Bengal has added yet another feather to its cap as Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee made the state proud by winning the prestigious Nobel Prize for Economics. Banerjee is the second economist from West Bengal after Amartya Sen who had won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998. It may be noted that Rabindranath Tagore was the first Bengali to have won the prize in Literature in 1913 for his collection of poems titled ‘Gitanjali’.
It also makes Banerjee the third Bengali from West Bengal to bag this world renowned and prestigious award. So far, Kolkata has produced six Nobel laureates including Banerjee. Nobel Prize winners who have been associated with Kolkata are Sir Ronald Ross (for Medicine in 1902), Rabindranath Tagore (for Literature in 1913), CV Raman (for Physics in 1930), Mother Teresa (for Peace in 1979), Amartya Sen (for Economics in 1998) and now Abhijit Banerjee (for Economics). Meanwhile, joy and excitement are palpable in South Point High School this afternoon as the news of Banerjee getting Nobel Prize in Economics reached the city.
Reminiscing about her school days with Banerjee, his batch-mate and biology teacher of the school, Sharmila Dey Sarkar said: “We studied in same section from class VII to X. I remember him as a very shy, reticent and gentle boy who used to keep to himself most of the time. He was very passionate about sports especially football.”