At the India Today Conclave 2013, Banerjee, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, shared his views on the flaws in government policymaking, the pros and cons of subsidies and narratives about the poor. Banerjee reminded audiences that the poor "are not just victims, they have a sense of what they want, the life they want. Every time we make policies, we forget that they have ambitions, aspirations. They are not zombies".