Bill Gates visits slum in India as part of his foundation’s social initiatives

Microsoft co-founder visited a slum in Bhubaneswar in Odisha state and interacted with members of women’s self-help groups that work there

• Shajil Kumar
• 28 February, 2024

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By: Shajil Kumar

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Wednesday (28) visited a slum in Bhubaneswar in Odisha state and interacted with the residents.

He visited the Biju Adarsh Colony in the Maa Mangla Basti along with state government officials.

Gates also interacted with members of women’s self-help groups that work for the upliftment of slum dwellers.

The trip is a part of his ongoing visit to India to check the progress of various social initiatives, of which his non-profit organisation – Gates Foundation – is also a partner.

State Development Commissioner Anu Garg said, “We have shown him that the slum dwellers have got land rights, tap water connections, toilets and power supply. He expressed happiness over the transformation of the slum area into a model colony.”

A resident of the colony said that the philanthropist interacted with them and asked about the changes in their lifestyle as a result of the schemes.

Gates is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and engage with various stakeholders during his trip, where he will hold discussions on how India’s innovations can reach people who need them.

Visits Microsoft centre

Later in the day, Gates visited Microsoft’s India Development Centre (IDC) in Hyderabad, the company said.

The centre is celebrating its 25th year of research, engineering, and development.

It had played a vital role in shaping world-class products such as Azure, Windows, Office, Bing, Copilot, and other AI applications, the company said in a note.

Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director, Microsoft IDC, said that Gates addressed the employees and exuded optimism over the opportunity for an AI-powered India

Gates and his former wife Melinda will attend Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding event in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.

The event will take place at Ambani’s Jamnagar residence from March 1 to 3. The other guests include Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and Ivanka Trump.