Nobel laureates Dr Abhijit Banerjee, Dr Esther Duflo and Dr Michael Kremer received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics in Sweden Tuesday. But what caught the attention of Indians online was the fact that the Indian-Amercian economist and his wife wore traditional Indian attire to receive the award. In a nod to his Bengali roots, 58-year-old Banerjee donned a beige panjabi that he paired with a white gold-bordered dhoti and closed neck black vest. On the other hand, Duflo wore a blue-green silk saree with a red blouse and had Indians rooting for her choice of outfit. #NobelPrize 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/keRKiY5rUf — Rema Rajeshwari IPS (@rama_rajeswari) December 11, 2019 #AbhijitBanerjee and #EstherDuflo paying homage to India, in dhoti and saree, at the #nobelprize2019 ceremony. India celebrates them as they celebrate India. pic.twitter.com/vSzJ1csH7X — Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) December 11, 2019 The Dhoti and Saree are most impressive 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👏👏👏 — Dr Arvind Virmani (@dravirmani) December 10, 2019 The first #NobelPrize winner to collect her prize wearing a sari? — Karuna Ganesh (@KarunaMDPhD) December 11, 2019 Also #AbhijitBanerjee's Punjabi Bandhgala , Bong Dhoti , and Ms #EstherDuflo ' saree , were moments of pride reflecting plurality of our traditions and inseparable socio-cultural milieu👍👏👌✍️ — Rao Virendra Singh (@raovsingh) December 11, 2019 #NobelPrize Heartwarming to see Prof Banerjee being introduced as "husband of" co- Nobel Laureate Prof Duflo !! Plus both dressed in traditional Indian attire on this special day! 🙌🙌 So inspirational! #breakingstereotypes — Agrima Mian (@AgrimaMianMD) December 10, 2019 Proud to see both Prof Abhijit Banerjee and Prof Esther Duflo wore traditional Indian dress while receiving Noble. #Dhoti and #saree — RK Padhy (@rkpadhy) December 11, 2019 And sari! Also I love how he turned to put down his prize so he could clap for Esther. I would probably keep holding on and try to clap through it (not that I'd ever win a Nobel Prize, but you know) — a traveller (@a_traveller) December 10, 2019 Keeping the culture alive.even at the highest stage. Kudos 👏🙌 — Rohit Passi, MD (@passiMD) December 11, 2019 Proud ! This is the contribution of India to the world - I'd love to acknowledge and celebrate. Progressive academics that are rooted and unfraid to wear their culture and embrace that of their partner's. Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer! Powerful image of our times. — Ketaki (@Golty) December 11, 2019 The three economists were awarded the medals at the ceremony and the prize money of nine million Swedish krona (Rs 6.7 crore) will be shared among them. Banerjee is the second Indian after Amartya Sen to win the Nobel prize in Economics. Like Sen, Banerjee, too, is an alumnus of Presidency College, now Presidency University. The trio’s research has, over the last two decades, helped obtain reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty. Their work has revolved around identifying “low-hanging fruits”, which are often the most effective interventions in improving outcomes in health and education for the poor. Their work — breaking down the problem of global poverty into a number of smaller and more precise questions at individual and group level — has redefined research in development economics over the last 20 years.
