Bill Gates presents India four-point mantra
Holding that "a lot of amazing and fantastic things" had happened in India in the last three years, Microsoft boss Bill Gates today presented a four-point mantra to enable the country consolidate its place in the global arena.
"India has a huge role to play on the world stage. For this, you need to focus on four key areas: literacy, productivity, digital inclusion and innovation," he told a packed audience comprising corporate honchos, industrialists, bureaucrats, service officers and a cross section of society while speaking here on the topic, "Realising India's Potential".
"The human resources here are really fantastic. Given the opportunity at a young age to pursue their curiosity, to reach out, to start businesses, the possibilities are limitless," Gates observed.
"But, for that to happen, traditional ideas of literacy are no longer enough. With the computer more than just a tool for IT applications but for an entire range of activities, you have to train your human resources in this direction.
"Yesterday, I was with my wife in a slum. I looked around and asked why there were no computers. After all, there was electricity so why can't you teach those children simple computer skills and let them progress up the ladder?" Gates asked.
Since India was the "leader" in the IT-enabled services sector, Gates said the productivity curve "will just get better and better and better".
"Here's your chance to create unique intellectual property, like has been done in the pharma sector, in other areas too," he added.
Explaining his theory of digital inclusion, Gates said by this he meant the "pervasive availability" of computers as "navigators of knowledge".
"Linked to this is the need to ensure the availability of operating systems and voice operated software in as many Indian languages as possible to ensure maximum penetration," he contended.
By innovation, Gates said, he meant the ability to operate in different environments.
"In the beginning, it was your engineers who went to the US to enable the IT industry develop. Now the flow is in the reverse direction with these engineers translating the benefits of their knowledge back home.
"It came as a surprise to me when I learnt that a number of Indian entrepreneurs had started ventures in China to take advantage of emerging markets. Now that's what I call innovation."
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