Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will lead a delegation of the foundation to India from November 11 to 14. During his visit, Gates, chairman of software company Microsoft Corporation, will announce a long-term, strategic commitment to support India's effort to arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS. Gates spoke to India Today New York Chief of Bureau Anil Padmanabhan at the foundation's office in Seattle about his visit and his philanthropy. Excerpts from the interview:

Q . What motivated you to take up philanthropy?
A. My work with Microsoft has generated significant wealth. This should go back to the world in a way that it can improve people's lives as much as possible. As I thought about that, I learned about health conditions in the world and brought experts into the foundation. We are now helping with health problems in developing countries. I do philanthropy because I think it is a responsibility of somebody who is as successful as I am. And when I got into it, I found it very exciting. It has given me a chance to help India, a special country for Microsoft. So many of our employees come from India. It is the only other country where we have a major developmental centre.

Q. Is that why you picked India?
A. Well, the foundation is doing a special programme in India to prevent aids from becoming widespread. We do have activities in Africa. We focus on health issues for all developing countries, a lot of which is by funding research that is global in nature, be it better medicines for tuberculosis or malaria. We have been a major funder of the polio elimination campaign that is in its final stages. On my last trip to India, I had a chance to visit a polio immunisation clinic, where I personally administered the vaccine. In India because the government is interested and the partners are interested, we think we can make it a model for preventing the spread of the disease.

Q. What do you think of other business philanthropists?
A. The more philanthropy the better, but education and health are the two most important. I get a chance to talk to other successful people in philanthropy. I think it is a tradition that instead of passing the wealth to your children, you give it back to the world. Not all people believe that, but I do.

Q. Do your acts of philanthropy differ from what others do?
A. The foundation that I have created is the largest in the world and so it needs to take on some tough programmes. It needs to be very ambitious, and the problems of world health are very challenging. Much research has not gone into the diseases in the world at large. The difficulties of the conditions of the developing countries are ignored. So I have taken that on. Most give their money back to the country they grew up in so a lot of philanthropy is from a rich country to a rich country. I applaud philanthropists particularly for taking a global view of the world's problems.

Q. What is the extent of your personal involvement in the foundation, beyond being the provider of a $24 billion corpus?
A. I have three big things in my life: Microsoft to which I am committed, my family-I have a six-week-old child, our third-and I have my foundation. I am lucky that experts like Helene Gayle and Richard Klausner have joined and I love to brainstorm with them about new approaches to health problems, getting smart solutions using resources world-wide. I think there is much to be said for somebody who gives money and applies intelligence and understanding to how that money is given instead of waiting till he dies then people with less experience decide how the money is spent.

Q. You are quoted as saying this is not "cheque book" philanthropy. What do you mean by that?
A. Our interest is the outcome. Take aids in India. We have to put a lot of thought into the work with the partners to prevent the disease from becoming widespread. So while there is a large amount of money, the key to our foundation is the large number of smart people that have come into it and formed these partnerships.

Q. How do you reconcile the two images you have of the tough, hard-nosed businessman of Microsoft and the giver and philanthropist of the foundation?
A. I don't know. I don't consider myself hard-nosed in any of my roles. I believe in the magic of the software I create to empower people and let them communicate. Both Microsoft and the foundation are dedicated to improving people's lives-Microsoft through software and the foundation by focusing on health problems. Microsoft makes profit, but it is more complex to measure success in the foundation's work. The skills of how you organise smart people and get the message out really make the difference. My Microsoft experience helps to make it a smart foundation that gets results quickly through partnerships.

Q. What is the long-term role for the foundation in India?
A. I think India has a huge role to play in health, in tackling its own health problems and also in creation of a pharmaceutical industry there. Having great science in a country where you also have the medical problems similar to those in other developing countries is a great thing. I think the aids partnership and the vaccine partnership we have are just the beginning of India improving its own health and being a source of understanding for all developing countries. I am optimistic about India's continued role in the software industry, and that its role in medicine will continue to grow. That's why it is important to make sure aids does not become widespread and block these wonderful things that are happening in India.

