'Big day for every Indian': Wishes pour in for Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee from political leaders

Political leaders across party lines on Monday congratulated Indian-origin economist and academic Professor Abhijit Banerjee for winning the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Banerjee, his French-American wife Esther Duflo and American economist Michael Kremer were awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

"The research conducted by the 2019 Economic Sciences laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research," said a tweet from the official handle of the Nobel Prize committee.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among the first leaders to congratulate the Kolkata-born economist, Abhijit Banerjee.

"Hearty congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee, an alumnus of South Point School & Presidency College Kolkata, for winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. Another Bengali has done the nation proud. We are overjoyed," she tweeted.

Echoing similar sentiment, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the achievement as a "big day for every Indian".

"Big day for every Indian. Heartiest congratulations to eminent economist Abhijit Banerjee for being among the winners of this year's Nobel prize for Economics. Work on poverty alleviation gets the highest endorsement," the Chief Minister said.

"Abhijit Banerjee's pathbreaking work has also benefitted lakhs of children studying in Delhi govt schools. One of Delhi govt's most imp education reform 'Chunauti' has transformed govt school classroom teaching. It is based on the model developed by him," he said in a follow-up tweet.

Congress interim president, Sonia Gandhi also extended wishes to Banerjee, saying his "recognition as a noble laureate has delighted every Indian".

"Congress President Smt Sonia Gandhi has congratulated Indian origin Economist and Academic Prof. #AbhijitBanerjee, Prof. Esther Duflo and Prof. Michael Kramer upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. His recognition as a noble laureate has delighted every Indian," a tweet from the Congress party said.

BJP national vice president, Baijayant Jay Panda too congratulated all the three economists and lauded them for their research on poverty.

"Heartiest congrats to my friends Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo, as well as Michael Kremer on winning the Economics #Nobel. Your contributions to understanding poverty thru Randomised Controlled Trials RCTs have revolutionised the application of economics to real-world problems!" he said.

Banerjee attended South Point School and went to the Presidency College, Calcutta, where he completed his BS degree in Economics in 1981.

Banerjee completed his MA in Economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi in 1983. Later, he went on to obtain a PhD in Economics at Harvard University in 1988.

The 58-year-old economist is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

( With inputs from ANI )