Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, accompanied by state government officials, paid a visit to a slum in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and interacted with the people living there.
The tech honcho visited the Biju Adarsh Colony in the Maa Mangla Basti and enquired about the well-being of the residents. He further interacted with the members of women’s self-help groups (SHGs) working there.
The State Development Commissioner, Anu Garg, highlighted the amenities provided to the slum dwellers, including land rights, tap water access, sanitation facilities and electricity. “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,” the news agency quoted Garg as saying.
The philanthropist also asked the slum residents about the changes in their lifestyle as a result of the welfare schemes. “He asked about how we were living earlier and our present status,” a slum resident said.
During his trip, Gates is scheduled to attend other functions including the ‘Mukta’ scheme (localised employment opportunities for the urban poor) and ‘Mission Shakti’.
Gates also visited the tech giant’s India Development Center (IDC) in Hyderabad and addressed some of India’s brightest engineering minds at the IDC, Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director, Microsoft IDC, and CVP, Experiences Devices India said as he shared Gates’ “optimism over the opportunity for an AI-powered India”.
Since 2017, Odisha government’s Department of Agriculture & Farmer Empowerment and the Fisheries and Animal Resource Department have collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for innovation in data-driven decision-making.
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