Bill Gates received Indira Gandhi award

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates Saturday received the Indian government's prestigious Indira Gandhi prize the work done by his foundation in fighting poverty and illness, specially HIV-AIDS, in India. "When a technological giant like Bill Gates joins the cause of changing the lives of people through philanthropy, we have reasons to be optimistic," Indian President Pratibha Patil said in presenting the award at a ceremony in the Indian capital.

Noting this was the first time a business leader had been given the award, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was an inspiration for business leaders around the world."Others have also showed the world how to create wealth from knowledge, but very few before him (Gates) have worked as hard and as selflessly as he has to share that wealth with marginalized people and also create knowledge in that process," Singh said.

Singh hoped more Indian business leaders would follow Gate's example and share their wealth by investing in education and healthcare for the elderly and disabled.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has to date committed nearly 1 billion dollars for health and development projects in India. Most of the money has been targeted to prevent AIDS and eradicate polio.The foundation launched an initiative called Avahan in 2003 which works closely with the Indian government's HIV-AIDS prevention programme in six states and along the national trucking routes.Previous winners of the Indira Gandhi peace prize include Medecins sans Frontieres, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and former United States president Jimmy Carter.