It is something that we need: Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Aayushman Bharat scheme

Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Tuesday said the "Aayushman Bharat" scheme is much needed and added that we need to find ways so that people don't lose all their assets when somebody in the family gets sick.

"I think it is very needed. It does something very important which is it deals with the fact that healthcare expenses wipe families out. It does something very important there. I think it is something that we need. We need to find ways so that families don't lose all their assets when somebody in the family gets sick. So, I think it serves a very important gap in our economic structure," he said while addressing a press conference here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Nobel Prize 2019 winner Abhijit Banerjee here on Tuesday and said that the latter's passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible, and the country is proud of his achievements.

"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," the Prime Minister tweeted alongside a photo of the meeting.

Banerjee, an Indian-origin economist and an academic professor, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences along with his French-American wife Esther Duflo and American economist Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

The 58-year-old Kolkata-born economist is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.