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Insurance, companies bills slated for coming week in parliament
New Delhi: Legislation to push economic reforms, including the insurance bill and the companies amendment bill, top government’s agenda for the upcoming week of parliament’s winter session, an official statement said.
The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, and The Companies Amendment bill will be taken up for consideration and passing in both houses in the week beginning Dec 15, a statement from the parliamentary affairs ministry said.
The insurance bill seeks to raise the cap for FDI in the sector from 26 percent to 49 percent.
The companies bill amends the law to provide stringent punishment for illegal money pooling activities, among other things.
A bill for amending the Lokpal and Lokayuktas act is also slated. The bill will amend the Lokpal Act and the law governing the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation to ensure there is no requirement of quorum in the respective selection panels for choosing the anti-corruption ombudsman or the CBI chief.
Earlier, the government amended the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act for including the leader of the single largest opposition party as a member of the selection committee to choose the CBI chief, instead of the leader of opposition as in the act earlier.
A statement from the government meanwhile said the winter session of parliament is set for a record performance in transacting legislative business, with the Lok Sabha passing 13 bills in first three weeks.
The Rajya Sabha, which saw atleast five days of government business being lost to protests, is lagging and has cleared nine bills so far.
The Rajya Sabha is still to take up four bills passed by the lower house.
These are The Appropriation Bill 2014, Payments and Settlement Systems(Amendment) Bill, The Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill and The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill.
“The legislative business transacted during the 15 sittings of the current winter session so far and the bills likely to be taken up during the remainder of the session of seven sittings will surpass by a wide margin the 12 bills passed during the budget session this year,” a statement from the parliamentary affairs ministry said.
The other bills proposed by the government for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha include The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014, The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014, The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Bill, 2014, The Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and The Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2014.
In Rajya Sabha, the other bills listed includes The Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and The Public Premises Bill, 2014.
Time has also been allocated for taking up two motions in Rajya Sabha relating to annulment and modification of the central government’s notification of Dec 2, 2014 seeking to increase the basic excise duty on petrol and diesel.
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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