All-party resolution at state Assembly to congratulate Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee

Kolkata: The state Assembly on Monday adopted an allparty resolution congratulating Nobel Laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee.

Moving the motion at the Assembly, state Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said that the House feels extremely happy with the Nobel prize being awarded to Banerjee, his colleague and wife Esther Duflo and fellow researcher Michale Kremer for their epoch experiment based research into how to reduce global poverty.

"Their researches have prompted the World Health Organisation and the United Nations to promote subsidised healthcare for the poor. Their researches have also brought into limelight the need for a positive rule of welfare state," he added. State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said Banerjee has given a direction on how to alleviate poverty and what should be the approach for that.

"A large number of projects are being implemented by governments in the country and Banerjee has tried to point out how such projects should be implemented so that the beneficiaries are served in the best possible manner," the minister said.

The proposal was welcomed by the Left and Congress and also by the BJP at the House with as many as 12 MLAs apart from Chatterjee speaking on the issue .

A student of South Point School, Banerjee did his Bachelor's degree from Presidency College, Calcutta (now known as Presidency University, Kolkata) in 1981.

He then went to pursue a Master's degree in economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi in 1983. He then moved to the United States to obtain a PhD in Economics at Harvard University in 1988.