Feature
Our milk safe, faulty samples taken before processing: Mother Dairy
New Delhi: The state-run processed foods giant Mother Dairy on Wednesday said its milk is safe for consumption and the two samples that were found to be sub-standard were drawn before these could be taken to its factories for quality tests and processing.
“It is unfortunate that loose milk samples, collected at village level and yet to be accepted for processing at our factory, allegedly did not pass the tests of the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drugs Administration,” said S. Nagarajan, Mother Dairy managing director.
“The milk sample reported has been drawn even before reaching the chilling centre where the first level of testing happens to ascertain the quality of milk for further processing,” Nagarajan told a press conference here.
He also said it was unfair to link the samples tested by the food safety authority, that were not processed, to the company. “This erodes the confidence of the consumer.”
The press meet was called to explain the company’s stand after two samples of Mother Dairy milk were taken and one of them tested positive for detergents. Ram Naresh Yadav, chief of the food safety body in Agra, said they were drawn from collection centres near Agra in November 2014.
“The samples were sent to the Lucknow lab which declared both of them substandard. The company challenged the results and demanded the samples be sent to the Kolkata lab which too found them defective. The Kolkata lab found one sample contained detergent,” Yadav told IANS on Tuseday.
Nagarajan said the future course of action was being decided.
“We haven’t received the tests from Kolkata lab yet, and we shall work with the food regulatory authority regarding the issue,” he said.
Nagarajan also sought to explain the process and said milk is first pooled from farmers and then sent to chilling centres through tankers. Every can is then distilled and processed with four levels of thorough testing — at input, processing, dispatch and even after they reach the market.
“As a responsible organisation we follow 100 percent testing protocol, not random testing.”
Added Ram Mohan, the company’s operations head: “For the past 45 years we have been following the same food safety procedures before they reach the market. We check for quality levels even after the products are in the market to ensure that the product available is safe for consumption.”
Answering a question if there was any testing done at the collection centres, Nagarajan said the mechanisms are still being developed by its parent organisation, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), with the company’s own team to detect adulteration at that stage itself.
He said the company does not want the consumer confidence to be lost.
The NDDB-owned Mother Dairy supplies more than 35 lakh litres of milk everyday. The milk is processed in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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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