Indian-origin Abhijit Banerjee, wife Esther Duflo awarded Nobel Prize for Economics

STOCKHOLM, Oct 14: Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer were awarded the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for their approach to alleviate global poverty.

Fifty-eight-year-old Banerjee was born in 1961. He studied in Calcutta University’s Presidency College and Jawaharlal Nehru University and then did a PhD from Harvard in 1988.

Duflo, 46, is the second woman to win the economics prize after Elinor Ostrom got it in 2009, and is also the youngest ever to receive the economics award. She is married to Abhijit Banerjee.

“The research conducted by this year’s Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research,” said the Nobel committee in a statement.

Banerjee founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in 2003, along with Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan. J-PAL is a global research centre based in Massachusetts.

Banerjee is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society and winner of the Infosys prize. His articles on economics often appear in major news publications across the article.

Banerjee is the author of four books that includes Poor Economics, for which he won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011. The book has been translated into more than 17 languages.

Wishes started pouring in with the news of Banerjee winning the Nobel prize in economics.

Abhijit‘s father, Dipak Banerjee, was a much admired teacher of Economics at Presidency College. His mother, Nirmala Banerjee, is a pioneering feminist economist.

His ground-breaking scholarship apart, Abhijit himself is a superb cook and a connoisseur of Hindustani classical music. He represents the best of Indian culture and scholarship, while always being open to what the world has to offer.

In a tweet Mamta Banerjee said: Hearty congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee, alumnus of South Point School & Presidency College Kolkata, for winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. Another Bengali has done the nation proud. We are overjoyed.

Both Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology while Kremer is at Harvard University. Duflo is also the Editor of the American Economic Review, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. Kremer, 54, is a development economist, who is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that due to the studies of Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer more than five million Indian children have benefitted from effective programmes of remedial tutoring in schools.

The Nobel prize in economics prize includes 9 million-kronor (USD 918,000) cash, a gold medal and a diploma. The winners will equally share the prize money.

Olga Tokarczuk wins Nobel prize in literature for 2018, Peter Handke for 2019

STOCKHOLM, Oct 10: The Swedish Academy on Thursday awarded two Nobel Prizes for Literature. The Polish author Olga Tokarczuk was awarded Nobel Prize in literature for 2018, Austrian author Peter Handke for 2019.

Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature laureate, was born in 1962 in Poland’s Sulechow. In 1993 with ‘Podroz Iudzi Ksiegi’ (The Journey of the Book-People’), Tokarczuk made her debut as a fiction writer. Olga Tokarczuk’s third novel ‘Prawiek i inne czasy’ which came in 1996 was a breakthrough.

The Austrian author Peter Handke, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature 2019, was born in 1942 in Griffen village located in southern Austria’s Karnten region. His debut novel ‘Die Hornissen’ was published in 1966. With the play ‘Publikumsbeschimpfung’ (‘Offending the Audience’), Peter set his mark on the literary scene.

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature was postponed for a year due to the sexual harassment scandal that shook the Swedish Academy.

The Nobel Literature Prize is the most famous and prestigious. Every year, the Academy awards 16 Nobel prizes. The other Nobels -- including the coveted Peace Prize -- are awarded by other institutions.

Swedish scientist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, in his 1895 last will and testament, tasked the institution with awarding the Nobel Literature Prize every year.

Until now, nine Nobel prizes have been announced.

MW Bro Rajeev Khandelwal inaugurates Masonic Eye Centre in Delhi

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Oct 1: The Grand Master, MW Bro Rajeev Khandelwal, and an eminent eye surgeon Dr Noshir Shroff of Shroff Eye Centre inaugurated the Masonic Eye Centre at Janpath on Tuesday in the presence of the Northern Regional Grand Master RW Bro Anish Kumar Sharma.

The state of the art Eye Centre will provide free cataract surgeries for poor patients and has been set up at a cost of over Rs. 1.50 crore funded by liberal donations/contributions from Brethren of northern region, Grand Lodge of India and General Williams Masonic Polyclinic.

The charitable project will a go long way in serving the society, particularly the weaker sections.

Uzbekistan issues stamp on Mahatma Gandhi

NEW DELHI, Oct 1: Uzbekistan Post Association “O’zbekiston Pochtasi” in a unique move in partnership with the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications will put into circulation from October 2 a postage stamp on the occasion of 150th birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The stamp depicts a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi with an inscription in Uzbek and English languages"150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi”. The stamp has been issued under the series of "Outstanding Leaders".

There will be several other events taking place in Uzbekistan dedicated to 150th anniversary of Gandhi-ji whose image, ideas and philosophy are quite popular among Uzbeks. Several avenues and streets in Uzbekistan carry the name of Mahatma Gandhi.

Last year Mahatma Gandhi’s book “Story of my life” was published in Uzbek language. During the Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s State visit to India last year he presented the Uzbek translation of Gandhi’s book to the President and Prime Minister.