Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee criticises Centre over fiscal policy

Banerjee, who is also the chairperson of the Global Advisory Board on the Covid-19 pandemic set up by the West Bengal government, said while speaking on the continuous increase in cess for the last seven years, "The government has a fiscal problem. This is a government that has more faith in balancing the budget than realising the actual problem. I have been in favour of more free-spending policies. This (increase of cess) is because of that."