Feature
Over 10,000 Indian workers facing ‘food crisis’ in Saudi Arabia
New Delhi: In what has come as a shocking development, over 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia are facing a “food crisis”, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.
“The number of Indian workers facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia is over Ten Thousand,” Sushma Swaraj said in a tweet.
“It is not 800 as is being reported,” she said.
Appealing to the over three million-strong expatriate Indian population in the Gulf kingdom to “help your brothers and sisters”, she said: “There is nothing mightier than the collective will of Indian nation.”
Earlier on Saturday, she said that a large number of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
“The employers have not paid wages, closed down their factories,” she said, adding that Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh would be going to Saudi Arabia to sort out the issue.
She stated this in response to a tweet from a man who said that over 800 jobless Indians have been starving for three days in Jeddah.
“We have asked the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to serve you food in Jeddah,” Sushma Swaraj said.
“My colleague @Gen_VKSingh is reaching Saudi Arabia to sort out all such matters,” she stated.
She said that while the situation in Kuwait was manageable, matters were much worse in Saudi Arabia.
Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar would be taking up the issue with the Saudi and Kuwaiti authorities, she said.
“I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food,” Sushma Swaraj said in another tweet.
“I am monitoring this on hourly basis,” she added.
Following this, the man who had tweeted about the situation in Jeddah, again tweeted pictures of Indians queuing up for food.
Meanwhile, an Indian community member who has been actively involved in the food distribution work told IANS over phone from Jeddah that there are at least seven distribution camps around that Saudi city.
“We have provided food to four camps around Jeddah in the last three days and the remaining three camps will be covered in a day or two,” he said.
He said that in the last three days, Indian consulate officials and community members in Jeddah have provided 15,475 kg of foodstuffs besides cooking ingredients and 1,850 readymade food packets.
Food was distributed among about 3,000 Indian workers on Saturday, it is learnt.
These workers have been laid off by Saudi Oger, a leading Saudi construction company.
The community worker said that there has been a slowdown in the Saudi construction industry because of the fall in global crude oil prices.
“Not only Saudi Arabia, it has been happening in all Gulf countries,” he said.
While Saudi Arabia has over three million expatriate Indians, there are over 800,000 of them in Kuwait. Most of them are blue collars.
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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