News Analysis India

Tag: laws

  • Betting companies continue to flout I&B ministry norms

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: Last Saturday, the Road Safety World Series concluded with India Legends coasting past Sri La­nka Legends. The Sachin Te­ndulkar-led side opted to bat first, making 195 before bowling out the opposition for 162. What, though, caught the eye in Ra­i­pur wasn’t the names emblazo­ned on the back of the players’ jerseys. It was what was written on the front of the players’ jerseys — 1XBET.

    After opting for a subtle ‘1xBAT professional sportsblog’ (surrogate advertising) in the form of a pop-up advertisement during the Asia Cup and other events, the betting company were one of the sponsors for as many as three teams at the Road Safety World Series. Apart from Sri Lanka Legends, they occupied substantial real estate on the jerseys of both South Africa Legends and West Indies Legends.

    Considering it’s predomina­ntly a betting company, 1XBET is already flouting a few laws by continuing to operate in the Indian market. Spooked by the number of advertisements taken out by betting companies, the Central government even issued multiple strongly-worded advisories but that has seemingly had no effect.

    In fact, the ecosystem doesn’t just exist but it thrives. That’s a claim made by 1Win’s affiliate page on Instagram. “This region (India) is relevant as it has a high interest in gambling,” one of their stories informs viewers. Other companies also exist in India via surrogate advertising.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the Indian Super League (ISL), whose latest iteration began in Kochi on Friday. From cryptocurrency (socios.com) to sports betting news blogs (PariMatch News) to, even, seemingly a news website (Stake News) of stake.com (an online casino enterprise), they are all in India.

    Coming back to 1XBET, they are seemingly making a big play to grab even more eyeballs. Their latest move involves securing the services of Eva Elfie, an adult performer. On her Instagram page, Elfie posted a video of her promoting the company. “Bet you didn’t expect this!,” she posted. “I’m the new ambassador of @1xbeteng which means that there is a lot of cool stuff coming up. I can’t tell you everything now, but I’m sure that you gonna like it.”

    The focus on 1XBET is paramount because they have fallen foul of regulators worldwide. They were run out of UK partly ‘because of the use of pornography to promote its service,’ as football investigations website Josimar noted in an article. They also roped in the likes of World Cup winners Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, both of whom played in the India Legends side at the Road Safety World Series.

    This daily has learned that what 1XBET did with the three teams is outside the ambit of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). It’s up to the government to do something as this is a case of a sponsorship agreement.

    On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory apropos betting companies.  “It had come to the notice of the Government that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been showing advertisements of offshore online betting platforms as well as their surrogate news websites. The Advisories were supplemented with evidence which contained direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet.

    “In the Advisories, the Ministry has informed that online offshore betting platforms are now using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise the betting platforms on digital media. In such cases, the Ministry has found that the logos of surrogate news websites bear striking resemblance to betting platforms. Moreover, the Ministry has stated that neither the betting platforms nor the news websites are registered under any legal authority in India. Such websites are promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising. The Advisories issued by the Ministry stated that since betting and gambling is illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements of these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also illegal. The Advisories relied upon the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules, 2021.”

    So, does this mean advertisements of these “news websites” stop? Does this also mean sports teams cannot have sponsorship agreements with the same “news websites?” Only time will tell.

    CHENNAI: Last Saturday, the Road Safety World Series concluded with India Legends coasting past Sri La­nka Legends. The Sachin Te­ndulkar-led side opted to bat first, making 195 before bowling out the opposition for 162. What, though, caught the eye in Ra­i­pur wasn’t the names emblazo­ned on the back of the players’ jerseys. It was what was written on the front of the players’ jerseys — 1XBET.

    After opting for a subtle ‘1xBAT professional sportsblog’ (surrogate advertising) in the form of a pop-up advertisement during the Asia Cup and other events, the betting company were one of the sponsors for as many as three teams at the Road Safety World Series. Apart from Sri Lanka Legends, they occupied substantial real estate on the jerseys of both South Africa Legends and West Indies Legends.

