interview of bill gates on TOI
Old news. . . .
This topic was started by kyro,
There i a nice interview of bill-gates on TimesofIndia.com. here is a snip:-
"SEATTLE: William Gates Jr is best known as the world's richest man and co-founder of the tech giant Microsoft. Less well known his concern lately for health care in developing countries, especially India.
Starting November 11, Gates returns to India on his third visit, focused mostly on his latest cause. In an exclusive interview with The Times of India's Foreign Editor Chidanand Rajghatta in Seattle this Tuesday, Gates, a day after his 47th birthday, speaks with passion and intensity about why he believes in working for India's health. Excerpts:
What is the origin of your concern for health in developing countries?
Bill Gates: Sometime back I was stunned to realise that 90 per cent of the health sector money was spent on ten per cent of the diseases afflicting rich countries. And only ten per cent of the money spent was spent on 90 percent of the problem in developing countries. There was marked failure of resource spending to improve human condition. We also realised that a modest amount of resources in areas like children's vaccination etc can have a dramatic impact. And as you improve health, you improve the population and free up resources for other things like nutrition, education, etc. Once I chose that my resources were going to go back and help the world I had to pick something and I picked health. And I must say we've been able to energise things and raise visibility there.
And why India?
Bill Gates: Several reasons. India has contributed an amazing amount to the software industry as a whole and to Microsoft in particular. A high per cent of our great people come from India, a lot of our key partners are based in India, so there is a desire to give back because of that. India is also at a very early stage in the AIDS epidemic, so that if the right things are done now, we can prevent it become widespread.
We have a situation where India has the medical problems of a developing country but it also has the best science capabilities to study the diseases and create drugs to combat them. So we want to encourage both prevention activity and the science work (in India) and make what we are doing in Aids prevention a model for the world. If the prevention folks do the right things over the next ten years and the science community in India advance in vaccines or other approach, then we can make sure not only India does not have the disease but the epidemic can be stopped world wide.
How important is Indian human capital and intellectual resource for Microsoft? Does that account for your concern for Indian health?
Bill Gates: Yes, my benefit and that of Microsoft from our great Indian employees is part of the reason why I am so excited to be in partnership with these groups in India helping them with what is a problem that has to be solved. But no matter whether I have this Indian connection or not, I would still be involved in India. India is a super super important country for the world... for the software industry and for Microsoft yes, but also for other reasons. It's a billion people. Between India and China they form a third of the world's population.
If India and China do the right things that would be such an amazing thing for the entire world. That makes it a sum of higher priority. Now I know a bit more of the country. I talk to these people and talk to our partners in India to make sure we are not being naïve about how we are going about things.
Two years back I worked on a book on India's info-tech journey and found a lot of top folks at Microsoft were from India.
Bill Gates: There are even more today than when you did your book...
Is that right?
Bill Gates:Yes, our employees from India are making stronger and stronger contributions, and it's quite amazing.
The urban myth is that 32 per cent of Micrsoft employees are of Indian-origin, but that seems a stretch.
Bill Gates: Yes, that's too much. But if you took just our engineering departments then it's about 20 per cent.
That's still huge.
Bill Gates:Yes, that's huge and that's just the engineering department. It's a good-sized community. Hey, they even have a cricket community. But I will say the Indian restaurants in Seattle could be better. But we are working on that.
How do you view the minimalist foreign aid spending by the US administration when it is ready to spend $100 billion for a war against Iraq. US foreign aid to India is a mere $150 million.
Bill Gates: But $150 million is a lot.
Not when you look at it per capita it's not...
Bill Gates: That's true. But if you look at giving by any country to any other country, it is quite a lot. The reality of help is that by and large most countries are largely dependant on their own resources. I'm very pro-US doing more on foreign aid. In Washington we are as effective as we can be. Even so for the amount the US is giving they deserve some credit. It is not enough to solve the problem though. It is going to take the foundation coming in, the government of India spending more, and people who are successful in India and those Indians outside India... we'd like to draw them in as well.
It's just that Bill Gates and Ted Turner seem more concerned about these issues now than people in Washington. After all human resources are as important to the United States as it is to your business...
Bill Gates: I've been very lucky to have the resources I have and I'm committed to give those back. Rich countries do give foreign aid. Is it enough? Should they do more? I always encourage them to do more. But we have to plan in terms of India achieving its full potential on its own. We have to plan assuming foreign aid not going up dramatically. The cost of prevention at this stage versus the cost of treating people later on is so dramatically different. That's why we have to highlight the cause now.
