"I am very honoured to have the opportunity to serve as the Economic Advisor to the Hon'able Chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan," she said in an email from Harvard University.
Making clear she would continue as a full time professor at the Harvard, she said she was "humbled by the opportunity to contribute her skills and effort to development of Kerala. I am hopeful that under the leadership of CM, the state will make great strides in achieving its development goals."
She said it was important to recognise that the post of advisor was an 'honorary' position, that there was no remuneration, and there was no expectation she would move to Thiruvananthapuram to engage on a daily basis with government or be involved in all its economic policy decisions.
The appointment of Gopinath as the economic advisor to Vijayan heading the LDF government has triggered a controversy following reports that she was a supporter of neo-liberal policies and her line was stark contrast to the Left line.
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While CPI, a major partner in the LDF, said it was the Chief Minister's discretion to appoint a person to advise him on financial matters, Kerala PCC President, V M Sudheeran, wanted Vijayan to explain how a "supporter" of neo-liberal policies, will go along with the Left policies.
Gopinath, whose parents hail from northern Kannur district, said she also hoped to play a 'convening role' to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala, including Public finance, labour, economics and entrepreneurship.
In both these tasks, her role will be confined entirely to 'providing advice' and to make connections for the various departments, she said adding it would then be upto the CM to consider it and upto the relevant departments to continue conversations with the various sector experts.
Gopinath said the state has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education, and she hoped to "contribute towards further developing sustainable policies that address its unique opportunities and challenges.