Feature
Land bill heads for Rajya Sabha hurdle
New Delhi: The contentious land bill might have smoothly sailed through the Lok Sabha due to the NDA’s brute majority, but the government seems headed for trouble in the Rajya Sabha with the opposition determined to stall its passage.
A majority of opposition parties, including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Left parties, have already made it clear that the bill should go to a select committee. The bill, meant to replace an ordinance amending the 2013 land acquisition act, was passed by the Lok Sabha after nine amendments amid a walkout by the Congress and other opposition parties.
But, with its higher numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the opposition has been giving the government a difficult time.
“A select committee will be the best platform to discuss the bill on which there are so many differences of opinion. The way the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha was an example of government bulldozing its way through,” Congress member of Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari told IANS.
“As of now, the opposition feels the bill must go to a select committee,” he added.
Echoing this, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said that his party felt a select committee was best suited to deal with the bill.
“Since they did not send it to a standing committee, a select committee will be the platform where all views can be taken into account,” Agarwal told IANS.
CPI MP D. Raja told IANS: “Despite the amendments, our opposition to the bill continues and we are waiting for it to be sent to a select committee”.
NDA ally Shiv Sena, which abstained from voting on the bill in the Lok Sabha, has decided that all three of its MPs will also abstain in the upper house.
Sources said BJP leaders are trying to convince Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray that the bill, with the nine amendments passed in the lower house, allays their
apprehensions.
“As of now, the decision is if there is voting, our members will abstain,” a Shiv Sena MP said.
Though the business advisory committee of the upper house has not listed the bill for the coming week, opposition members said they were well prepared if it was brought.
“There were bills that the government brought even though they were not brought up in the BAC meeting last week. So we need to be prepared if at all the land bill is brought,” a Congress leader, who did not want to be
named, told IANS.
Government sources, however, said getting the general and railway budgets and the mines and coal bills passed was their top priority and the land bill is likely to be taken up in the second half of the session that begins on April 20.
The government, which faced a major embarrassment in the upper house when an amendment to the president’s address to a joint session of parliament was approved, was again seen to be on a back foot last week when its two crucial bills – Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 – were sent to a select panel.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2015, seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated last December which had amended certain provisions of the 2013 act passed during the UPA rule.
The key points which were removed from the earlier law related to the consent clause and the social impact assessment study.
The consent clause provided for 70-80 percent of those dependent on the land to agree to its acquisition. The social impact assessment clause entailed carrying out a study to examine the environmental impact and ensure rehabilitation of displaced people.
The government agreed to nine amendments to the bill to get it passed in the Lok Sabha. These included removing social infrastructure as an exempted category and ensuring that the bare minimum of land required for a
project is acquired.
Compulsory employment for at least one member of the affected family of a farm labourer has also been added as well as a clause that the Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation Authority should hold hearings in the district where the acquisition takes place.
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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