Microsoft founder Bill Gates has praised India’s progress in areas such as health, development and climate. Gates said the country is showing what is possible when investment is made in innovation.
Bill Gates, co-chairman of the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’, praised India for its ‘amazing ability to develop multiple safe, effective and affordable vaccines’. The Gates Foundation has helped develop many of these vaccines.
He said that these vaccines saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 global pandemic and prevented the spread of other diseases across the globe. Gates said that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India.
“At a time when the world is facing so many challenges, a visit to a dynamic and creative place like India inspires,” he said in an article. Gates said that he did not travel much in the last three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he remained in touch with Modi, especially on developing Covid vaccines and investing in India’s health systems.
He said that apart from producing new life-saving vaccines, India has also excelled in their distribution and its public health system has distributed over 2.2 billion doses of Covid vaccines. Gates said that India created an app called ‘Co-Win’, with the help of which people were given a fixed time for vaccination and digital certificates were issued to people after vaccination.
He said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that Co-Win is a role model for the world and I agree with him.” He said India made emergency digital payments to 300 million people, including 200 million women, during the pandemic. “This has only been possible because India has prioritized financial inclusion by investing in a digital ID system (called ‘Aadhaar’) and creating innovative platforms for digital banking,” Gates said. It is a reminder that financial inclusion is a great investment.
He praised the Gati Shakti program saying that it is a great example of how digital technology can help governments work better. Gates said that he discussed with Modi about India’s chairmanship of the G20 this year and said that the G20 presidency is a great opportunity to show how innovations developed in the country can benefit the world.
“Talks with the Prime Minister have made me even more optimistic about the progress India is making in health, development and climate,” he said. This country is showing what is possible when we invest in innovation. I hope India continues this progress and continues to share its innovations with the world.
