Gandhi had earlier announced over Twitter that he would hold a conversation with Banerjee on dealing with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis. The Congress party had tweeted a 1.44-minute clip from the conversation which will be aired in full at 9am on Tuesday.
The conversation with Banerjee is a part of Gandhi's series of deliberations with global experts on economy and health. The first such dialogue was held last week when Gandhi discussed the coronavirus pandemic and its economic implications with former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan.
During that dialogue, Rajan had said India should be "cleverer" in lifting the lockdown and should open up its economy in a "measured way" soon to save jobs. He had also said that Rs 65,000 crore should be spent to support the poor hit hard by the crisis.
Rajan said it was incumbent upon the government to now realise the benefits of direct cash transfer to the people and support those without a livelihood while the uncertainty is on. “As a priority, we have to keep people alive and prevent them from going out on the streets looking for food. We have to help as many of these people as we can through money and through the PDS system,” he said.
Banerjee is an Economics Nobel Laureate, who, along with his wife Esther Duflo, has done pioneering work on poverty. He is a part of the global advisory board set up by West Bengal government to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Banerjee had asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to arrange more sanitisers at market places across the state and to conduct rapid testing to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.
He had said that India, particularly Bengal, should follow Korea and Taiwan where they eradicated the virus at market places by using masks and sanitisers.
