A Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, Prof Michael Kremer, will deliver a lecture in the city on “Economics and Policy Innovation in India” on February 27. The lecture is being organised by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development and the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation, a non-political voluntary civic platform dedicated to sustainable development.Kremer, who is an American development economist, is a pioneer in using randomised controlled trials to test the effectiveness of anti-poverty interventions in education, health and agriculture. In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. He drew a lot of attention in the just concluded India AI Impact Summit, where he advocated public investment in AI applications that deliver public goods, where private incentives are lacking.In India, Kremer is actively involved as a policy adviser and researcher through the Development Innovation Lab – India. In Odisha, he is involved in the state’s development work for poverty reduction and rural development, besides helping the state integrate AI-based weather forecasting to predict pest incidence based on real time climate data. He is also promoting Personalised Adaptive Learning in schools in Andhra Pradesh, which has nearly doubled the rate of learning for students. He also works with the Central Square Foundation to build a roadmap for equitable learning in 14 Indian states.Among his most effective work is the digital advisory for farmers through the Human Centred Weather Forecasts initiative. His team has helped send weather and pest forecasts to over 38 million farmers across India to help improve crop yields.