Chennai, Jun 21 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Governor, Banwarilal Purohit during his address on the first day of the newly constituted Tamil Nadu assembly, said that the government is constituting an Economic Advisory Council to the chief minister with Noble Laureate Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as a member.

Duflo is a French–American economist who is a professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which was established in 2003. She is the wife of Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee.

The other members of the advisory committee are former Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Aravind Subramanian, Development Economist Jean Dreze and former union finance secretary S. Narayan.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his address to the Tamil Nadu assembly said, "The government will revitalize the state's economy and ensure that the benefits of economic development reach all segments of the society after the recommendations of the Economic advisory committee."

The Governor also said that a white paper detailing the exact position of the state's finances will be released in July to make the people of the state fully informed. A detailed and in-depth study on the overall debt burden of the state and improving the fiscal position will be conducted.

A separate annual budget for agriculture will be introduced for increasing the productivity of agriculture and to protect farmer's welfare, Governor said.

He said, "Government will take all steps to achieve the target of 125 metric tonnes of food production in 2021-22". The Governor in his address also said that water for Kuruvai cultivation has already been released.

The Governor in his address said that with the possibility of a Covid-19 third wave being warned by the health experts, the government would take all necessary steps to counter the pandemic wave.

He also said that the government would make requisite changes to undo the previous orders, to provide preference to Tamil medium and government school educated students in recruitment of government jobs.

The Tamil Nadu governor also said that the government would protect the interests of the fishing community and will take up the issue of retrieval of Katchatheevu with the Union government.