Feature
RS privilege panel urged to review report on Jaitley
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha members on Thursday said the privileges committee of the house should re-examine its report that the tapping of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s telephone, when he was leader of opposition, was not a “breach of privilege”.
Members also said the scope of study should be expanded to overall phone-tapping, while Congress leader Anand Sharma sought an independent probe into the incidents of phone-tapping overall.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal.
“The committee said tapping of Arun Jaitley’s phone is not a breach of privilege. If it is so, any government can tap our phones,” Agarwal said.
He was joined by Congress leader Anand Sharma, who said phones of many prominent people are being tapped.
“This house, even before the matter went to privileges committee, entire opposition had questioned who is giving authorisation for tapping… Not just here, many are complaining of phone-tapping. We also asked PM who is tapping the phones,” said Anand Sharma.
“We cannot allow India to become a state where there is atmosphere of distrust and it becomes a police state… there should be an independent enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge,” he said.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it would be good if the privileges committee reviews the report. “It would be better if the committee reviews the report.”
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said that the committee may “enlarge” its subject from Jaitley’s phone-tapping to overall phone-tapping incidents.
Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, who heads the privileges committee, said he will see the rules and come back to the house on how to revisit the report.
Former deputy chairman and Congress leader K. Rahman Khan said the scope of subject under consideration of the privileges committee could be expanded as it has been done earlier as well.
“The report is before house. It can discuss or reject. Taking in account suggestions to revisit, I will see how it can be done and come back to the house,” said Kurien.
The case of tapping Jaitley’s phone came to light in 2013, when Delhi Police constable Arvind Dabas was arrested after he allegedly tried to get access to Jaitley’s Call Details Records (CDRs).
The matter was then referred to the privileges committee.
Dabas tried to get the CDRs of Jaitley, now union finance minister, by using the login of an assistant commissioner of police.
A report of the Rajya Sabha privileges committee, presented on Wednesday, said Dabas’s act was not a breach of privilege.
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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