    Considering it’s predomina­ntly a betting company, 1XBET is already flouting a few laws by continuing to operate in the Indian market. Spooked by the number of advertisements taken out by betting companies, the Central government even issued multiple strongly-worded advisories but that has seemingly had no effect.

    In fact, the ecosystem doesn’t just exist but it thrives. That’s a claim made by 1Win’s affiliate page on Instagram. “This region (India) is relevant as it has a high interest in gambling,” one of their stories informs viewers. Other companies also exist in India via surrogate advertising.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the Indian Super League (ISL), whose latest iteration began in Kochi on Friday. From cryptocurrency (socios.com) to sports betting news blogs (PariMatch News) to, even, seemingly a news website (Stake News) of stake.com (an online casino enterprise), they are all in India.

    Coming back to 1XBET, they are seemingly making a big play to grab even more eyeballs. Their latest move involves securing the services of Eva Elfie, an adult performer. On her Instagram page, Elfie posted a video of her promoting the company. “Bet you didn’t expect this!,” she posted. “I’m the new ambassador of @1xbeteng which means that there is a lot of cool stuff coming up. I can’t tell you everything now, but I’m sure that you gonna like it.”

    The focus on 1XBET is paramount because they have fallen foul of regulators worldwide. They were run out of UK partly ‘because of the use of pornography to promote its service,’ as football investigations website Josimar noted in an article. They also roped in the likes of World Cup winners Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, both of whom played in the India Legends side at the Road Safety World Series.

    This daily has learned that what 1XBET did with the three teams is outside the ambit of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). It’s up to the government to do something as this is a case of a sponsorship agreement.

    On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory apropos betting companies.  “It had come to the notice of the Government that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been showing advertisements of offshore online betting platforms as well as their surrogate news websites. The Advisories were supplemented with evidence which contained direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet.

    “In the Advisories, the Ministry has informed that online offshore betting platforms are now using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise the betting platforms on digital media. In such cases, the Ministry has found that the logos of surrogate news websites bear striking resemblance to betting platforms. Moreover, the Ministry has stated that neither the betting platforms nor the news websites are registered under any legal authority in India. Such websites are promoting betting and gambling under the garb of news as surrogate advertising. The Advisories issued by the Ministry stated that since betting and gambling is illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements of these betting platforms as well as their surrogates are also illegal. The Advisories relied upon the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules, 2021.”

    So, does this mean advertisements of these “news websites” stop? Does this also mean sports teams cannot have sponsorship agreements with the same “news websites?” Only time will tell.

  • Rajnath Singh said – If the agricultural law has not proved beneficial, then we will amend it after one year.

    A month has been completed for the farmers’ agitation (Farmer Protest) protesting on the Delhi border regarding Farm Laws 2020. The farmers are adamant about their demands. The response of Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has come for the first time on agricultural laws. Rajnath Singh said, ‘Let the agricultural laws be implemented for one year. If these do not prove to be beneficial for the farmers, then we are ready to make necessary amendments in it.

    Addressing a rally in Delhi on Friday, Rajnath Singh said, ‘I appeal to all the farmers who are protesting to come forward to discuss agricultural laws. Every issue can be resolved through negotiation. The Prime Minister wants talks with farmers to continue. He said, ‘Our government will never do anything that is not in the interest of farmers.’ Rajnath Singh said, ‘Those who are sitting on the dharna are farmers born in peasant families. We respect him very much.

  • PM Modi puts money in farmer accounts when polls are around: NCP

    Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing the next instalment of funds for farmers under a central welfare scheme, the NCP on Thursday accused him of depositing money in peasants accounts when polls are around. Speaking to reporters here, Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the BJP is not a party of farmers, but of those who loot agricultural produce”.


    Countering him, the Maharashtra BJP said the Modi government has taken several steps in the interest of farmers and alleged it is the NCP which did not help cultivators when in power. The prime minister will release the next instalment of financial benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) on Friday via video-conferencing.


