PM Modi Congratulates Nobel Awardee Abhijit Banerjee For Contributions In Poverty Alleviation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Nobel prize awardee Abhijeet Banerjee for his contributions in the field of poverty alleviation. PM Modi took to Twitter and wrote, "Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation."

He also congratulated Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for winning the prestigious Nobel.

Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2019

I also congratulate Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for wining the prestigious Nobel.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 14, 2019

Born in Mumbai, the 58-year-old economist is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He studied at the University of Calcutta and Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University before receiving his PhD in 1988 from Harvard University.

Earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru University also congratulated his alumnus Abhijit Banerjee for the achievement. It was a proud day for Jawaharlal Nehru University as its alumnus Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel Economics Prize. Abhijit’s former professors said that they always knew his immense contributions to the field would be recognised.

Indian-American Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” Professor Anjan Mukherjee, who taught Banerjee at the Centre For Economic Studies and Planning, said he has sent his former student a congratulatory email.

“I have sent him an email. He was a very good student, among the best that we have taught. We always expected that he would go far and he did. “He has been at the forefront for many years. When his book came out in 2008, that is the time when we thought that he would get the Nobel. We were all hoping that he would get it,” he told PTI.

Banerjee pursued his Masters in Economics from the university. “There are not too many teachers in India who can say that they have produced a Nobel laureate. All of us at the Centre for Economics Studies and Planning can proudly say so,” Mukherjee added.

JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar also expressed pride at Banerjee’s achievement. “Prof. Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, a JNU alumnus (MA in Economics, 1983) wins Nobel Prize (together with two fellow economists) for contributing towards alleviating global poverty. JNU is proud of his achievement. Our alumni are torch bearers of JNU. We are proud of them,” he tweeted.