Feature
EU-India summit expected by end of 2015
Brussels: The next summit between the European Union and India is expected to be held by the end of this year, probably in November, after a gap of nearly three years, according to EU and Indian officials.
Manjeev Singh Puri , Ambassador of India to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, speaking at an event on EU-India ties in Brussels on Tuesday, said “we hope we will be able to put together the big event that we believe can kickstart at the highest political level before the year is over.”
“There are conversations going on that. Politics has an important role to play. It has a leadership thrust ability, it has the ability to push things forward,” he noted.
“But I believe that business on the other hand is that engine which results in political leaders and everyone else also looking to move things forward,” he stated.
The speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan, will be leading a large parliamentary delegation to Brussels next week to strengthen bilateral parliamentary ties, announced Puri.
On his part, Zoran Stancic, European Commission Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology , said he “fully agrees that the long due summit which hopefully we will have this year could be a good opportunity where our political masters get together.”
The event titled ‘Europe, India and Modi – One year on’ was organised by a Brussels-based think tank, Friends of Europe, in association with Europe India Chamber of Commerce and Tata Consultancy Services.
The moderator of the event, Shada Islam, Director of Policy at Friends of Europe, lauded the Indian prime minister saying “Modi has been shaking up India and shaking up the world perception of India.”
“It is high time that the EU and India get their relationship to a new start. The sooner we get the deal on a free trade agreement, the better,” she said.
Speakers also addressed the issue of boosting the EU-India trade and investment flows which are still at a modest 72.5 billion and 5 billion euro respectively.
Another topic raised was how to overcome the present stalemate in negotiations on an EU-India Free Trade Agreement.
Other speakers at the event included Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, Shishir Bajoria, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and head of the Bajoria Group of Industries and Luisa Santos, Director for International Relations at the think tank BusinessEurope.
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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