By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN Group
KOLKATA: Poverty is said to be the root cause of all social evils. Time has not been able to refute this harsh factual observation made by social thinkers of all times.
A pathbreaking innovative experiment based economic research on the mode to combat and diminish global poverty was conducted by three Economists namely Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo,his wife and colleague as well as his fellow researcher, Michael kremer for more than two decades.
This year, in recognition of their research, the Nobel Prize Committee has named the three economists,the recipients of the much-coveted Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
Banerjee,an American Indian is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will be the second Indian Economist to receive it after Amartya Sen. History truly has repeated itself.
Kolkata that had just about drawn curtains on the magnificent celebration of Durga Puja burst into ecstatic mirth once again as Kolkatans woke up to the news of Abhijit Banerjee being declared a Nobel Laureate.
Economists in India, especially Kolkata were elated, though not surprised at the news. Presidency University, a premier university in Kolkata proudly considers itself partially instrumental in moulding the paths of two of its ex students, Nobel Laureate Economists, Abhijit Banerjee and Amartya Sen.
Banerjee considers the prize to be significant in that it is a sort of validation of their economic movement that is based on questioning age-old accepted social beliefs and abridging economic disparity without being intimidated by authority.
The Nobel Laureate couple have fruitfully applied their much- talked about Randomised Controlled Experimental Method in the rural areas of Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan. Bandhan, once a micro- finance organisation and now a bank was a partner of the Nobel Laureates in their experimentation with the model. His work is worthy not only of adulation but also that of emulation by economists.
What is euphoric achievement for the two Indian Economists Amartya Sen earlier and Abhijit Banerjee now, is without doubt, unbridled euphoria for all Indians.
The Nobel Laureates That Made India Proud
It is noteworthy that Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his English translation of Gitanjali; CV Raman for Physics in 1930; Mother Teresa for Peace in 1979 and Amartya Sen For Economic Sciences in 1998. The latest to join the group is Abhijit Banerjee.
