India Monitor News

There has been a big rise in sports betting in India

A lot of people in India like to play sports, which is why they Cricket, wrestling, tennis, and football are the most popular sports in the country, but there are a lot of people who like a lot of different kinds of sports.

It’s not surprising that a lot of people bet on sports because they are so interested in them. It’s not just sports that are taking place in their country but also things that happen all over the world. If you want to bet on a sporting event in India, there are now more places to do so than ever before. This shows that there has been a lot of growth and popularity in sports betting in India.

Is it just because people love sports that sports betting has become so big in the country? A lot more is going on than what you see.

Legal Options Are There

In the beginning, it’s important to know that people in India have been betting on sports for a long time. Until recently, only people who could bet on sports were able to do so. Now that it is legal, people are betting on sports at these sportsbooks. Before that, they used illegal sportsbooks to place bets.

This was one of the reasons the government was willing to let people be able to legally bet on sports. They knew that criminals were taking advantage of the ban on betting on sporting events, so they decided to open the doors to license specific sportsbooks so people could bet on the games.

Yes, was the only game in town.

During the pandemic, all of the land-based casinos in India were closed for about nine months because of it. This made a lot of people move away from these places and go to online casinos instead to play their favorite casino-style games. There are online casinos all over India, so people can play.

Sports were shut down at first during the early stages of the pandemic, but by the end of the summer, they were back on. It was easy for people to move from online gambling to betting on sports because they already did that. That’s what they did.

There was a big rise in people playing sports gambling, mostly because they had been missing out on them for so long because sports were not going on. Because of this, that is no longer a problem now,

Great Options Are Out There

There are a lot of great ways for people in the country to bet on sports. Over a dozen websites allow people to bet on their favorite sports events, and there are many more.

You can bet on a lot of different sports at licensed sportsbooks like a Melbet India. They also have great odds, a lot of useful information, and great bonuses for you to use.

The MelBet Affiliate Program gives anyone can use to become a partner one of the largest betting company in India and Bangladesh.

The people who bring new people to the platform get paid for it.

There are a lot of reasons why people are turning to online sportsbooks to bet. Players can get money right away just for signing up and depositing.

There’s no doubt that there are more reasons for all of this, too. However, this gives you three of the most important things that have changed this industry in India. Now that it is so big, it will only get bigger.

No new proposal on Kashmir: US

On the eve of Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani’s visit to the US, the Bush administration has made it clear it has no new proposal on Kashmir, leaving India and Pakistan to settle their 56-year-old dispute through direct talks.

“I don’t think I have anything brand new right now,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a media briefing.

Asked about the “next step” the US had in mind on Kashmir, he said, “what the next step is … is to work on what we’ve been working on; that is, to try to get the parties to talk to each other, to try to get some peaceful resolution of the serious issues that are at stake.”

Advani will have a busy schedule here that includes discussions with Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Attorney General John Ashcroft. This will be his second visit to the US as a senior member of the Vajpayee cabinet.

Appreciating the importance the Kashmir issue had for both India and Pakistan, Boucher said: “It’s important for us to look for ways to solve…to deal with the issues between the two governments and also to deal with the issues for the people of Kashmir.

“So that process is certainly made more likely, more positive and more successful by an end to the violence, and that’s what we’re trying to work on, both.”

He added: “This is an issue of importance to us. It’s an issue that we have pursued with each of the parties as we have pursued a better relationship ourselves with each of the parties.”

Boucher said the US had hailed many of the recent steps that followed after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee extended a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan in April.

“We certainly continue to support those kinds of steps. We have welcomed steps that they’ve taken with each other in terms of opening up, in terms of opening up communications routes and sending representatives back,” he said.

“We’ll continue to work with them to try to work towards a way that they can talk to each other, that they can deal with all these issues, including Kashmir.”

In reply to a question, he referred to terrorism in Kashmir and the killings of innocent people and said: “That needs to be stopped. And we have looked at the ways that it can be stopped.

“We have heard from the Pakistani prime minister that he wants to stop the cross-border activity because he considers that one way that he can contribute to stopping the murder of innocent people. And that’s an important thing that he is going to do, committed to do, and we expect him to do it.”

Asked about the state of India-US relations, Boucher said: “We have a very active and positive relationship with India. We see each other all the time at high levels. We have a very expanded working on a wide range of issues out there with the Indian government.

“So we intend to continue to pursue all those areas in our conversations at high levels with the Indian government to develop and expand a relationship that’s been very important to us and to India as well. And there are always a lot of new things that we’re working on.”

US may deport ‘illegal’ Muslims

WASHINGTON: More than 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men, who came forward earlier this year to register with immigration authorities in the US — roughly 16 per cent of the total — may now face deportation.

Only a handful have been linked to terrorism. But of the 82,000 men who registered, more than 13,000 have been found to be living here illegally, officials say. 

Many had hoped to win leniency by demonstrating their willingness to cooperate with the campaign against terror. However, officials believe that most will be expelled.

The government has initiated deportation proceedings, and an exodus has already begun. For decades, illegal immigrants have often flourished because officials lacked the staff, resources and political will to deport them. But since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the government has been detaining and deporting illegal immigrants from countries considered breeding grounds for terrorists. 

Advocates for immigrants warn that such a strategy can be abused by government officials. They cite a recent internal Justice Department report that was deeply critical of the government’s roundup of illegal immigrants after September 11, 2001. Senior officials were found to have repeatedly ignored calls from immigration officials to distinguish between the innocent and guilty.

Advocates for immigrants have accused officials of practising selective enforcement by focusing on illegal immigrants from Arab and Muslim nations. The new US immigration rules have also played havoc with students.

