Government Needs To Disburse More Money To The Poor: Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee
By: Nandika Chand | Last Updated July 16, 2020
Applauding the government’s solution of giving money in the hands of the poor, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee says the amount needs to be bigger. “I think the amounts are wrong, it should be bigger, its going to be a longer and more painful recovery and that will demand a more generous system,” he said during an online panel discussion hosted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
Banerjee said the government’s solution to giving money in the hands of the poor is a beneficial one. He said whoever needs a ration card should be provided one without needing to answer questions such as “are you a citizen, are you this, are you that, are you entitled” in the short run.
The Nobel Laureate pointed out that schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act cannot be used as a short term emergency response tool. He said MGNREGA is not designed for emergency response.
“So we need to also rethink the entire welfare system and I think in that context we also need to take into account the urbanisation of poverty and how we find something commensurate for the urban population,” Banerjee said.
