Feature
With Senate okay, Nikki Haley makes history
Washington: The US Senate has confirmed Nikki Haley to the cabinet-level position of ambassador to the UN, marking a major milestone in Indian American ascendancy in US politics. Haley, who has said she would work to reform the UN, was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump and won the support of an overwhelming Senate majority cutting across the political divide on Tuesday. She got 96 votes with only four diehard Democrats voting against her.
The post of the US ambassador to the UN is considered the second highest-profile diplomatic job after the Secretary of State and requires Senate approval. The historic Senate approval for the first Indian American to hold a cabinet-level position came a few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had a telephonic conversation. On Monday, Trump appointed Ajit Pai as Chairman of the powerful Federal Communications Commission, which regulates phone, internet, TV, radio and cable.
Earlier he nominated Seema Verma to head the government health insurance programmes. Before the vote, Ben Cardin, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), said Haley represents the best in the American story of immigration. The daughter of Indian immigrants in South Carolina, she faced discrimination as a child but overcame it, rising to become the Governor of the state, he said. Haley has no diplomatic or foreign policy experience. Chris Coons, one of the four Democrats to oppose her, said he was against her appointment because she lacked the “high level of expertise on international affairs”.
Cardin countered this by saying that she had the skills to persuade others and build coalitions, an asset to further US policies and interests at the UN. He was impressed by her performance as Governor in dealing with a tragedy when a white racist killed nine African Americans in a church and in bringing the state together to agree to take down the Confederate flag, a symbol of racism and slavery, in its capital. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of SFRC, said she was a “fierce advocate” for US values and interests and had the right instincts for the job.
At her confirmation hearings last week, Haley had spoken about her achievements in negotiating with corporate leaders to get businesses to invest in her state. One of her successes was getting Boeing to set up an aircraft factory in the state. She took a hard line against Russia, a position that puts her at odds with Trump. She said she would not hesitate to challenge Trump in the cabinet, a statement that endeared her to the Democrats. She also spoke of her immigrant parents and her struggle as an Indian American child in racially polarized South Carolina.
Her father, Ajit Singh Randhwa, wearing a red turban, sat proudly behind her during the hearings. While a student, she worked as an accountant in her mother’s import business. Her husband, Michael, served in the US military in Afghanistan. They have a son and a daughter. Although she converted to Christianity when she got married, she has continued to attend Sikh religious ceremonies. She and her husband visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar while she was on a business visit to India in 2014.
A rising star of the Republican Party, Haley, 44, has had an impressive career. In 2010, she became the first woman to be elected Governor of the conservative southern state and the second Indian American, after Bobby Jindal, to hold the position. During her election campaign, she overcame vicious personal attacks and impressed the state with her conservative but compassionate ideas. She criticized Trump during his election campaign for what she said were his negative views about immigrants. However, Trump reached out to her after the election and offered her the ambassadorship.
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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