    With the push of a button, Modi will enable the transfer of more than Rs 18,000 crore to over nine crore beneficiary farmer families. The PM will also interact with farmers from six states during the event, which comes in the backdrop of ongoing protests by peasants outside Delhi against the three agri- marketing laws enacted by the Modi government recently.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to deposit Rs 6,000 in the accounts of farmers. Modi saheb has begun this business of depositing money in (farmers’) accounts when elections are around and senses troubles, Malik alleged.


    Nearly half a dozen states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam, are slated to go to polls in the first half of 2021. Malik said only BJP workers will sit for interaction with the prime minister and charged the party with beginning a game of campaigning. The NCP leader alleged that the BJP has not been a party of farmers, but of those who loot agricultural produce
    Maharashtra BJP chief spokesman Keshav Upadhye hit back at Malik and accused the Sharad Pawar-led party of not helping farmers hit by agrarian crisis when in power.

  • Central govt should immediately withdraw farm laws: Mayawati

     Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati on Saturday said that her party demands immediate withdrawal of the recent farm laws.

    “The central government should immediately withdraw the three farm laws by accepting the demands of the farmers and should not adopt a rigid approach while dealing with the agitating farmers but the government should have a sympathetic attitude towards them. This is the demand of BSP,” said Mayawati.

    Farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against three newly enacted farm laws- Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • Farm laws not introduced overnight, was discussed extensively for 20-30 years: PM Modi

    Addressing farmers virtually as part of Kisan Kalyan Sammelan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sought to reassure them and reiterated that Minimum Support Price (MSP) will stay and there is no change.

    He also said that the new farm reform laws were not brought in overnight and that they were discussed in detail by every government over two decades.

    “Farm Laws have not been introduced overnight. Over the last 20-30 years, central government and state governments had detailed discussions on these reforms. Agriculture experts, economists and progressive farmers have been demanding reforms,” said PM Modi while addressing farmers at the ‘Kisan Kalyan’ event in Raisen through video conferencing.

    “I request all political parties with folded hands, please keep all the credit. I am giving credit to all your old election manifestos. I just want ease in the life of farmers, I want their progress and want modernity in agriculture,” he added.

    Today Rs 16 thousand crores are being transferred into the bank accounts of 35 lakh farmers of Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi stated.

    The Prime Minister further said the modern system that India has created in the last five to six years is being discussed and appreciated all over the world today.

    “The modern facility available to the farmers in the big countries of the world should be provided to the farmers of India also, it cannot be delayed any longer,” said PM Modi.

  • PM Modi to address MP farmers today amid protests against farm laws

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak about the “beneficial provisions” of the new farm laws in his address to the farmers of Madhya Pradesh as part of a Kisan Kalyan Sammelan on Friday. This comes a day after hundreds of farmers from the state started a foot march from Morena in support of the agriculturists who have been protesting in Delhi for three weeks now against the controversial farm laws implemented in September.

    “PM Modi will address the farmers of the state around 2 pm through video-conference and explain to them in detail the beneficial provisions of the new agricultural laws,” an official of the Madhya Pradesh public relations department on told news agency PTI on Thursday.

    The PM’s address will be telecast live across 23,000 villages of the country and at all the district headquarters of Madhya Pradesh, the official said. Rs 1,660 crore will be transferred to the accounts of 35 lakh farmers by the state government to compensate for crop loss, he added.

    Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will also attend the programme from Raisen. “The previous Congress-led state government did injustice with the farmers by not transferring relief funds into their accounts. The previous Congress government did not even deposit the premium of Fasal Bima Yojna. But BJP is determined to work for the welfare of farmers. We have already deposited the premium of Fasal Bima Yojna and are now going to transfer relief funds,” the chief minister said.

  • Nitin Gadkari said – Government ready to accept all good suggestions on agricultural laws

    Noting that the government is ready to accept all good suggestions from farmers about the farm laws, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said it will “convince farmers, explain and find a way through dialogue”.

    In an interview with ANI, he said dialogue is the only way to find a solution to protest by farmer unions and a break in talks can lead to miscommunication.
    The minster, who is Minister of Road Transport and Highways and a senior BJP leader, said there will no injustice with the farmers in the Narendra Modi government.

