Published 18:19 IST, October 14th 2019
Nobel Prize recipient, Abhijit Banerjee's mother says, 'We are proud'
Nirmala Banerjee, Abhijit's mother, while expressing her joy to a news agency said, "We are very proud of both of them, Abhijit and his wife Esther Duflo"
Abhijit Banerjee was awarded the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in the Memory of Alfred Nobel on Monday. He shared the prestigious award with his wife Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Nirmala Banerjee, Abhijit's mother while speaking to news agency ANI expressed her happiness over Abhijit's achievement and said that her younger son informed her about Abhijit's feat. She also said that Abhijit is very fond of people and that is why he chose to study Economics.
'We are very proud of both of them'
Mrs Banerjee spoke about Abhijit's education and said that he quit the Indian Statistical Institute just a week after he joined because he did not want to waste time travelling that far. He, later on, joined Presidency college as he enjoyed music, cinema, and also liked walking. "He is interested in 'people' and Economics is one subject that really has something to say for the people, that's why he chose Economics as his subject," Mrs Banerjee said. "We are very proud of both of them (Abhijit and his wife Esther Duflo)," she added.
Abhijit's mother while speaking to the news agency also said that his next book which is based around 'Good Economics for poor times' will also be releasing next week in Delhi. Mrs Banerjee also said that the Chief Minister has sent some lovely flowers and sweets for him and I'm very happy that she acknowledged him so quickly.
On being asked whether she talks to Abhijit about India's economy, she said, "We often talk about the economic state of our country but not in-depth because we mostly talk in circumstances when there is family around and it's not much that you can talk about."
Nobel Prize tweets about Abhijit's feat
Earlier on Monday, The Nobel Prize official Twitter handle tweeted about Banerjee's success. They wrote that over 700 million people, even today, survive on very low income and every year, five million children die before their fifth birthday due to the inability to afford even cheap and simple treatments. The Nobel Prize also credited Banerjee, Duflo, and Kremer for introducing a new approach to obtain reliable answers about the best way to combat global poverty.
Updated 22:39 IST, October 14th 2019