Hyderabad, Oct. 16 -- Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee said strident nationalism diverts attention from pressing issues like poverty, especially in a country like India. The Indian-origin economist jointly won the 2019 Nobel Prize with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer.

According to an interview published in India Today, Banerjee also said that some sort of minimum income guarantee scheme is absolutely necessary for the country.

Banerjee stressed the need to have a space in which there can be disagreement on the fundamental ideas of what India constitutes, what is nationalism and what is economic progress.

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