    “The government is ready to accept all good suggestions (from farmers). It will take some time. Our government will convince the farmers, explain and find a way through dialogue,” he said.

    “If there is no dialogue, it can lead to miscommunication, to controversy and sparring. If there is a dialogue then issues will be resolved, the whole thing will end, farmers will get justice, they will get relief. We are working in the interest of farmers,” Gadkari said.

    “Farmers should come and understand these laws. Our government is dedicated to farmers and is ready to accept the suggestions given by them. There will not be any injustice with farmers in our government,” he added.

    The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister said that farmers’ union should discuss the farm laws clause by clause with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar who is ready for it.

  • I’m happy people that country is with farmers, we are with them too: Arvind Kejriwal

     Kejriwal is holding a one-day fast in support of the farmers’ protest today. While addressing the people at the hunger strike Kejriwal said that Our farmers are in peril these days. Those who should be tilling their fields are sitting in the biting cold. But I’m happy people in the country including the army, lawyers, actors, doctors, are with them. We are with farmers too.

    Senior Delhi government ministers and AAP MLAs, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, are sitting on a ‘hunger strike’ in support of farmers who are protesting against the Centre’s farm laws. Ministers Satyendar Jain, Gopal Rai, and party leader Aatishi Marlena are also present at the strike organised at the party headquarters.

    This comes after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced a one-day fast in support of the farmers’ protest on Sunday.

    Supporting the call given by the agitating farmers, he had urged AAP volunteers to join the farmers’ agitation. “Centre should immediately accept all demands of farmers protesting the laws and bring a bill to guarantee MSP (minimum support price),” Kejriwal had said.

  • PM Modi Needs One More Farm Law To End Crisis

    Farmers’ protests are threatening to snowball into the biggest political crisis of Narendra Modi’s tenure. 

    To give in to demands and scrap the laws would be an uncharacteristic admission of defeat for India’s strongman prime minister, who promised they would transform agriculture. But letting the unrest linger could cause chaos in food markets, alienate urban consumers, and potentially derail the post-Covid recovery. 

    Nobody doubts that for India to have a shot at exiting its lower-middle-income trap, farming must come out of its sub-3% growth rut. Productivity of labor, land, fertilizer and water have to improve. Massive private investments need to take place in storage and processing for the country’s 2% share of global agricultural exports to increase.

    The dispute is over which strategy to pursue. Markets or organizations? That’s an old dilemma, made famous by economist Ronald Coase in 1937. Modi is leaning toward markets, promising to turn the entire country into a free trade area benefiting 119 million farmers and 144 million farmhands, plus their families. A large and growing number view this move as an end to institutional state support, which they fear will allow profiteering corporations to rush into the resulting vacuum. Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping near entry points to New Delhi since Nov. 26.

  • Women’s commission chief speaking on the basis of her data: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel

    Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel declined to comment on the controversial remarks made by the president of State Women’s Commission Kiranmayi Nayak, saying that if she has said anything, it must be on the basis of her experience and on the basis of data.
    The CM told reporters, “I would not like to make a comment on it. This is a constitutional post. If she has said anything then it must be on the basis of her experience and on the basis of the data.”

    Regarding the attack on JP Nadda in West Bengal, he said, “I got to know that Nadda ji’s convoy was attacked. Minutes after this, Madhya Pradesh CM, Shivraj ji said that this is the murder of democracy. I want to ask him that he had earlier bought 25 MLAs. Isn’t that a murder of democracy?”
    He said efforts were being made to remove him from his post. He said, “I am not here for this seat. I am here for the people of Chhattisgarh. I love to work for the people of Chhattisgarh. All the miscreants who are trying to disrupt governance are hampering the growth of democracy. People who get disturbed by looking at the progress of our state feel threatened.”
    Speaking on the protests against the farm laws, he said, “Our government does not support these farm laws. Our government will always roll out decisions in favour of the farmers. I hope that the governor of the state also favours them.