Feature
Indian origin CEO abused ‘Pig’ asked to ‘go back’ by Trump supporter
Washington: Once again an Indian origin man faces racist attack in the USA, the Indian CEO was asked to “go back to India” after he made a comment that he will not support Donald Trump’s economic agenda after the President defended white supremacists following the Virginia violence.
US-born Ravin Gandhi, 44, founder and CEO of GMM Nonstick Coatings, a global supplier of coatings for cookware and bakeware, wrote an op-ed for CNBC following Trump’s Charlottesville remarks but was quickly trolled and racially abused by readers.
Ravin said “I recently told a news paper I was ‘rooting’ for certain aspects of Trump’s economic agenda,” Gandhi wrote in the op-ed.
“After Charlottesville and its aftermath, I will not defend Trump even if the Dow hits 50,000, unemployment goes to 1 per cent, and GDP grows by 7 per cent. Some issues transcend economics, and I will not in good conscience support a president who seems to hate Americans who don’t look like him.”
Hundreds of white supremacists clashed with counter demonstrators at a rally in Charlottesville on August 12 in which a 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 injured when a car drove into a crowd of protesters.
Gandhi was soon bombarded by hate comments on his opinion piece, including a voicemail from a woman who said Gandhi should “get your **** garbage and go back to India.”
The woman, using abusive and inappropriate language, told Gandhi that he should also take “that other half- **** Bangladesh **** with you, Nikki Haley,” referring to the US envoy to the UN.
“She’s (Haley) the one that started all this when she took down the Confederate flag. So don’t tell us that you gave him a chance. We don’t give a **** who you gave a chance, OK? We’re going to start taking down Buddhist statues and see how you and Nikki Haley like that,” the woman said.
In the minute and a half voicemail she said Gandhi should “go clean up your own **** country, it’s a filthy mess.” Gandhi posted the voicemail to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook and shared some of the nastier emails he received as well.
“It was obvious that people thought my professional position somewhat protected me,” he said. “I wanted to show people that racism is blind to socioeconomic. Even though my race is a complete non-issue in my day-to-day life, the sad reality is there’s a group of racists in the USA that views me as a second-class citizen,” he said.
Gandhi added that the fact that Trump “equated hate groups with those protesting hate lit me up” as he called Trump’s moral leadership on the issue “reprehensible.”
He said while his sharing a “bigoted” voicemail may not make a big difference, but he will speak out against such abuse as long as he has a platform to do so.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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