In September 2019, Bill Gates gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India a prize in the name of his philanthropic organization, The Gates Foundation, for the work of the Indian leader on the improvement of sanitation.
A tumult followed.
Three winners of the Nobel Peace Prize wrote to Mr. Gates, arguing that Mr. Modi, who received the prize on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, did not deserve recognition because democratic and human rights were eroded during his reign. “This is particularly disturbing to us, because the declared mission of your foundation is to preserve life and to fight against inequalities,” wrote the winners.
The indignation did not do much to dissuade Mr. Gates and Mr. Modi, who have developed an unusually warm and very publicized relationship in the last decade.
They met several times and Mr. Gates was only complementary to Mr. Modi. Last year, just before a national election, Mr. Gates sat with the Prime Minister for an extended television exchange that Mr. Modi used to sunbathe his image as a technology experienced.
The relationship between Mr. Gates and Mr. Modi, according to observers, former employees of the Foundation and criticism, has advantages for the two men. Mr. Gates is to visit India in the coming week, its third visit in three years, and will meet government leaders and others to discuss India’s innovations and progress.
“This trip will give me a chance to see what is working, what is changing and what is the next one – for India and the Foundation,” wrote Mr. Gates on Gatesnotes, his personal blog.
India is at the heart of Mr. Gates’s philanthropic work, which makes it essential for the Gates Foundation to remain on the right side of a government which has repressed the organizations supported by foreign donors. With the large number of Indians in disastrous poverty, global development goals cannot be achieved without progress in India.
Continuous access to the Gates Foundation in India has become all the more important since President Trump has removed the United States from the World Health Organization and emptied the American agency for international development. WHO, which supports a range of public health programs in India, faces budget cuts after the United States. The Gates Foundation, a giant of global public health and development, is among the best WHO donors
For Mr. Modi, an approval from Mr. Gates – the very face of the era of the computer to many Indians – is a means of connecting the technological heritage of the Gates to the digital economy defended by the Modi government, a pillar of its “India developed” policy.
Mr. Modi’s desire to personally exploit growth technology resonated with Mr. Gates, given his deep belief in the power of innovation for progress, according to articles that he wrote on notes of GATS and two former employees with a direct overview of the activities of the Foundation in India. They spoke subject to anonymity to avoid endangering professional relations.
The representatives of the Gates Foundation and Gates Ventures, the private philanthropist office, did not respond to requests for comments. A spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had no immediate comments.
Mr. Gates has enough company in the adoption of Mr. Modi, with political and commercial leaders through the West of the courtification of India as increasing geopolitical and economic power. In doing so, many have closed their eyes to the Assault of the Modi government against the secular foundations of the country, its demonization of the Muslim minority of India and its silence of civil society.
Globally, Mr. Gates’s recognition draws attention to Mr. Modi for his development work rather than his Hindu nationalist policy. At the national level, the relationship has potential political advantages for Mr. Modi.
“The technological sections of the Indian middle class, they grew up with the doors like this emblematic figure,” said P. Sainath, an activist who is the founder and editor -in -chief of the popular archives of rural India, an independent digital media. “Being good with Bill Gates does not hurt your image with these courses.”
Cheerleader
The links of India with Mr. Gates and with Microsoft, the company he co -founded, was deeply common. Satya Nadella, Managing Director of Microsoft, is from India. In January, Mr. Nadella announced his intention to invest $ 3 billion in India, including in artificial intelligence, to help deepen Mr. Modi’s vision. Mr. Gates has visited India more than a dozen times during the decades, especially as Managing Director of Microsoft.
The Gates of Seattle Foundation, which was launched in 2000, opened its India office in 2003 and has invested more in the country than everywhere in the United States. This year, the foundation’s board of directors will meet in India when it celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The Foundation has teamed up with successive Indian governments, supporting public health initiatives, such as the eradication of polio. He also works in close collaboration with the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two populated and poor Indian states. Mr. Gates sat with the previous Indian Prime Ministers, including Mr. Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh. But conversations were generally focused closely on the work of the Foundation in India.
Mr. Gates struck with Mr. Modi at their first meeting in 2014, speaking twice as long as expected, according to a Gatesnots post. He said he was impressed by Mr. Modi because of their common accent on public health, in particular sanitation. The toilets were “on the agenda, as well as vaccines, bank accounts and health clinics”.
Outdoor defecation and waste management remain enormous challenges in India, a country of 1.4 billion people. The government of Mr. Modi launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), and by 2019, he said he built more than 100 million toilets. It was the work for which the Foundation gave it the price, drawing a reaction.
When Mr. Gates went to India in 2023, he said that his plate with Mr. Modi was the “highlight” of his visit and congratulated him on the country’s digital payment system. “The country shows what is possible when we invest in innovation,” he wrote on Gatesnotes.
Several people who know the affairs of the Foundation said that certain employees were annoyed by the embrace of Mr. Gates of Modi, arguing that the foundation could have pursued its objectives and aligned itself with the objectives of the government without Mr. Gates becoming a cheerleader for the Prime Minister.
Mr. Modi also praised Mr. Gates, saying that his government appreciated the expertise of the Foundation and his approach focused on data and evidence. In 2020, when they met practically during the pandemic, Mr. Modi encouraged The Foundation to “take the lead” in the analysis of health care and the necessary education changes in a post-comfortable world.
Last March, three weeks before an election in which Mr. Modi was looking for a third term, he invited Mr. Gates to his official residence To discuss the progress of the country in the use of technology to improve the life of the Indians.
The government had planned to broadcast all the meeting on national television, which reached more than 650 million people. But the electoral commission told the public broadcaster that it would give to what Modi’s party gives an unfair advantage, according to a report At the economic time, an Indian newspaper. In the end, only parties of Mr. Modi’s conversation with Mr. Gates were broadcast on television, although they were broadcast in full on the website of the Bharatiya Janata of Mr. Modi.
A spokesperson for the electoral commission said he had no information on the event. Rajiv Kumar, the chief election commissioner of the time, did not respond to requests for comments.
Tight membership on foreign donors
India has long relied on foreign donors to achieve its goals. Organizations like Amnesty International, Rotary International, La Croix-Rouge, Oxfam, USAID and Greenpeace, as well as various United Nations and private groups such as Ford, Rockefeller and Gates foundations, have funded a flourishing local community of non-governmental organizations or worked alongside them.
But as the Modi government has become more and more intolerant to any criticism or challenge, including abroad, the Indian laws that regulate the flow of funds of foreign donors in non -profit interior organizations have become more strict and have been applied more frequently.
A year after Mr. Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, the government launched a repression against foreign organizations, starting with Greenpeace. Many have started to reduce their activities or take measures to ensure that their agendas were aligned with the government’s objectives.
In 2017, the Indian government accused the public Health Foundation of India, one of the country’s largest non -profit groups of using funds and revoked a license allowing it to receive foreign contributions. The Gates Foundation was a great donor of the organization. The non -profit organization of health returned to its license in 2021.
The Gates Foundation has clearly indicated that its role is to help the Indian government achieve its objectives by providing expertise in priority fields, such as ensuring access to financial services for poor development and led by women, public health and climate change.
The Foundation was closely reached this message after the controversy on the price he gave to Mr. Modi.
At the time, the Foundation said that its price was closely focused on sanitation targets.
Shortly after, Mr. Gates encounter Mr. Modi in India. According to a government press release at the time, Mr. Gates strengthened the commitment of his foundation to support the objectives of the Indian government.
