Azim Premji on Policy Betting

TIME reported that the foundation's educational programs have so far helped over eight million children, and that it also plays an advocacy role on education policy — including helping to shape national curriculum. That dual operating-plus-advocacy posture makes it an institutional actor, not just a charity.

He chose public education as the foundation's focus on the grounds that education is perhaps the most important social institution to empower individuals and shape a better society, and that the public school system is what best serves the disadvantaged and deprived. The choice privileged reach and equity over prestige causes like universities or hospitals.

Premji framed his broader conviction in the letter as the belief that markets, public systems and philanthropic initiatives all had a significant role to play in inclusive development, and that India needed to work purposefully toward a more humane, equitable and ethical society. The stance explicitly rejected a markets-only or state-only ideology in favour of a three-legged model.