India is a wretchedly poor country with some fabulously rich people. What message do you have for them from the philanthropic angle? Are there things Indian companies can do?
Bill Gates: I talk with (Narayan) Murthy and (Azim) Premji and I am impressed they believe in philanthropy. Both have involved their wives and are picking causes. I enjoy talking to them about these things and they will be good models for others. The importance of the rich giving back is becoming greater and greater on a global basis and I hope that a strong tradition of that is developing in India as well and I will do my small part to encourage that, The U.S has more philanthropy than any other country but we still don't have as much as we should have.
What is your stand on the issue of patents and Intellectual Property Rights, especially since it is so central to the AIDS issue. Can protecting IPR be more important than saving lives?
Bill Gates: It's a fairly complex issue. There are two clear principles: one is that in a health emergency like AIDS, poor people should get drugs at the cost to make them and profit should not stand in way of that. But we have to do that in a way that still preserves the incentives for the invention of new drugs.
Whether those are incentives for companies in India that are growing up and need to sell their products to fund their R&D or for the drug companies that exist in the rich world, both issues are important to the foundation. We need new drugs. Even if the all the existing drugs were free it would not solve all the health problems. We need many new drugs and many new vaccines. Fortunately I think the dialogue about how IPR rules can achieve can these two goals is getting better, it is less polarised.
You are big on investing in biotech. Is that something you would look at in India? And is the foundation looking at Indian and indigenous systems of medicines?
Bill Gates: Our partners in India are interested in any medicine no matter where they come from. I have no particular knowledge in indigenous medicine. I also don't spend time on investment. I have a person who manages investment for me. And I think he does have some biotech investments. No part of my thinking is on investment. My focus is my family, my foundation and Microsoft. I will spend my time on health challenges and software partnerships in India.
Will you be looking at some Microsoft-related work in India?
Bill Gates: I am packing a lot in wearing two hats. I'm seeing Naidu, first on health and same day to discuss Microsoft and software. I'm also going to Bangalore. "
for the TOI page go here:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll...?artid=26858878
"SEATTLE: William Gates Jr is best known as the world's richest man and co-founder of the tech giant Microsoft. Less well known his concern lately for health care in developing countries, especially India.
Starting November 11, Gates returns to India on his third visit, focused mostly on his latest cause. In an exclusive interview with The Times of India's Foreign Editor Chidanand Rajghatta in Seattle this Tuesday, Gates, a day after his 47th birthday, speaks with passion and intensity about why he believes in working for India's health. Excerpts:
What is the origin of your concern for health in developing countries?
Bill Gates: Sometime back I was stunned to realise that 90 per cent of the health sector money was spent on ten per cent of the diseases afflicting rich countries. And only ten per cent of the money spent was spent on 90 percent of the problem in developing countries. There was marked failure of resource spending to improve human condition. We also realised that a modest amount of resources in areas like children's vaccination etc can have a dramatic impact. And as you improve health, you improve the population and free up resources for other things like nutrition, education, etc. Once I chose that my resources were going to go back and help the world I had to pick something and I picked health. And I must say we've been able to energise things and raise visibility there.
And why India?
Bill Gates: Several reasons. India has contributed an amazing amount to the software industry as a whole and to Microsoft in particular. A high per cent of our great people come from India, a lot of our key partners are based in India, so there is a desire to give back because of that. India is also at a very early stage in the AIDS epidemic, so that if the right things are done now, we can prevent it become widespread.
We have a situation where India has the medical problems of a developing country but it also has the best science capabilities to study the diseases and create drugs to combat them. So we want to encourage both prevention activity and the science work (in India) and make what we are doing in Aids prevention a model for the world. If the prevention folks do the right things over the next ten years and the science community in India advance in vaccines or other approach, then we can make sure not only India does not have the disease but the epidemic can be stopped world wide.
How important is Indian human capital and intellectual resource for Microsoft? Does that account for your concern for Indian health?
Bill Gates: Yes, my benefit and that of Microsoft from our great Indian employees is part of the reason why I am so excited to be in partnership with these groups in India helping them with what is a problem that has to be solved. But no matter whether I have this Indian connection or not, I would still be involved in India. India is a super super important country for the world... for the software industry and for Microsoft yes, but also for other reasons. It's a billion people. Between India and China they form a third of the world's population.
