Bill Gates moving USD20 billion to foundation, plans to drop off list of wealthiest people

Mathura, July 15 (IANS): A 30-year-old Dalit woman from Kosi Kalan area has lost her leg, almost two months after she was gang-raped and the accused crushed her leg with a motorbike.

The woman had to undergo surgery to amputate her left leg.

The woman’s family finally lodged a complaint after weeks of rushing her from one hospital to another.

The FIR was registered by the police against the three accused men under IPC sections 376 D (gang-rape), 328 (causing hurt), and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), along with section 3 (2) (5) (punishment for atrocities) of the SC/ST Act.

The station house officer (SHO) of Kosi Kalan police station, Anuj Kumar, said two of the accused have been arrested, while one still remains ‘unidentified’.

The woman, in her complaint, claimed that on May 24 she was heading to Kosi Kalan from her village to withdraw money from the bank, when one of the accused, who was from her village, offered to give her a lift.

Along the way, he called two of his friends, who then forced her to swallow a drink laced with intoxicants before raping her one by one.

The three accused crushed her legs with a motorcycle and was left near a railway track in Kosi Kalan. The railway police spotted her in an unconscious state and informed her family. She was rushed to a government hospital in Kosi Kalan and the doctors then referred her to the Mathura district hospital. She was later moved to another hospital in Agra and then to Haryana where her leg, which had been deeply infected, was amputated.

Seattle, July 14 (IANS) Bill Gates is moving $20 billion of his wealth into the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is ramping up its spending in the face of global challenges, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, media reports said.

The foundation, one of the world’s largest philanthropies, plans to increase its payouts by 50 per cent over pre-pandemic levels, from nearly $6 billion to $9 billion each year by 2026. The foundation is primarily focused on charitable giving that’s aimed at improving global health, gender equality and education, among other issues, CNN reported.

The Microsoft co-founder and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have both pledged to donate the vast majority of their wealth to the foundation they established together 20 years ago, as well as to other philanthropic endeavours.

The couple announced their divorce in May 2021, saying they would work together as co-chairs under a two-year trial period. At the end of that trial, French Gates has the option to resign and receive a payout from her former husband, who would remain in charge of the foundation.

With an estimated net worth of around $ 114 billion, Bill Gates is currently the world’s fourth-richest person, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, with most of his wealth tied to Microsoft shares.

But he doesn’t intend to rank that high forever.

“I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world’s richest people,” Gates wrote in a blog.

“I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives. I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too,” he said, CNN reported.