Feature
Modi has changed terms of India-US engagement: Envoy
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has effectively laid the foundation for India’s rapid transformation and purposeful diplomacy leading to new terms of India’s engagement with the US, according to Indian Ambassador Arun K. Singh.
“As we celebrate one year of India’s current government, it is difficult not to see the changes in the way of doing business, and not to see in them cause for optimism,” he said Tuesday in a keynote address at the Asia Society in New York.
“Of course there is more to come in each of these, and I am confident that each passing year, we will make new progress,” Singh said speaking on the topic of “India under Modi: One Year In.”
Turning to what India’s transformative goals at home and creative diplomacy abroad mean for its relations with the US, Singh said: “In the past year, our relation with the US has been transformed.”
“The US was quick to offer to partner with India in realising the goals that our new Government set for India’s transformation, and as a result, the narrative in our relations has begun to reflect new found energy and optimism,” he said
“The excellent personal friendship” enjoyed by Modi and President Barack Obama has “provided a solid political foundation for our overall relationship,” Singh said.
While Obama became the first US President to visit India twice in his tenure, Modi’s “visit to the US last September allowed high-level engagement with the many stakeholders of our relations” in the US, he said.
Modi “further expanded the canvas of our interaction with the US by giving full play to the role of the enterprising and high-achieving Indian-American community,” Singh said.
“In two summits with the US in four months, the Government addressed lingering differences with the US on nuclear liability, injected new energy into defence and economic cooperation, and explored pragmatic ways forward on IPR issues and climate change,” Singh said.
“Bold new initiatives were taken” and the two summits “created new milestones, new expectations and new excitement, Singh said asserting, “Sound progress has been made to implement the vision of our leaders.”
“I would argue that we are at a qualitatively different phase in India’s domestic transformation, in India’s foreign policy approaches and in India’s engagement with the US than we were a year ago,” the ambassador said.
“The last year has been used effectively to lay the foundation for India’s rapid transformation and for robust and purposeful diplomacy, which have also led to new terms of India’s engagement with the US,” Singh said.
Turning to India’s broader external engagement, the envoy said, “In the last one year, foreign policy has seen emphasis as a dynamic tool for the government’s quest to accelerate India’s transformation and leverage India’s strengths to promote development in our region, under the motto of ‘diplomacy for development’.”
“Enhanced engagement with neighbours in South Asia and in the Indian Ocean Region has been a hallmark of the government’s diplomacy,” he said.
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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