`Acknowledge that there are two Indias and poverty cannot be solved

And what was desperately needed, he said, was a reversal of the “country’s greatest tragedy, that impedes the progress of the urban entrepreneurs who can create wealth without realising that poverty cannot be solved unless the competent are encouraged to create wealth faster and faster.”

Murthy unfolded precise targets for 2008 and ways to get there, but also admitted that he was “not driven by reality”. With less than one computer for every 5,000 children in the country today, less than two telephone lines per 1,000 people, less than half a million Internet connections, less than half a million PC sales every year, Murthy said only population control, literacy campaigns and bureaucratic, economic reforms, could change these figures drastically. Only then, he said, could “Information Technology permeate every sphere of life and create Singapores in cities like Pune and Bangalore”.

He suggested that for this to happen, the Government needs to get out of many things. “The Government has enough on its hands already, there is no need for the Government in hotels, airlines, banks,” said Murthy, calling for a removal of all bureaucratic control on wealth creation.

And to get things moving in any concerted way, said Murthy, private sector companies should be offered fiscal incentives like tax deductions to go into population control. Another key requirement, said Murthy, was the need to overcome the “backlash of our colonisation”. He said that the country should and has to open its minds to learning from other cultures and societies rather than feel insecure about them.

“There can be no Silicon Valley without English instruction,” said Murthy, arguing for a rapid growth in English medium schools without any interference from the state.

Calling for an “unfettered private sector entry” into primary and college education, except at the policy level, Murthy also suggested creation of an Education Development Finance Corporation (EDFC) to financially support deserving students.

Demanding that the top leadership in the country articulate and take cognizance of the potential of knowledge industries, Murthy said,“As long as we send conflicting, weak messages and as long as our embassies act as friction-creators instead of ambassadors”, knowledge industries couldn’t be harnessed.

Murthy also stressed on encouraging industry-university collaborations, technology transfer programmes, drastic revamp of higher education, smoother regulations and mechanisms to protect patents and Intellectual Property Rights. Among those who echoed his views were Pradman Kaul, Chairman and COO, Hughes Network Systems, USA; Rajendra Pawar, chairman, NIIT; T Venkatesan, chairman Neuocera Inc, Maryland; Ramani Varanasi, business executive, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, USA; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman Biocon and Swati Piramal, director and chief scientific officer Nicholas Piramal.

After the infotech boom, Piramal said, the biggest players to churn out the next Infosys would prove to be in the life sciences, biotechnology and pharmacy. “By 2005, at least at least 50 Indian companies in life sciences will be listed on the NASDAQ,” said Piramal.