Feature
Nine bills passed by Rajya Sabha during winter session
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha managed to pass only nine bills throughout the winter session which began on November 26, with a bulk going through on Wednesday, the last day of the session.
The bills passed by the Rajya Sabha are:
* The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill: The bill seeks to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The Act defines promissory notes, cheques and specifies penalties for bouncing of cheques, and other violations.
* The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill: The bill amends the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The new offences added to the act under the Bill include garlanding with footwear, compelling to dispose or carry human or animal carcasses, or do manual scavenging, abusing SCs or STs by caste name in public, attempting to promote feelings of ill-will against SCs or STs or disrespecting any deceased person held in high esteem, and imposing or threatening a social or economic boycott.
*The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill – It provides for the trial of those between 16-18 years as adults for heinous offences. Also, anyone between the age of 16-18 who commits a less serious offence may be tried as an adult if he is apprehended after he attains the age of 21.
* The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill – It enables the creation of commercial divisions in high courts, and commercial courts at the district level.
* The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill – The bill replaces an ordinance. Under the Act, the relevant court for all arbitration matters would be a principal civil court or high court with original jurisdiction. The ordinance modified this to state that in the case of international arbitration, the relevant court would only be the high court having original ordinary jurisdiction.
* The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill – The bill proposes to amend the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. The Act empowers the central government to produce, develop, control, and use atomic energy.
Under the Act, a government company is one in which at least 51 percent of the paid-up share capital is held by the central government.
The bill expands this definition to include companies where the whole of the paid up share capital is held by one or more government company and whose articles of association empower the central government to constitute its Board of Directors. This provision will allow for the formation of joint ventures between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and other government companies.
* The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill – The bill amends the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. The Act provides for the annual payment of bonus to employees of certain establishments (including factories and establishments employing 20 or more persons). Under the Act, bonus is calculated on the basis of the employee’s salary and the profits of the establishment.
* The Appropriation Bills – These are money bills, which the Rajya Sabha returned to the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has limited power with money bills. Even if it does not return a bill to the lower house, it is deemed as passed by both houses in 14 days.
Apart from these, the house referred The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015, was referred to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.
On Wednesday, government also tried to pass a bill on the sugar cess, but following objections from the members, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien decided not to take it up. Presented as a money bill by government, it will be deemed as passed in 14 days.
The winter session concluded on Wednesday.
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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