REACHING OUT: Melinda Gates on her visit to India

THE GATES FOUNDATION
Lightening India's Burden

Seattle is home to some of the best corporate icons in the US, including Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, even the online star, Amazon. But now this beautiful city, flanked on one side by the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and on the other by the Pacific Ocean, also houses the richest charity-the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a corpus of a staggering $24 billion (Rs 1,15,200 crore). Created in 1999 with the merging of two fledgling charities for health care and education promoted by the family, the foundation from the very beginning has maintained an arm's length from Microsoft Corporation-Bill Gate's business venture.

In its three years, the foundation has already set upon the ambitious objective of tackling health pandemics in developing countries. Of the nearly $5.5 billion in grant commitments that have been made so far, $2.8 billion is allocated to target health problems. And in this global perspective, India, with its hitherto reluctantly acknowledged health crisis brought about by the rapid spread of aids, has assumed centrestage in the philanthropy plans of Chairman Gates.

The billionaire programmer believes that the aids epidemic, if unchecked, would thwart India's potential. At the same time, he is convinced that with a determined thrust this can be checked and the emerging model can then be emulated in other developing countries. Where others see hopelessness, red tape and poverty, Gates sees opportunity. As he has systematically charted a special path for Microsoft, Gates is striving to do the same with philanthropy.His forthcoming visit to India underlines this effort. Here, the foundation will announce a long-term, strategic commitment to support the country's efforts to check the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Indian government reports say about four million people in the country have tested positive for HIV, and the numbers could rise to 20-25 million by 2010.

Gates will also visit Andhra Pradesh where the foundation has made a $25 million grant to a joint project between the Children's Vaccine Programme at Programme for Appropriate Technologies in Health and the state Government to introduce Hepatitis B vaccine and to strengthen the infant immunisation scheme.

- Anil Padmanabhan

Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will lead a delegation of the foundation to India from November 11 to 14. During his visit, Gates, chairman of software company Microsoft Corporation, will announce a long-term, strategic commitment to support India's effort to arrest the spread of HIV/AIDS. Gates spoke to India Today New York Chief of Bureau Anil Padmanabhan at the foundation's office in Seattle about his visit and his philanthropy. Excerpts from the interview:

Q . What motivated you to take up philanthropy?
A. My work with Microsoft has generated significant wealth. This should go back to the world in a way that it can improve people's lives as much as possible. As I thought about that, I learned about health conditions in the world and brought experts into the foundation. We are now helping with health problems in developing countries. I do philanthropy because I think it is a responsibility of somebody who is as successful as I am. And when I got into it, I found it very exciting. It has given me a chance to help India, a special country for Microsoft. So many of our employees come from India. It is the only other country where we have a major developmental centre.

Q. Is that why you picked India?
A. Well, the foundation is doing a special programme in India to prevent aids from becoming widespread. We do have activities in Africa. We focus on health issues for all developing countries, a lot of which is by funding research that is global in nature, be it better medicines for tuberculosis or malaria. We have been a major funder of the polio elimination campaign that is in its final stages. On my last trip to India, I had a chance to visit a polio immunisation clinic, where I personally administered the vaccine. In India because the government is interested and the partners are interested, we think we can make it a model for preventing the spread of the disease.

Q. What do you think of other business philanthropists?
A. The more philanthropy the better, but education and health are the two most important. I get a chance to talk to other successful people in philanthropy. I think it is a tradition that instead of passing the wealth to your children, you give it back to the world. Not all people believe that, but I do.

Q. Do your acts of philanthropy differ from what others do?
A. The foundation that I have created is the largest in the world and so it needs to take on some tough programmes. It needs to be very ambitious, and the problems of world health are very challenging. Much research has not gone into the diseases in the world at large. The difficulties of the conditions of the developing countries are ignored. So I have taken that on. Most give their money back to the country they grew up in so a lot of philanthropy is from a rich country to a rich country. I applaud philanthropists particularly for taking a global view of the world's problems.

