Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee visits alma mater JNU

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee visited his alma mater Jawaharlal Nehru University on Saturday.

Banerjee, who completed his Masters in economics from JNU in 1983, arrived in the university early in the morning and later met Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, sources said.

There was, however, no word from administration officials on his visit.

Banerjee gave an interview to a news channel while he was on campus and visited the administration block, the sources said. He also visited the Brahmaputra Hostel.

Students said he was present on campus for some time but did not interact much.

While studying in JNU in 1983, Banerjee was among several students who had courted arrest following a standoff with the administration at the time. He was lodged in Tihar for 10 days although charges against him were dropped.

Banerjee used to participate in debates and discussions on politics during his university days but never ventured into campus electoral politics.

Couple Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize with Harvard's Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".