Nobel laureate couple Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo will conduct an awareness campaign against COVID-19 pandemic in West Bengal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday held a discussion with Prof. Banerjee, the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The chief minister's office has confirmed that Prof. Banerjee and Duflo expressed their desire to carry out an awareness campaign through video to help the poor.
The talks between the chief minister and Prof. Banerjee came at a time when West Bengal, which produces the maximum labour force for India, is reeling under a huge crisis as many of these labourers are coming back home in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.
"Never before it happened that so many people made a comeback without money. The government is facing a huge shortage of food and relief materials," said a senior officer of the state government.
The government also fears that many of these labourers may carry the virus back home as there are no enough testing facilities.
Besides, the government is clueless on how to bring jobs and food for them. The Union government has recently allowed states to buy food grains from the FCI. But for that, they would have to pay.
Prof. Banerjee has reportedly informed the chief minister that he was ready to help the government on this.
He, however, refused to make any comment when THE WEEK reached him to know about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of India.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday informed President Ram Nath Kovind that in districts like Hooghly, Murshidabad and Howrah, large crowds of people were seen despite the lockdown.
President Kovind and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu held a video conference with all the governors through video conference on Friday.
