NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday congratulated Indian-origin economist and academic Abhijit Banerjee, besides Esther Duflo and Michael Kramer, for receiving the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, while party leader Rahul Gandhi said Banerjee helped the Congress conceptualise its “Nyay” scheme.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also congratulated Banerjee and said his work on poverty alleviation and development of new techniques were truly pathbreaking.
Singh said Banerjee’s pioneering innovations in development economics were applicable and useful to policy making in developing countries such as India.
“Apart from making the nation of his origin proud by this spectacular achievement, Prof Banerjee’s and his fellow recipients’ work in ‘experimental approach to alleviating global poverty’ had helped millions across the globe, including India, come out of poverty. Their methodology, approach and experiments were exemplary and of extreme contemporary relevance. His recognition as a Nobel laureate has delighted every Indian,” Sonia Gandhi said in a statement.
Congratulating Banerjee, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he had helped the party conceptualise its “Nyay” scheme to help remonetise the economy.
“Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. Abhijit helped conceptualise NYAY that had the power to destroy poverty and boost the Indian economy. Instead we now have Modinomics, that’s destroying the economy and boosting poverty,” he said on Twitter.
In a letter to Banerjee, Singh said, “It gives me immense pleasure and pride to know that you are now the second Indian to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics.”
“My heartiest congratulations to you and your co-winners. Your scholarly work on poverty alleviation and development of new techniques such as Randomised Control trials are truly path breaking,” Singh, a renowned economist himself, said.
“I am particularly pleased, as a student of economics, that the Committee chose to honour pioneering innovations in development economics that are very applicable and useful to policy making in developing countries such as India,” the senior Congress leader said in his congratulatory message to Banerjee.
The Congress party also tweeted, saying, “Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee for winning the Nobel Prize 2019. His incredible work in poverty alleviation has made our country proud. The renowned economist was a key consultant for the path breaking NYAY programme presented by the Congress party.”
Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh tweeted, saying, “Delighted that Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have won this year’s Economics Nobel. As Minister of Environment and Forests in 2010, I had asked Duflo to work on market instruments for pollution control. I’m glad that system is now in use in Gujarat.”
Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo — both working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — and Harvard University professor Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.
Amartya Sen was the first Indian economist to win the Nobel Prize in 1998. PTI
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