Q. What is the extent of your personal involvement in the foundation, beyond being the provider of a $24 billion corpus?
A. I have three big things in my life: Microsoft to which I am committed, my family-I have a six-week-old child, our third-and I have my foundation. I am lucky that experts like Helene Gayle and Richard Klausner have joined and I love to brainstorm with them about new approaches to health problems, getting smart solutions using resources world-wide. I think there is much to be said for somebody who gives money and applies intelligence and understanding to how that money is given instead of waiting till he dies then people with less experience decide how the money is spent.

Q. You are quoted as saying this is not "cheque book" philanthropy. What do you mean by that?
A. Our interest is the outcome. Take aids in India. We have to put a lot of thought into the work with the partners to prevent the disease from becoming widespread. So while there is a large amount of money, the key to our foundation is the large number of smart people that have come into it and formed these partnerships.

Q. How do you reconcile the two images you have of the tough, hard-nosed businessman of Microsoft and the giver and philanthropist of the foundation?
A. I don't know. I don't consider myself hard-nosed in any of my roles. I believe in the magic of the software I create to empower people and let them communicate. Both Microsoft and the foundation are dedicated to improving people's lives-Microsoft through software and the foundation by focusing on health problems. Microsoft makes profit, but it is more complex to measure success in the foundation's work. The skills of how you organise smart people and get the message out really make the difference. My Microsoft experience helps to make it a smart foundation that gets results quickly through partnerships.

Q. What is the long-term role for the foundation in India?
A. I think India has a huge role to play in health, in tackling its own health problems and also in creation of a pharmaceutical industry there. Having great science in a country where you also have the medical problems similar to those in other developing countries is a great thing. I think the aids partnership and the vaccine partnership we have are just the beginning of India improving its own health and being a source of understanding for all developing countries. I am optimistic about India's continued role in the software industry, and that its role in medicine will continue to grow. That's why it is important to make sure aids does not become widespread and block these wonderful things that are happening in India.

REACHING OUT: Melinda Gates on her visit to India

THE GATES FOUNDATION
Lightening India's Burden

Seattle is home to some of the best corporate icons in the US, including Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, even the online star, Amazon. But now this beautiful city, flanked on one side by the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and on the other by the Pacific Ocean, also houses the richest charity-the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a corpus of a staggering $24 billion (Rs 1,15,200 crore). Created in 1999 with the merging of two fledgling charities for health care and education promoted by the family, the foundation from the very beginning has maintained an arm's length from Microsoft Corporation-Bill Gate's business venture.

In its three years, the foundation has already set upon the ambitious objective of tackling health pandemics in developing countries. Of the nearly $5.5 billion in grant commitments that have been made so far, $2.8 billion is allocated to target health problems. And in this global perspective, India, with its hitherto reluctantly acknowledged health crisis brought about by the rapid spread of aids, has assumed centrestage in the philanthropy plans of Chairman Gates.

The billionaire programmer believes that the aids epidemic, if unchecked, would thwart India's potential. At the same time, he is convinced that with a determined thrust this can be checked and the emerging model can then be emulated in other developing countries. Where others see hopelessness, red tape and poverty, Gates sees opportunity. As he has systematically charted a special path for Microsoft, Gates is striving to do the same with philanthropy.His forthcoming visit to India underlines this effort. Here, the foundation will announce a long-term, strategic commitment to support the country's efforts to check the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Indian government reports say about four million people in the country have tested positive for HIV, and the numbers could rise to 20-25 million by 2010.

Gates will also visit Andhra Pradesh where the foundation has made a $25 million grant to a joint project between the Children's Vaccine Programme at Programme for Appropriate Technologies in Health and the state Government to introduce Hepatitis B vaccine and to strengthen the infant immunisation scheme.

- Anil Padmanabhan