COVID-19: Abhijit Banerjee also expressed hope that the Indian economy can return to normal within a year
Calcutta:
Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee has backed the West Bengal government’s decision to support the Durga puja state committees with Rs 50,000 each, saying the organizers need the additional amount to adopt COVID-19 security protocols.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced on September 24 the grant of 50,000 rupees for each of the 36,946 Durga Puja community committees in the state at the time of COVID-19.
It has attracted criticism from various quarters and was also challenged in the Calcutta High Court.
However, he found the support of the economist who won the Nobel Prize in 2019.
“It is not a bad decision considering the additional expense of the bidding committees to implement security measures,” he said while answering a question during an interview with the vernacular news channel ABP Ananda.
The state government had told the court that the grant is for “secular purposes” such as buying Covid security equipment and to tie in with the public police. However, the high court on Monday ordered that all Durga Puja pandalos across the state be declared no-entry zones to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee also said he was concerned that gathering large numbers of people to visit pandals could increase COVID-19 cases in the state, and urged people to take responsibility for the sake of safety.
He also expressed hope that the Indian economy can return to normal to a large extent in one year outpacing the slowdown induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has seriously affected the economy and security against infection is also important. However, I believe that in a few years we will be able to recover greatly by helping to improve the job market,” Banerjee said in response to a query. on job losses during the crisis.
Mr Banerjee said that he was not opposed to the resumption of local train services as the trains have a better cross ventilation system compared to buses.
However, he said, there should be some restrictions and people must follow safety protocols, such as wearing masks.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
.
