Bill Gates receives Indira Gandhi Prize in India

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, on Saturday received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development from India's president, a government statement said.

Photo: Bill Gates receives Indira Gandhi Prize in India

The prize recognizes his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation . It is awarded annually to individuals or organizations for creative efforts that promote peace, development and a new international economic order.

As of this month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had committed nearly $ 1 billion for health and development projects in India. Most of the money has gone to prevent AIDS and eradicate polio, The Associated Press reports.

Accepting the Indira Gandhi Peace award here, he exuded optimism over India's ability to overcome health problems like polio and AIDS as the country has "most entrepreneurial technologically sophisticated and innovative societies."

The software czar, who heads The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said his organisation would do what it could to help India in this endeavour.

"India faces some of the toughest health problems in the world. It bears a massive burden of disease, informs Press Trust of India.

Gates also confided to the audience that he was "not that big at text messaging" and that "I'm not a 24-hour-a-day tech person". "I read a lot and some of that reading is not on a computer," he said.

Gates, who sought to drive a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home, said the information technology revolution had been "hugely beneficial" but added: "All these tools of tech waste our time if we're not careful," informs AFP.