Feature
Government ready to discuss all burning issues in Parliament
New Delhi: As the budget session of parliament is all set to begin on Tuesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today stated that the central government is ready for a discussion on all burning issues that include JNU row, the Jat agitation for job quotas and Dalit student suicide.
“Several parties want discussion on issues such as reservations, JNU and Hyderabad University. We are prepared for it,” Naidu told reporters after an all-party meeting today.
Urging the opposition parties to cooperate in running parliament smoothly, Naidu said everyone would have an opportunity to raise issues but discussion should take place according to rules.
There should be debate, but without disruption, said the minister.
Naidu said Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill and real estate bill were key reform legislation that need to be passed in the budget session.
He said the government has been trying consistently to make parliament function smoothly, as reflected in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting last week with leaders of political parties.
All parties had said that the house should function normally so that legislative bills could be passed, Naidu said.
Smaller parties complained that they do not get opportunity to raise their issues if there is tussle between larger parties, he said.
The government was also keen on discussion on issues that generated heat in the last few weeks, such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy.
“We want a detailed discussion on JNU. People should know what really happened there, the cause and the consequence of the act,” he said.
The minister said there will be 32 items of business in the forthcoming session, including the GST bill.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that Congress would extend its support to the bills based on their merit.
Running parliament was the responsibility of the government and the opposition could not be blamed on the issue, Azad said.
He said Congress would raise issues concerning terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase on January 2, JNU, and Hyderabad University.
Referring to the violence at Patiala House Court where JNU students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar was produced on the charge of sedition, Azad said the government was not able to prevent the violence.
He said generations of Congressmen have been making sacrifices for the country and the party does not need lessons from the BJP in patriotism.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the government has not accepted the party’s demands on the GST bill.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury accused the government of “continuously spoiling the atmosphere in the country”.
Yechury said the government should fix time for discussion on all important issues.
The JNU has been on the boil after a police crackdown on students accused of shouting anti-India slogans.
There has also been unrest and violence arising out of demonstrations in Haryana by members of the Jat community to demand reservations in education and jobs.
Earlier, Hyderabad Central University had erupted into protests against alleged harassment of Dalit students following the suicide on January 17 of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.
Among those present in the meeting were Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, and Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
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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