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Manmohan, Chidambaram helped Mallya get loans: BJP
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday alleged that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, helped industrialist Vijay Mallya get huge loans for bailing out the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Citing letters allegedly written by Mallya to both Singh and Chidambaram, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra demanded that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi come clean on the issue. Reading out the contents of the letters to the media, Patra said: “A bailout package was given to Kingfisher Airlines on Manmohan Singh’s insistence.”
“While an ordinary man goes through a lot of paper work and grilling to get a petty loan, Mallya procured loans worth Rs 9,000 crore without proper papers or proper accounts. “The often-asked question was, were their certain hidden hands pulling the string from behind? Was the sinking ship (Congress) helping the sinking airlines (KFA),” Patra said. “We now have certain emails, letters and correspondence that reveal that those hands belong to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Finance Minister Chidambaram,” said Patra.
The BJP leader also alleged that on “Manmohan Singh’s insistence”, the Income Tax Department went soft on Mallya and his accounts were also “unfrozen”. “Mallya is quite categorical in stating that certain time-critical fund releasing has to be done by the banks and the indulgence of Manmohan Singh is extremely important,” Patra said reading out a letter. “Letter after letter written to Manmohan Singh, Mallya says he needs the indulgence of the PM and certain funds are released,” said Patra.
Patra also claimed that Mallya had written a letter to Chidambaram asking him to ensure that the State Bank of India grants him a no-objection certificate (NOC) allowing his company United Spirits Limited (USL) to raise over Rs 2,000 crore through issue of shares on a preferential basis. “The SBI which did not want to indulge with a defaulter called Mallya was ready to give the NOC to the USL only because it was rebuked by Chidambaram,” alleged Patra while reading out the contents of the letter by Mallya. Patra also pointed fingers at the Congress’ top leadership. “Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi need to come out in public and declare in whose behest the then Prime Minister and his Finance Minister sanctioned loans to Mallya. They need to come clean on this,” added Patra.
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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