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Modi government attacking people’s right to dissent: PUCL
Patna: The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is suppressing people’s voice, according to a senior executive of a human rights body.
The vice president of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Kavita Srivastava, said the right to dissent had come under vigorous attack ever since the Modi government came to power at the Centre.
“The Modi government has shown a complete lack of humanitarian point of view in their development model. Interference in the fundamental rights of people has increased. There is no right to dissent,” Kavita told IANS here.
A majoritarian assault with state consent had also increased against those who raise questions or oppose them, which was a dangerous trend for a democratic setup like India, she added.
She said the BJP-led government feared any kind of questions and challenge to their stand on various issues. “In fact, democracy is under threat when right to dissent is under attack,” she said.
Kavita was in Patna to deliver a lecture to mark the birth anniversary of former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Chandrasekhar, who was shot dead in Bihar’s Siwan district in 1997.
“It is due to the new character of the Indian state that corporate raj and Hindutva raj have gained legitimacy to deal mercilessly with those opposing their interests,” Kavita said.
The PUCL vice president said the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) role in governance has increased after Modi became the prime minister. “Modi is the best person to push forward the Hindutva agenda and the BJP victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was a defining moment for the RSS,” she said.
“The RSS mindset has been working fast after Modi came to power. The RSS policy is that if you insist on a different point of view or disagree with the RSS, they will eliminate you. The legacy of Godse (Nathuram, who shot dead Mahatma Gandhi) is being resurrected to silence the likes of Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi,” Kavita said.
The PUCL vice president said the government was also trying to look at what we eat or not, though it was a personal choice.
Pushing vegetarianism in midday meals was a wrong idea and would deprive the poor children of nutrition, she said and added that meat ban and beef ban were part of an attack on civil liberties of the people.
Kavita also said that different tools were being deployed to intimidate non-governmental organisations, civil societies and trusts like the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
“Look at the Intelligence Bureau report, which says PUCL is a threat to the national security. It questions our right to hold seminars. Why can’t we hold seminars? Democracy exists due to questions,” she said.
She said the BJP government at the Centre had also undermined merit. “The BJP government has brought in all those with no experience in their respective field to head different institutions. They are extremely mediocre people. They want to hijack all national institutions.”
“Appointments made in Film and Television Institute of India, the Censor Board, Indian Council of Historical Research and Nehru Museum are examples. One thing is clear that the RSS has played a role in all appointments,” Kavita said.
She said that union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma’s statement that former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was a nationalist despite being a Muslim pointed to the mindset of the RSS which still looked at Muslims with suspicion.
“Two corporate-Hinduvta think tanks – India Foundation and Vivekanand Foundation – have become active like never before ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre. Every Wednesday, three union ministers attend their meetings since it is important for the government,” Kavita said.
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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