"When Economy Is In A Tailspin...": Abhijit Banerjee Advises Government

Agencies
October 15, 2019

New York, Oct 15: Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, who jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize with his wife Esther Duflo and Harvard's Michael Kremer, said on Monday that the Indian economy is "doing very badly" even as the government is increasingly recognising that there is a problem.

"The economy is doing very badly in my view," he told a press conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after wining the prize.

When asked about his opinion on the state of the economy in India and its future, he said, "That's a statement not about what will work in the future but about what's going on now. That I'm entitled to have an opinion about."

Referring to the numbers put out by the National Sample Survey, that come out every 1.5 years and give estimates about the average consumption in urban and rural areas in India, Mr Banerjee said, "the fact that we see in that is that between 2014-15 and 2017-18, that number has slightly gone down. And that's the first time such a thing has happened in many many many many many years so that's a very glaring warning sign."

"There is enormous fight going on in India about which data is right and the government has a particular view of (that) all data that is inconvenient to it is wrong. But nonetheless, I think that this is something that I think even the government is increasingly recognising that there is a problem. So the economy slowing very very fast. How fast we don't know, there is this dispute about data but I think fast," he said.

Mr Banerjee added that he does not know exactly what to do. "The government has a large deficit but right now it's sort of at least aiming to please everybody by pretending to hold to some budgetary targets and monetary targets," he said.

He said that in his view when the economy is going into a "tailspin", is the time when "you don't worry so much about monetary stability and you worry a little bit more about demand. I think demand is a huge problem right now in economy."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week in Mumbai evaded a direct reply to a question on whether the government accepts there is an economic slowdown, and said the government is giving relief to all sectors who need help.

She said since the Budget in July, she has been meeting representatives of various industrial sectors, and sector-wise intervention is being made regularly.

Banerjee, Duflo and Harvard professor Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".

Banerjee, 58, and French-American Duflo both work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while Kremer is at Harvard University.

In 2003, Mr Banerjee founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), along with Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan, and he remains one of its directors. He also served on the UN Secretary-General''s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

J-PAL, a global network of antipoverty researchers that conducts field experiments, has now become a major center of research, backing work across the world.

Walking into the press conference to a round of applause and standing ovation, Mr Banerjee in his opening remarks said that it is "wonderful" to get the Nobel Prize "because it''s a prize not, I think, for us, but also for the entire movement."

He said about 400 professors are associated in some way with J-PAL''s work and are doing randomised control trials on issues as diverse as US school in the Appalachia to governance problems in Indonesia, getting children immunised in India and getting children under bed nets in Sub Saharan Africa.

"So, this is a movement that, in some ways, we are kind of the beneficiaries of. I think it''s still going to be wonderful for the movement that this prize was given because I think it''s going to make it a little easier to penetrate the many doors that you know are half-open to us or not quite open to us and hopefully bring the message of policy-based on evidence and hard thinking to many other places as well," he said.

When asked how does he feel about being the sixth Nobel laureate from Kolkata, he said "I assume they''re all much more distinguished than me."

On what he hopes to do going forward, he said, "to be honest, we hope that we will get to do more of the same. I think we''re actually quite excited about what we are doing. This was not work that we did a long time ago, we''re excited about what we''re doing now and it''s fun. We''re learning new things. I''m really excited to look at the results from our latest intervention."

"So I think what I hope this will do is just open more opportunities to do more inventive things, but I don''t expect to do something entirely different. I think I''m content with what I''m doing and enjoying it very much," he said.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 14: Only three fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in Kerala on April 13, while 19 confirmed patients, who were undergoing treatment, tested negative for the infection, according to the COVID-19 Outbreak Control and Prevention State Cell, Health and Family Welfare Department, Kerala government.

As of Monday evening, there are just 178 positive COVID-19 cases in the State.

Twelve patients from Kasargod district, three each from Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts, and one from Kannur district are among those who have recovered from COVID-19 and tested negative.

To date, there have been a total of 378 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Kerala.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has demanded that State Relief Funds be made eligible for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding by making changes to the Companies Act.

Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said, "The Government of Kerala is of the opinion that contributions to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Funds should be included as an eligible expenditure under CSR. In a federal setup, the Relief Funds set up by the States for a public purpose cannot be excluded from the eligibility criteria when the same is available for a Central Fund set up with similar objectives and aims."