Yahya Jalil, a Pakistani student, arrived in the US to study electrical engineering at Stanford University 11 years ago. “There was a real sense that this was a free country with lots of personal freedoms,”said the 29-year-old. But few know better how life in the US has changed for Muslim immigrants.  

In March, Jalil boarded a flight for a job interview in Britain without realising he was supposed to register with US immigration authorities before leaving the country. His oversight violated a new Homeland Security policy aimed at tracking men from nations with large Muslim populations when they enter and exit the US. So when he tried to return to America at the end of spring break, US officials declared him an “inadmissible” alien. Because of his expulsion, Jalil was unable to complete his course. 

Nowadays, foreign academics face lengthy visa application processing, sometimes exacerbated by security background checks. Still, there are signs that things may be getting better. The wait  for student visas, once over six months, has shrunk to 30 days in 90 per cent of cases, say government officials.

 Jalil’s story also ends on a happy note. Soon after he was refused re-entry to US, Penn officials wrote letters asking the US ambassador in Pakistan to grant him a new visa. Penn students also petitioned the government with over 3,400 electronic “signatures,”and joined Jalil’s relatives in lobbying three US senators.  

On May 10, the State Department rolled out a new system for granting visas to innocent violators of the exit registration policy, and Jalil was one of the first beneficiaries.

We serve as Pak’s defence line: Hizb

NEW DELHI: Pakistan cannot end its support to militant groups as they serve as a defence line for the country, says Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.

In an interview with Pakistani magazine News Line, Salahuddin denied that Kashmiri militants were losing their support in Pakistan. 

“No, it is not true. The Pakistani government and President Pervez Musharraf will not end their moral and diplomatic support to us. They are sincere to the Kashmir cause.

“The Mujahideen struggle serves as a defence line for Pakistan…if the movement weakens, the war could be fought inside Pakistan due to the naked aggression of the Indians. So one should stop thinking that Pakistan can distance itself from the Kashmiri movement,” the chief of the Pakistan-based militant group said. 

However, Salahuddin said that the militants did not have a clear picture of global and regional politics, but they are influenced by international events. They also see Pakistan’s changed policy towards Afghanistan. However, they should not lose their heart. Militancy will be strengthened…”

Commenting on ceasefire as suggested by Hurriyat Conference, Salahuddin said, “the Muttahida (United) Jehad Council has decided that the Mujahideen will continue their struggle. (Indo-Pak) talks and the militancy can take place simultaneously, as has happened in the past.”

US eyeing military bases in India: Report

NEW DELHI: United States, which has lined up several joint military exercises with the Indian armed forces, is interested in establishing access to military bases in the country, claims a US defence specialist quoting a latest Pentagon report.

 The report, quoted by the American specialist who advises US industry and policy-makers, says, “American military officers are candid in their plans to eventually seek access to Indian bases and military infrastructure.” The report based on interviews of senior US and Indian military officials has been quoted by the specialist, John E Carbaugh Jr, in a website US-India friendship.net.

 “India’s strategic location in the centre of Asia, astride the frequently travelled Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) linking Middle East and East Asia, makes India particularly attractive to the US military,” Carbaugh said quoting the recent Pentagon report, entitled Indo-US Military Relationship: Expectations and Perceptions.

Carbaugh, in his paper on the same issue, said, “currently, the Pentagon is undertaking a major review of the future of US bases in Asia in order to have more flexibility in responding to regional crises and to deal with terrorism.”

He quotes the Pentagon report as saying that for many American military personnel “India is the most attractive alternative. For these reasons, several Americans underscored that eventual access to Indian military infrastructure represents a critical strategic hedge against dramatic changes in traditional US relationships in Asia”.  

Carbaugh quoted US armed forces officials as saying the US navy wanted a relatively neutral territory on the opposite side of the world that could provide ports and support for operations in the Middle East. “India not only has a good infrastructure, the Indian Navy has proved that it can fix and fuel US ships. Over time, port visits must become a natural event,” the US officials were quoted as saying and adding that India was “a viable player in supporting all naval missions, including escorting and responding to regional crises”. 

In the same vein, “the US air force would like the Indians to grant them access to bases and landing rights during operations, such as counter-terrorism and heavy airlift support,” the American military officials said. 

The report also said that although the Pentagon was rethinking its strategies to deal with modern threats such as terrorism, “US officials are still concerned over the more traditional geo-political problems in the region, notably a rising China.” 

Carbaugh quoted the Pentagon report as concluding that “the US and India should forge a long-term security alliance partly aimed at containing China.”

“Strategic engagement with India could become a future investment of growing value if Asia becomes a hostile environment,” it says, adding that Pentagon felt India “should emerge as a vital component of US strategy.”

Kashmir ‘cause’ serves as defence for Pak: Hizb chief

Pakistan cannot end its support to militants as it serves as a defence line for the country, says Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.

In an interview with Pakistani magazine News Line, Salahuddin denied that Kashmiri militants “No, it is not true. The Pakistani government and President Pervez Musharraf will not end their moral and diplomatic support to us. They are sincere to the Kashmir cause.

“The Mujahideen struggle serves as a defence line for Pakistan. If the movement weakens, the war could be fought inside Pakistan due to the naked aggression of the Indians. So one should stop thinking that Pakistan can distance itself from the Kashmir movement,” the Hizb chief said.

However, Salahuddin said that the militants did not have a clear picture of global and regional politics, but they are influenced by international events. They also see Pakistan’s changed policy towards Afghanistan. However, they should not lose their heart. Militancy will be strengthened.”

Commenting on ceasefire as suggested by Hurriyat Conference, Salahuddin said, “the Muttahida (United) Jehad council has decided that the Mujahideen will continue their struggle. (Indo-Pak) talks and the militancy can take place simultaneously, as has happened in the past.”