Bill ready to open gates for UID

Bill Gates, co-founder of global software giant Microsoft, today expressed a keen interest for becoming a partner in India’s unique ID programme. Speaking at ‘Transforming India through technology’, an event organised by software body Nasscom, Gates said he planned to take the issue forward when he met Nandan Nilekani, the newly-appointed chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Gates is on a tour of India, dividing time between philanthropic activities and Microsoft. He will also receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development tomorrow.

Speaking at a separate event here to commemorate the fifth year of establishing the Microsoft Research India facility (at Bangalore), Gates — who is a vocal critic of the US’ immigration policy — also threw his weight firmly behind allowing free flow of skilled talent to America. He said: “Immigration restrictions would be terrible for the US.”

Gates also pointed out that India faced a “shortage of home-grown Ph.Ds” — Indian universities are producing only 100 engineering doctorates annually and, so, students head abroad for destinations such as the US where, out of 1,500 engineering doctorates, 250 are grabbed by Indians.

Thus, he said, Microsoft will continue to expand investment in supporting research activities in India.

“We as a company recommend putting money into long-term research,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal admitted that India was lagging China both in terms of Gross (College) Enrollment Rate (GER) and the number of skilled doctorates produced annually.

While the GER for India is currently around 12 per cent, China averages 26 per cent. And the number of skilled doctorates produced in India between 1991 and 2001 has risen by 20 per cent, while the Chinese managed 80 per cent.

He pointed out that even at the end of the current plan period in 2012, India will be far behind China.

Sibal said an independent authority that provides “contours” of higher education policy and an accrediting agency for private colleges and universities is on the anvil.

Outlining a plan to set up 14 innovation universities through public-private partnerships across the country, he invited Microsoft to take a stake in one such campus.

Gates did not immediately respond to the offer.