Gates in Bihar on charity work

Software billionaire Bill Gates and his wife Melinda who co-chair their international philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation arrived here on a day-long visit on Wednesday to meet Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, policy makers, NGOs and community leaders and interacted with villagers.

Software billionaire Bill Gates and his wife Melinda who co-chair their international philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation arrived here on a day-long visit on Wednesday to meet Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, policy makers, NGOs and community leaders and interacted with villagers. Soon after arrival, Bill and Melinda visited Jamsaut and Sabjpura villages in the Danapur sub-division near Patna.

HT Image

Talking to newspersons after meeting villagers, Bill Gates said he was here to know how the health projects funded by his foundation were working for people.

"I am here to know about how far health projects funded by the foundation in partnership with the Bihar government are working to reduce infant and maternal mortality. Besides, (the progress in) institutional delivery and immunisation," he said.

"Along with their delegation, they met local villagers and interacted with them to understand their problems," said a district official.

Bill Gates also visited Sabjpura-based Cereal Systems Initiatives for South Asia(CSISA), which aims to help millions of Indian farmers substantially boost crop yield and their income within 10 years. "They spent nearly an hour at CSISA to see and understand the project," the official said.

They met health workers and state officials to see the launch of a five-year, $80 million grant made in partnership with the state government.

Last May, Bill Gates and his wife visited poverty-stricken Gularia village and Tertariya village in the state.