Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Majumdar Shaw today blasted the country’s politicians for being ‘‘parochial and insular’’ while questioning the logic behind such moves as the proposed name-change for Bangalore—a city where the quality of infrastructure has nose-dived over the last few years.This, after the tussle between Infosys chief N R Narayana Murthy and the state government leading to the former’s stepping down the chairmanship of rom Bangalore International Airport Limited.‘‘Politicians in India focus on small and meaningless changes,’’ said Shaw, alluding to Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh’s efforts to change Bangalore’s name to Bangaluru. ‘‘It’s time we asked our politicians whether changing the name of a city or town achieves any objective. Does it improve economic status? Will it generate more jobs? Will it develop better infrastructure? If these cannot be guaranteed, we should not allow such meaningless changes,’’ she said.Receiving the Technology Change Agent award, instituted by Infosys Technologies and the Wharton School, India’s richest businesswoman said the Indian public should demand transformational change as it is key to a role in the global economy.‘‘As a country, India needs to effect large scale changes in the way we operate our businesses and develop our infrastructure,’’ she said. ‘‘We need to bring about accountability and responsibility, not only in our private and public spheres but in the way we address development in the context of larger global issues.‘‘Public-private partnerships are a very important part of transformation,’’ Shaw said. ‘‘We’ve seen how effective this model is in Bangalore. The city is (now) challenged by political and bureaucratic antipathy. It pains me to see that our political leadership is not focussing on transformation.”
