INCREDIBLE INDIA!

Bill Gates meets PM Modi, praises India for remarkable progress in crucial fields

Moni Sharma

New Delhi: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates met PM Narendra Modi on late Friday, where he praised India for making “remarkable progress” in crucial fields like health, development & climate change, and noted “incredibly innovative work” being done in country over past few years.

Talking about meeting in his official blog, Gates Notes, billionaire philanthropist said: “Country is showing what’s possible when we invest in innovation, at a time when the world has so many challenges, it is inspiring to visit dynamic and creative place like India.”

Uddhav Thackeray backs

Sibal’s Insaaf platform

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Shiv SenaUBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday came out in support of lawyer and MP Kapil Sibal’s newly-launched platform Insaaf.

Sibal is representing the Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray group in a case in the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who split the Shiv Sena last June and toppled the Thackeray-led government.

“Everyone who wants democracy to survive and thrive should stand firmly with Kapil Sibal in his new initiative,” the former CM said.

Sibal, an independent Rajya Sabha member, announced earlier in the day that he was setting up a new platform called Insaaf to fight “injustice” prevailing in the country, and sought support of the chief ministers and other leaders of opposition parties.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates calls on PM Narendra Modi on Friday.

AUSTRALIAN PM TO VISIT INDIA FROM MARCH 8-11, HOLD

Australian PM Anthony Albanese will visit India from March 8-11 to lock India-Australia ECTA deal and hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to catalyse the IndiaAustralia relationship, said MEA. This marks Albanese's first visit to India as PM. He will arrive in Ahmedabad on March 8, on the day of Holi, and also visit Mumbai on March 9 before heading to New Delhi on March 10-11. He will also call on President Droupadi Murmu.

Wonderful: Gates hails India

COVID JABS SAVED MILLIONS Gates praised India for its “amazing ability to manufacture lots of safe, effective, and affordable vaccines” and said they saved “millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic”. PM Modi believes that CoWIN is a model for the world, and I agree,” he added.

INNOVATIVE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Gates also admired Centre’s Gati Shakti, which digitally connects 16 ministries so they can “integrate their plans for infrastructure projects & accelerate work of Indian scientists, engineers”.

EXCELLENT INDIA’S G20 PRESIDENCY Gates said that this was an “excellent opportunity to highlight how innovations developed in India can benefit the world, and to help other countries adopt them.

PM MODI’S COMMENDABLE EFFORTS Gates commended PM Modi’s efforts to eliminate “deadly and debilitating diseases” like tuberculosis, visceral leishmaniasis, and lymphatic filariasis. “PM told me about a fascinating movement taking shape in India: Communities are ‘adopting’ TB patients to make sure they get the nutrition and care they need,” he wrote.

VISIT TO PUSA AGRICULTURE CENTRE Gates also wrote about his visit to India Council of Agricultural Research in Pusa, “where I learned about efforts to help farmers adapt to a warmer climate. “Millets are very nutritious — a super food, as PM put it—and are also water-efficient, heat tolerant. I even got to taste millet khichdi, a type of porridge.”