PM spoke on governance, bureaucracy, unique experience: Abhijit Banerjee
New Delhi: Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, addressing media after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he had a cordial and good meeting.
Speaking about the meeting taking place against the backdrop of a debate over his comments on an economic slump, he said, “The crisis is critical and frightening and we should worry about it. We need some important and aggressive changes."
He termed his meeting as a unique experience. Banerjee said that the prime minister spoke on governance and bureaucracy.
"It was a privilege to have this meeting with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was kind enough to give me quite a lot of time and to talk a lot about his way of thinking about India which was quite unique," he said.
"He (Modi) talked about the way he sees governance in particular...and how it, therefore, creates structures of elite control over the governance process," Banerjee added.
The renowned economist revealed how the Prime Minister is taking steps to reform the bureaucracy.
"He also very nicely explained how he is trying to reform bureaucracy to making it more responsive to understand ways in which people's views need to be taken into account and expose them more to the reality on the ground," Banerjee said.
"I think it was a very important point for India to have a bureaucracy that lives on the ground and get its stimulus from how life is on the ground. Without that, we get an unresponsive government," he signed off saying a thank you to Modi for the unique experience.
During the meeting earlier on Tuesday, Modi said that Banerjee's passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible and the country is proud of his achievements.
Read | 'India proud of his accomplishments,' says PM after meeting Abhijit Banerjee
"Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion towards 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," the Prime Minister tweeted alongside a photo of the meeting.
Banerjee, an Indian-origin economist and an academic professor, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences along with his French-American wife Esther Duflo and American economist Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."
The 58-year-old Kolkata-born economist is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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