New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) Amid the ongoing agitation by farmers against the Centre's new farm laws, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said all doubts can be solved through constructive dialogue.

He also expressed concern over the increasing influence of ‘cast, criminality, community and cash' in politics and asked people to give preference to ‘calibre, conduct, capacity and character' while electing their representatives.

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Naidu appealed to the people to elect their representatives and the governments on the basis of their performance.

He was speaking during an online interaction with members of Young Presidents' Organisation-Greater India Chapter in Visakhapatnam.

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Calling politics “a mission to serve the people”, he expressed concern over the increasing tendency to resort to populism instead of long term constructive policies.

"On the farmers issue, the vice president said all doubts can be solved through constructive dialogue," an official statement said.

Thousands of farmers have been staying put at Delhi border points -- Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla (Delhi-Noida) -- for nearly two weeks in protest against the new farm laws.

The government had on Thursday asked farmer groups to reconsider its proposals for amending the Acts to address their concerns, and said it was open to discussing its offer further whenever the unions want, but the protesters remained defiant and threatened to block railway tracks in addition to the highways.

At least five rounds of formal talks have taken place between the central government and representatives of protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana.

The deadlock, however, has continued with the unions sticking to their main demand for repeal of the three contentious laws, and repeatedly rejecting the Centre's offer to make some changes in the law and give written assurances or clarifications on issues such as MSP and mandi systems.

Naidu, who is also Rajya Sabha chairperson, expressed concern over the declining standards of debates in Parliament and state legislatures.

“The level of discourse is going down everywhere,” he said, adding that in the past debates used to be dignified and peppered with wit and humour.

He urged legislators to discuss, debate and decide and not disrupt the proceedings. He also advised politicians to consider their opponents as rivals and not enemies, the statement said.

Noting that the constructive contribution by the members in Parliament was not getting the attention it deserved in media, the vice president urged the Fourth Estate to give more attention to the positive work being done by Parliament.

Observing that the credibility of media was declining, he said ‘newspapers' have become 'views-paper', the statement said.

Reminding the young CEOs about the ancient Indian values like 'share' and ‘care', Naidu underlined the importance of giving back to the society. He also remembered Nanaji Deshmukh with gratitude and said his life inspired him to start Swarna Bharat Trust to serve the society.

Calling the young entrepreneurs as the future of the country, the vice president said there is no lack of talent in India.

He also termed businessmen as “wealth creators” of the nation, and called for adoption of ethical corporate governance by the Indian industry. Observing that some people have brought a bad name to the business community through their actions, Naidu emphasised the need to maintain ethics and standards, it said.

Rejecting the notion that one can succeed in life only by studying in English medium, the vice president cited several examples of eminent personalities such as A P J Abdul Kalam who had their schooling in their mother tongues.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)