Bill Gates visited Amethi in this punishing Indian summer. Why is this romance with India’s remote villages? Perhaps after getting at top in wealth creation, Bill is genuinely working to reach and help the deprived lot of the world. As reported, Rahul Gandhi even tried to convince Gates to stay in Amethi for the night and wanted to take him to the same village where he spent a night along with British foreign secretary David Miliband in a ramshackle hut belonging to a poor Dalit woman Shivkumari Kori. But it didn’t happen because of the time constraint.

Bill Gates also visited the remote villages of extremely backward in Bihar, sat with mushahars-the rat eaters, the most deprived people of the state and tried to understand their problems. He used an ordinary boat just like the common people to cross River Kosi.

Why can’t the Indian Gates and Milibands take some lessons? I have been pleading to all the elected members of legislatures to stay in the villages of their home constituencies at least for some nights every year. That would have made them understand real problems of rural India better. It would have made them understand the necessity to improve the quality of life in rural India. Unfortunately, most of them just can’t stay for a night in the villages because of the changed life style after succeeding in political career rather political business.

Indian business leaders must also develop and show their real love for the Indian villages where the majority of Indian lives in totally different and adverse condition before it’s too late. That would have given them an opportunity to innovate for the mass of population that makes the bottom of the pyramid. It would also help ultimately their business and its revenue besides enhancing their public images.

The business leaders such as Ambani brothers and Mallya must start spending for the millions of god’s men and women in rural India rather than donating hundreds of crores in gold and silver for covering of the abode of these Gods sculpted in stones or metals and on good looking and influential lobbyists in government. If they keep on pursuing the humiliating distance from these people of the country, increasing number of the population will go on getting disenchanted with these business leaders and gradually protest against everything they propose as project, be it a university, steel mills, or power houses.

India Inc must unite, genuinely take interest and responsibility and participate on large scale in providing world class primary education and public health faculties in six lakh and odd villages of India and not for enumerating it as CSR activities in balance sheets and on its websites. If the industrial houses can create wonderful institutes of higher education and healthcare facilities for business in urban areas, why can’t the expertise be extended to poor rural regions? I can assure them it may very soon start getting profitable too just like the marketing of their products in rural India.