'Nations should not give shelter to economic fugitives'

Imploring industry bodies to weed out "black sheeps" who give a bad name to the business community, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday asked various nations to reach a consensus to not provide shelter to fugitives involved in economic offences.

"In the wake of the economic offences by some individuals, I implore industry bodies to weed out black sheep who give a bad name to the business community," he said at "The Huddle," a thought conclave held by 'The Hindu' here.

"Time also has come for various nations to arrive at a consensus in not providing shelter to economic fugitives," he added.

These remarks come in the wake of industrialist Vijay Mallya's possible extradition to India from the United Kingdom.

A UK court on December 10 last year had ordered the extradition of Mallya, who is wanted in India for alleged fraud and money laundering involving an estimated Rs 9,000 crore.

"It should be remembered that such economic offences pose a direct challenge to a nation's health and wealth," Naidu said.

Voicing concern about the disruptions in the functioning of Parliament and legislatures, Naidu said the time has come for political parties to evolve a code of conduct for their MPs and MLAs and ensure effective functioning if these Houses have to fulfil the aspirations of people.

"It is truly unfortunate that disorder and disruptions have become the order of the day," he said.

He said he also felt that political parties should not resort to populist, impractical and short-term promises to win elections as the country's economy would suffer in the long-term due to unproductive schemes.

"We need to empower people to stand on their feet, rather than making them increasingly dependent on governments," Naidu said.

The vice-president said the delicate balance between the executive, legislature and judiciary should be maintained at all times and nobody should encroach into the domain of the other.

"The wheels of democracy will run smoothly as long as each wing functions within its demarcated domain and not overstep into other's jurisdiction," he added.

Naidu said the other major challenge the country needs to address on a war footing is the deficiencies in infrastructure development and the central government is already addressing the issue by building road and highway networks, developing ports and promoting regional air connectivity.

The Public-Private Partnership projects have to be scaled up for accelerating the pace of infrastructure development and need to promote massive infrastructure projects for the country to compete with other countries, Naidu said.

On the media scenario in India, he said some of the news stories are slanted to suit the views of the management and media outlets are being started for commercial and political considerations, not for providing pure and unadulterated news to the people.

Mindless sensationalism and paid news are some of the concerns that media professionals themselves need to address, he added.

Media associations should also come out with a code of conduct for journalists to ensure professional integrity, the vice-president said.