The founder of one of the tech’s worst (security, fair competitiveness, you name it) offenders, Microsoft, the lover of vaccine and agricultural experiments in “the third world” and, who by now dares doubt it, a consummate “philanthropist” – one Bill Gates – has announced that he has “found inspiration in India.”
With some justified trepidation, you might now hesitate to ask – inspiration to do what, exactly?
There seems to have been a meeting of the minds during the recent visit of Gates to India. There was an encounter with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, specifically about the way the world’s “biggest democracy” (by population) goes about implementing digital public infrastructure (DPI).
It is a term that in alarming unison crops up in various UN, EU, and associated groups’ policies and statements – a buzzword that denotes the plan to introduce digital ID and digital payments literally wherever on Earth possible, by 2030.
One of India’s key DPI components is called Aadhaar, a digital ID system, and while in the country, Gates didn’t miss the opportunity to also meet with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who is a co-creator of India’s massively controversial Aadhaar system.
The overall takeaways (and reason for “inspiration”) appear to be India’s DPI progress, assessed as a “model,” for others not only to learn from – but something they are already learning from; and two DPI goals seem set to continue to be supported by the Gates Foundation.
At least that’s what Gates shared on his blog, adding that in addition to Modi and Nilekani, several other officials and scientists found the time of the day to talk to him.
Gates says that “other than the US” India is where his Foundation works (critics would say, meddle) the most – although that’s a much greater harmful, or beneficial impact overall – given India’s estimated 1.4 billion people as opposed to 330 million in the US.
After he had tea and saw paved roads and other “wonders,” Gates got to what he was likely there for:
“I got to see India’s DPI in action when I toured an agricultural monitoring center in Bhubaneswar. At this facility, government agriculture experts send advice and real-time updates to 6.5 million farmers via phone. Since this center opened, local farmers are losing 90 percent less of their crops to pests than they used to.”
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