If India and China do the right things that would be such an amazing thing for the entire world. That makes it a sum of higher priority. Now I know a bit more of the country. I talk to these people and talk to our partners in India to make sure we are not being naïve about how we are going about things.
Two years back I worked on a book on India's info-tech journey and found a lot of top folks at Microsoft were from India.
Bill Gates: There are even more today than when you did your book...
Is that right?
Bill Gates:Yes, our employees from India are making stronger and stronger contributions, and it's quite amazing.
The urban myth is that 32 per cent of Micrsoft employees are of Indian-origin, but that seems a stretch.
Bill Gates: Yes, that's too much. But if you took just our engineering departments then it's about 20 per cent.
That's still huge.
Bill Gates:Yes, that's huge and that's just the engineering department. It's a good-sized community. Hey, they even have a cricket community. But I will say the Indian restaurants in Seattle could be better. But we are working on that.
How do you view the minimalist foreign aid spending by the US administration when it is ready to spend $100 billion for a war against Iraq. US foreign aid to India is a mere $150 million.
Bill Gates: But $150 million is a lot.
Not when you look at it per capita it's not...
Bill Gates: That's true. But if you look at giving by any country to any other country, it is quite a lot. The reality of help is that by and large most countries are largely dependant on their own resources. I'm very pro-US doing more on foreign aid. In Washington we are as effective as we can be. Even so for the amount the US is giving they deserve some credit. It is not enough to solve the problem though. It is going to take the foundation coming in, the government of India spending more, and people who are successful in India and those Indians outside India... we'd like to draw them in as well.
It's just that Bill Gates and Ted Turner seem more concerned about these issues now than people in Washington. After all human resources are as important to the United States as it is to your business...
Bill Gates: I've been very lucky to have the resources I have and I'm committed to give those back. Rich countries do give foreign aid. Is it enough? Should they do more? I always encourage them to do more. But we have to plan in terms of India achieving its full potential on its own. We have to plan assuming foreign aid not going up dramatically. The cost of prevention at this stage versus the cost of treating people later on is so dramatically different. That's why we have to highlight the cause now.
India is a wretchedly poor country with some fabulously rich people. What message do you have for them from the philanthropic angle? Are there things Indian companies can do?
Bill Gates: I talk with (Narayan) Murthy and (Azim) Premji and I am impressed they believe in philanthropy. Both have involved their wives and are picking causes. I enjoy talking to them about these things and they will be good models for others. The importance of the rich giving back is becoming greater and greater on a global basis and I hope that a strong tradition of that is developing in India as well and I will do my small part to encourage that, The U.S has more philanthropy than any other country but we still don't have as much as we should have.
What is your stand on the issue of patents and Intellectual Property Rights, especially since it is so central to the AIDS issue. Can protecting IPR be more important than saving lives?
Bill Gates: It's a fairly complex issue. There are two clear principles: one is that in a health emergency like AIDS, poor people should get drugs at the cost to make them and profit should not stand in way of that. But we have to do that in a way that still preserves the incentives for the invention of new drugs.
Whether those are incentives for companies in India that are growing up and need to sell their products to fund their R&D or for the drug companies that exist in the rich world, both issues are important to the foundation. We need new drugs. Even if the all the existing drugs were free it would not solve all the health problems. We need many new drugs and many new vaccines. Fortunately I think the dialogue about how IPR rules can achieve can these two goals is getting better, it is less polarised.
You are big on investing in biotech. Is that something you would look at in India? And is the foundation looking at Indian and indigenous systems of medicines?
Bill Gates: Our partners in India are interested in any medicine no matter where they come from. I have no particular knowledge in indigenous medicine. I also don't spend time on investment. I have a person who manages investment for me. And I think he does have some biotech investments. No part of my thinking is on investment. My focus is my family, my foundation and Microsoft. I will spend my time on health challenges and software partnerships in India.
Will you be looking at some Microsoft-related work in India?
Bill Gates: I am packing a lot in wearing two hats. I'm seeing Naidu, first on health and same day to discuss Microsoft and software. I'm also going to Bangalore. "
for the TOI page go here:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll...?artid=26858878
Participate on our website and join the conversation
This topic is archived. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast.
