83 percent IT workers are burnt out, is the 70 hour work week actually killing people?

Narayana Murthy said young Indians should work 70 hours a week. L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan went even further and suggested 90 hours. And a lot of people defended them saying this is what built countries like China and Japan. But here is what nobody is talking about. A survey by Blind of 1,450 verified IT professionals in India found that 83 percent are experiencing burnout. 83 percent. That is not a small number. That is almost everyone. 72 percent routinely exceed the legal 48 hour workweek, and 1 in 4 are already clocking 70 hours or more. So this is not some hypothetical advice. People are already doing it and it is destroying them. 68 percent feel obligated to respond to work messages outside office hours. Your boss messages you at 11 PM on a Sunday and you feel you have to reply. When did this become normal? Over 50 percent of employees across all sectors experience burnout due to poor work life balance. The average Indian workweek is now almost 47 hours, longer than China, Singapore, and even Japan. Yes, you read that right. We work longer hours than the country famous for overwork culture. And what do we get for it? A young chartered accountant died allegedly due to work stress. That sparked national outrage but nothing really changed. Companies still expect you to be available 24/7. Managers still schedule meetings at 8 PM. HR still sends emails on weekends. The problem is that people like Murthy and Subrahmanyan built their careers in a different era. When they were young, there was no WhatsApp, no Slack, no email on phone. You went to office, worked your hours, and went home. Now work follows you everywhere. 70 hours in office plus 20 hours of responding to messages at home equals 90 hours of work. That is not a life, that is just existing to serve a company. And for what? Salaries have not kept up with inflation. The Economic Survey says real wage growth has been 0.4 percent in 10 years. You work twice as much and still cannot afford a house. The govt talks about demographic dividend but what is the point of having young workers if they are burnt out by 35? Countries like Japan and South Korea that Murthy admires are now facing population decline partly because of overwork culture. People do not have time to date, marry, or have kids. South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.72. Is that where India is heading? The govt needs to enforce the 48 hour workweek law that already exists. France and Australia have right to disconnect laws that let employees ignore work messages after hours. India needs something similar. Is the 70 hour work culture actually destroying Indian workers?