The Kerala CM said that he has written to the Prime Minister in this regard urging him to make the necessary changes.

Vijayan once again reiterated the demand of the State government to bring back stranded Keralites from overseas and added that, "We will extend all possible help and support to the Pravasi Malayalees when they come back also including rehabilitation of those who would lose their jobs in the backdrop of the pandemic outbreak."

He added that a decision on extending the lockdown in the State will be taken after taking into account the decision of the Central government in the address by the Prime Minister scheduled for April 14.

Comments

AJS
 - 
Tuesday, 14 Apr 2020

HATS-OFF TO BOLD CHIEF MINISTER OF KERALA MR. VIJAYAN... BAHUBALI

THE ONLY CHIEF MINISTER TO APPROACH GCC FOR HIS PEOPLE.... A ROLL MODEL FOR OTHER STATES AND CENTER

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News Network
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at Congress for "unceremoniously sacking" its spokesperson and said that leaders in the opposition party are "feeling suffocated".

To substantiate his point, Shah referred to the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet in which senior members and younger members raised a few issues, however, they were "shut down".

Taking to Twitter, Shah posted two English dailies' articles titled -- "Not scared of PM Modi, but many in the party dodge him: Rahul at Congress Working Committee meet" and "Congress removes Sanjay Jha as party spokesperson after critical article".

Last week, Jha was dropped as AICC spokesperson and Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti appointed as National Media Panelist of Congress party.

"During the recent CWC meet, senior members and younger members raised a few issues. But, they were shouted down. A party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked. The sad truth is - leaders are feeling suffocated in Congress," the Union Minister tweeted.

Meanwhile, Shah also targetted Congress on the completion of 45 years of emergency, which was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975 and asked the party to self introspect.

"As one of India's opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain? Why are leaders who do not belong to 1 dynasty unable to speak up? Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress? Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening," he wrote.

Comments

Fairman
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

Jha the spokesperson, tried to be under the payroll of BJP, so disciplinary action was imminent.

 

Discipline has no compromise.

Mohammed
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

If i am not wrong you have already purchased suffocated leaders from congress.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Washington, Feb 12: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would sign a trade deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi if 'it was the right one'.

The two countries have been trying to reach a limited trade pact with lower tariffs, but talks have run into problems over issues with data privacy and e-commerce controls.

Trump further said that he is looking forward to his visit to India later this month where millions of people would welcome him. "He (Modi) is a great gentleman and I look forward to going to India. So, we'll be going at the end of the month," Trump told reporters in his Oval Office, a day after the White House announced dates of his anticipated India trip.

Responding to a question, the president indicated that he is willing to sign a trade deal with India if it is the right one. "They (Indians) want to do something and we'll see... if we can make the right deal, (we) will do it," said Trump, a fortnight ahead of his visit to the country as the 45th US president.

India's new Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu told PTI that Trump's forthcoming visit is a "reflection of the strong personal rapport" between Trump and Modi. "It also demonstrates their strong desire to take the relationship to new heights," said Sandhu, who had presented his credentials to Trump in Oval Office last week.

Over the last three years, Trump and Modi have developed a personal friendship and in 2019, the duo met four times including their joint address before a strong 50,000 crowd of Indian Americans in Houston.

This year, they have spoken over the phone on two occasions, including the one over the weekend. "Just spoke with Prime Minister Modi," Trump told reporters on Tuesday in response to a question on his India visit.

Excited to travel to India later this month, said Trump referring to his conversation with Modi during which the prime minister apparently told him about the hundreds and thousands of Indians who would be there to welcome him in Ahmedabad.

Trump jokingly told reporters that now he will "not feel good" about the size of the crowd that he addresses in the US which is usually between 40,000 to 50,000. "He (Modi) said we will have millions and millions of people. My only problem is that last night we probably had 40 or 50,000 people... I'm not going to feel so good... There will be five to seven million people just from the airport to the new stadium (in Ahmedabad)," Trump said.

"And you know (it) is the largest stadium in the world. He's (Modi) building it now. It's almost complete and it's the largest in the world," Trump said. The two leaders are expected to joint address a massive public rally at the newly build Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Being built at an estimated cost of USD 100 million, the Motera Stadium with a seating capacity of 100,000 spectators will be the world's largest cricket stadium overtaking the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

Comments

Ahmed Ali
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Feb 2020

Waste of money and time.....!!!

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