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Terror strikes will not hit economy: Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: The recent terror strikes in commercial hubs should not create any fear psychosis, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said, adding such incidents would not affect the country’s economic prospects or investment climate.

He gave this assurance to captains of industry at the Indian Economic Summit here on Monday. The event has been organised by the World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Referring to the naxal issue, the Minister said the Centre had drawn up elaborate plans to deal with the menace. The naxalite problem is the single biggest threat to internal security and industrialists were scared to set up plants in the affected areas.

Rejecting the view that India failed to tackle terror, Deputy National Security Adviser Shekhar Dutt said security issues were uppermost in the minds of State and Central authorities.

The approach had to be one of negotiations, he said and suggested better sharing of information between the Centre and the States. Pointing out that the country has a long and porous border, he favoured issue of national identity cards to all citizens to help the security forces in identifying people.

To a question whether there were loopholes in laws that resulted in a low rate of conviction, Mr. Dutt said a lot of evidence was needed before someone was convicted.

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