CHENNAI: State Finance Secretary S Krishnan expressed his happiness on the Nobel Prize being accorded on economists Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo. Just after the news about the Nobel prize, the senior IAS officer sent a congratulatory message to the couple.
Recalling his association with the duo for many years, Krishnan said that they have been extensively involved with each other and it has always been very fascinating to work with them because they brought in many insights in various areas.
"We started working formally with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in the year 2013 and formalised our government’s relationship with them in November 2014 through a MoU with J-PAL in the presence of the-then Chief Minister O Panneerselvam," recalled Krishnan.
According to the MoU, research would be done for the state government on various subjects with the main chunk being policy dialogue, research project and capacity building.
"We interacted extensively with the duo, directors of Abdul Latif Jameel - Poverty Action Lab, USA (J-PAL) which they guided at the global level. The Tamil Nadu government has so far done about 15 projects with them since 2014 till now," Krishnan said.
"This is the most extensive involvement they have than any other State government in India in terms of overall systematic researching of which their own website (J-PAL) talks about. Both of them were present on many subsequent discussions with the Tamil Nadu government," he added.
Along with former Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, the duo were also principal investigators on a panel study on issues relating to the elderly in Tamil Nadu. "The study is ongoing and we will complete it soon," said Krishnan.
Another interesting study was on the behaviour of people in non-communicable diseases and what can be done to reduce their incidence in the state. A study on ways to reduce anemia among pregnant women and encourage exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months was also done
Apart from health, the duo had also worked on the improvement the educational outcomes of pre-school programmes with Krishnan citing all engaements to be beneficial.