Feature
Kerry speaks to Sharif to reduce India, Pakistan tensions
Washington: “Enormously concerned” over recent increase in tensions between India and Pakistan, US Secretary of State John Kerry has spoken with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to work out how to tamp them down, acknowledging that the latter had just finished a conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The increase “in the tensions publicly between India and Pakistan” over India’s surgical cross border strike against militants in Myanmar, was “of enormous concern to all of us for all the obvious reasons,” he said via teleconference Tuesday.
The 71-year-old diplomat, who suffered a broken leg two weeks ago, made a surprise appearance at the State Department’s daily press briefing on crutches on a television screen remotely from his Boston home.
“These are two very, very important countries playing a critical role with respect to regional interests,” said Kerry who broke his right femur in a bicycling accident in France and had surgery at a Boston hospital.
“And it’s very, very important that there be no misinterpretation or miscalculation with respect to any of the back-and-forth and the empowerment some entities might feel as a result of that,” he said.
“The prime minister was extremely forthcoming,” said Kerry adding, “He could not have been more direct. He had actually just finished a conversation himself with the prime minister of India,” Narendra Modi.
“And we welcomed some thinking together about how we can work, all of us, to try to reduce those tensions over the course of the next days and weeks,” he said.
Kerry, who was due to fly to Washington later Tuesday, did not say whether he had or planned to have similar conversations with Modi or other Indian officials.
After introducing the department’s new spokesman, John Kirby, on what was Kirby’s first day at the podium, Kerry gave a short statement starting with his conversation with Sharif earlier in the day about tensions between India and Pakistan.
He also tackled questions from reporters about the Iran nuclear talks, Syria and other hot issues.
After “spending a fair amount of time in the next few days focused on China for the Security & Economic Dialogue,” he would be going to Vienna “to conduct what one hopes would be the closeout” of Iran nuclear talks.
Kerry said the talks, which have a deadline of June 30, “remain tough,” but insisted the US had not changed its position “one iota” in recent months.
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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