Gates joins hands with IT ministry

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates today pledged $5 million aid for rural education and expressed willingness to join hands with the information technology ministry to undertake Media Labs India Project for developing software for media.

Gates, who arrived here for a day's visit last night, discussed his proposal for greater cooperation with India as part of his plans to make the country a focal point of his global IT initiatives during his 50-minute meeting with IT minister Pramod Mahajan.

"Mr Gates has shown keen interest in the Indian government's initiatives in taking IT to the masses," Mahajan told reporters after the meeting. "The meeting was very successful. He has pledged $5 million aid over the next five years in our rural education programme," he said.

Mahajan said he had briefed Gates on the rapid strides India has taken in the fields of IT, telecom and broadcasting, besides emphasising that India was one of the very few countries to have its cyber laws in place.

"I asked him to cooperate in both monetary as well as technical terms," Mahajan said, adding he discussed finance initiatives the government has taken including permitting 100 per cent foreign investment in all areas of IT as well as for all e-commerce activities, besides a 10-year tax holiday for software technology park units.

Yet another important point discussed during the closed-door meeting was development of software in languages other than English and Gates agreed to do so in Hindi to begin with, the minister said.

"If Microsoft is looking for opportunities in India, it must work in languages other than English. We have only about 50 million people who can understand English. More people can understand Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu," Mahajan said. The government has embarked on a massive education initiative, which involves total capital investment of about $200 million, with additional recurring cost of $90 million annually.

The operation involves doubling intake in IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) as well as the 43 Regional Engineering Colleges; upgrading the quality of 190 engineering institutes and setting up of a National Library System.

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