, transparent and accountable policies towards the stakehold
ers that is customers employees, investors, vendor partners, government of the land and the society of the corporatio
ns that they lead. But the central and the state government should follow the PM's advice of minimum government a
nd maximum governance. The government center and state should follow three fundamental principles of a good pu
blic government system and these principles are one move towards zero friction of businesses and for entrepreneurs.
So that more and more jobs and wealth can be created and more and more taxes can be collected. Second We have to
create a simple. Fan. Internationally competitive, easy to understand, easy to comply and stable tax and governance
laws that are legislated only on it. Prospective basis only after adequate consultation with businesses and only after g
iving adequate notice. We have to collect maximum txis swiftly and fairly without corruption and nepotism. 3rd, we
have to create a special legal system to dispose of tax cases swiftly and to impose swift and heavy punishment to def
ault us. The federal government as the unifier of this nation has to put in regulations in place to curb the excesses of
unbridled capitalism. The last thing that we have to do is use a majority part of the tax collected efficiently and witho
ut corruption towards programs dedicated to provide basic education. Healthcare, nutrition and shelter to the poor wi
thout reference to religion, region and caste. We have to use the required amount for defence and other mandatory g
overnance expenses. The remaining amount has to be used to create better infrastructure for accelerating the growth
of businesses that will likely result in even more jobs and even higher taxes. While these actions are required from th
e public governing system. The leaders of capitalism have to play their role in becoming evangelists for compassiona
te capitalism and economic well being of the country. Our industrialists should exercise self restrained in their comp
ensation, in their perquisites, in their governing styles and in their lifestyles. The ratio of the senior management com
pensation to the compensation of the lowest level employee has to be maintained at an acceptable level. The industri
alists have to operate as trustees of the shareholders. They have to avoid related party transactions. They have to ens
ure that loans from the banking system and the public are paid off in time. However, if due to any business reasons.
They are not able to do so, it is quite possible they are not able to do in that situation. They should adopt hostility in t
heir personal lifestyle, take a bigger cut in their compensation and make sacrifices in their perquisite before preachin
g austerity to their juniors. They should not be profligate in corporate expenses. In such a case, they should not use t
he resources of the company for their personal benefits. Folks, unless the leaders of capitalism enhance the trust of th
e public in compassionate capitalism by these actions. It is unlikely that compassionate capitalism will succeed in In
dia. At this juncture in the history of this nation. We have to act on our prime minister's advice that our primary focu
s will have to be on development leading to fast economic growth resulting the creation of at least a million jobs a m
onth. Therefore, our discussions will have to be on how we can remove impediments in making the lives of the poor
better irrespective of region, religion, caste, party and ideological affiliations. We cannot make accelerated progress
unless we make our diversity, our strength. Therefore, we have to focus on what unites us. Rather than what can divi
de us. Friends, there are many more things that unite us than those that divide us. Folks, I see lots of enthusiasm in th
e country in making the dreams of shri lal bahaddur shastri and other founding fathers a reality. Sri shastri ji's soul
would be very happy if India moves fast towards making the life of the poorest Indian better and better day after day
after day. Thank you.