Date:10/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/10/stories/2006051022760400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Accommodate people from other States'

Special Correspondent

Narayana Murthy cites shortfall in human resource in the State

CHERISHING MOMENT: Chief Mentor of Infosys N.R. Narayana Murthy being honoured with the `Citizen Extraordinaire' award by Irfan Razack, Managing Director, Prestige Groups, in Bangalore on Tuesday. Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy is seen. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Bangalore: Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies N.R. Narayana Murthy who was on Tuesday conferred the "Citizen Extraordinaire" award by the Rotary Club of Bangalore Midtown and the Prestige Group, said that if "Bangalore had to become stronger, then it had to be a lot more welcoming to people from other States."

Defending the decision of information technology (IT) companies taking candidates from outside the State, Mr. Murthy said that this problem had cropped up due to the shortfall in human resources from within the State. Of the two lakh jobs that would be created this year, the engineering and computer institutes from the State would account for about a lakh, leaving the other lakh to be sourced from outside.

The IT and ITES sector was growing at 35 per cent, whereas educational infrastructure has not been able to catch up with it. If the shortfall had to be met, the Government, he said, had to take hard decisions and one such was to provide full autonomy to higher educational institutions. The solution was not to lower standards, not to create quotas, but to encourage them to do well. Pointing out that only 1.3 candidates out of 100 applicants got recruited in Infosys, he said: "We cannot afford to do that". We should improve the educational infrastructure to global standards.