PM Modi, Nobel laureate Banerjee hold extensive discussion on varied issues
New Delhi: Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held a "healthy and extensive" interaction on various subjects.
Banerjee, an India-born American professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has won Nobel in economics, jointly with wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for "an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".
"Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion for human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. India is proud of his accomplishments. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours," Modi said in a tweet, sharing a picture of their meeting at his official residence.
While congratulating Banerjee for winning the prize, Union minister Piyush Goyal at a media briefing in Pune earlier this month had described him as a "Left-leaning" person. Goyal had also said Indian voters rejected Banerjee's suggestion of a minimum income scheme and there was no need to "accept what he thinks".
Describing the current banking crisis in the country as frightening, Banerjee on called for aggressive policy changes to deal with the situation.
He said the government should reduce its stake in public sector banks to below 50 per cent so that they are out of the ambit of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
The fear of CVC acts as a dampener in decision making in the banking sector, Banerjee said.
Prodded further, Banerjee said public sector banks were paralysed by "fear" of their decisions being investigated by the CVC on account of the government holding majority stake in them.
Steering clear of questions on the economy or any controversial topic, Banerjee said in a meeting earlier on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "cracked a joke" that the media was trying to trap him and "get him to say anti-Modi things".
His criticism of the state of the economy and the government's policies fueled a debate with BJP leaders like Union Minister Piyush Goyal hitting back sharply, calling him a "left-leaning" economist.
