Here's What Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee Said After Meeting PM Modi; Watch Video

Banerjee said that during the interaction the Prime Minister discussed his government's efforts to reform bureaucracy by making it more responsive to the views of the people on the ground.

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee met Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning at Prime Minister's residence in New Delhi. (ANI)

New Delhi: Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee met Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning at Prime Minister's residence in New Delhi. Calling the meeting an honour and a privilege for him, Banerjee said that during the interaction the Prime Minister discussed his government's efforts to reform bureaucracy by making it more responsive to the views of the people on the ground. “It was a privilege to have this meeting with PM. The Prime Minister was kind enough to give me quite a lot of time and to talk about his way of thinking about India, which was quite unique because one hears a lot about policies but one rarely hears about the thinking behind it," Banerjee said. “He talked about the way he sees governance in particular, and why in some sense the mistrust of some people on the ground colours our governance… and therefore creates structures of elite control over governance process.. not a responsive government. In the that process, he very nicely explained how he is trying to reform the bureaucracy in India to make it more responsive.. to understand the ways in which people’s views need to be taken into account.. to expose them (bureaucrats) more to the reality on the ground." “I think it’s important for India to have a bureaucracy that lives on the ground and gets its stimulus from how life is on the ground and without that we get an unresponsive government. Thank you, PM. That was quite a unique experience for me,” he said.

#WATCH Delhi: Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee speaks after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi (source: PMO) pic.twitter.com/HaY9SBkuIH

— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2019

On the other hand, PM Modi said that they had a healthy discussion on a variety of issues and wished the Nobel laureate luck for his future endeavours. "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," he said.

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. pic.twitter.com/SQFTYgXyBX

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 22, 2019

Banerjee won the Economics Nobel along with Esther Duflo, a French-American economist and fellow US professor Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Duflo is Banerjee's second wife. Banerjee is in India to promote his book 'Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems', co-written with fellow Nobel laureate and wife Esther Duflo.