NEW DELHI: In the wake of the latest controversies related to the spot fixing case in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and revelations of the underworld?s role in sports betting; FICCI has once again reinitiated its call for regulating sports betting in India.

Despite several attempts to ban it, betting is continuing in an underground fashion and substantial resources have been invested into enforcing such a ban. Thus, the middle way out is to regulate it in a way which reduces this to an acceptable level. Hence, the Government should think of legalising and regulating betting.

India is continuing to lose billions of dollars in taxable revenue (an estimated Rs 12,000 to 20,000 crore annually) through black marketing operations in sports betting. According to FICCI, the greatest advantage of regulating sports betting is going to be the accountability for the large amounts of money transferred through illegal channels and reduction in cases of match fixing, money laundering and crimes.

If gaming and betting is regulated in India, it will benefit the exchequer and could potentially fund sports development, social protection or welfare schemes and infrastructure development plans.

In a representation submitted to government, FICCI has highlighted how blanket ban on sports betting has failed without proper regulation. In fact, this representation also highlighted the number of international examples of different countries who have benefitted from regulating the betting, added FICCI sources.

A system which seeks simply to prohibit rather than control gambling is turning its back on the problem. Ban cannot be implemented but sports betting can be controlled with proper regulation to prevent further deterioration of conduct of sports in country. When regulation arrives, it is true that problems are revealed, actions need to be taken and policies are enforced. FICCI realises the negative aspect of sports betting on the society.

The question now is how to tax the money involved in gambling and we need to devise a system which encourages betting operators to function openly. We also need to devise systems for protection for the young and vulnerable against the dangers of unwise betting behavior but these can be addressed only if we spot the victim and which is possible only through proper regulation. Active regulation is the only real solution - whether the underlying philosophy is to permit or restrict.

MUMBAI: A parliamentary panel has suggested constitution of a statutory body such as a media council to look into the content of both print and electronic media or revamp the Press Council of India (PCI). In case a new body is formed, it will have the power to take strong action, particularly in cases of paid news.

Asking the information and broadcasting ministry to act swiftly on the paid news syndrome, the parliamentary standing committee on IT suggested either the PCI should be wound up on the constitution of the media council or it should be revamped with powers to take care of the print media, while a similar statutory body should be set up for the electronic media.

"In both the cases, media owners or interested parties should not be part of the proposed media council or in the revamped PCI," the standing committee said in its report tabled in parliament on Monday.

The committee regretted lack of "effective" government action to tackle paid news and also noted the poor disposal status of paid news complaints by PCI wherein 11 of the 40 cases have been closed because of lack of pursuance.It said PCI should function like a regulatory authority so that it can adjudicate the paid news cases and award penalties to guilty individuals and organisations.

Paid news, it felt, has also acquired different dimensions and stressed on evolving a mechanism for a clear demarcation as to what is an advertisement and what is not.

"Clearly, the government has not taken effective and conclusive action to deal with the menace," it said.

The committee supported reviewing election laws and rules to curb the menace of paid news in election process and empowering the Election Commission with taking action against defaulting candidates and media houses indulging in paid news.The Committee also touched on the issue of cross media holding and monopoly which it felt was also contributing to the paid news menace, recommending that the ministry and the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) consider the issue on a "priority basis" and act promptly upon it so as to prevent monopolistic trend in the media. (TRAI is already studying the issue at the instance of the Ministry.)

The committee said the working conditions of journalists and autonomy of the editorial staff was giving rise to the paid news syndrome and sought better faculties.

The parliamentary panel has also suggested that election laws and guidelines should be reviewed and strengthened to curb paid news in the election process, empowering the Election Commission to take action against the defaulting candidate as well as the media entity found indulging in paid news.

Some of the other recommendations include creating awareness among the people about the problems of paid news and disclosures of annual income by media companies from advertisements.

It has asked the Ministry to consider the recommendations and the developments associated with the Leveson Report in the UK on media ethics. The Ministry was also urged to chalk out a plan to ensure all the relevant guidelines were strictly enforced and followed by the authorities that till a structured mechanism was put in place,.

Observing that paid news was not only an election time phenomenon but was happening everyday, the Committee said that the Ministry had an important role to play in ensuring that news and information made available to the public was factual and fair. The Press Council of India, Election Commission of India, Editors Guild of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, TRAI and other self-regulatory bodies have "acknowledged the gravity of the menace of paid news."

(Meanwhille reacting to its being named by the Committee, a Zee News spokesperson said in a statement that: "Our attention has been drawn to a report on paid media by the Honourable Standing Committee on Information and Technology. The averments made on Zee News are exparte and are being taken up suitably.")

NEW DELHI: The Government today announced that the excise duty on imported or domestically manufactured mobiles priced at more than Rs 2000 is being raised to six per cent.

According to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, about 70 per cent of imported mobile phones and about 60 per cent of domestically manufactured mobile phones are priced at Rs 2000 or below.

Mobile phones currently enjoy a concessional excise duty of one per cent. Chidambaram said in his budget speech for 2013-14 that he does not propose to change that in the case of low-priced mobile phones.

IESA President PVG Menon and Chairman Satya Gupta said the higher Excise Duty on mobile phones above Rs 2000 is a blow to domestic mobile handset makers, as excise duty on instruments priced above Rs 2,000 has been raised to 6 per cent from the earlier rate of 1 per cent.

NEW DELHI: The Government has reiterated that it has no proposal to allow telecast of mature content at late night hours on television channels.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told Parliament that there is no plan to change the Programme Code in this regard.

Tewari also clarified that the word ?unrestricted public exhibition? in Rule 6(1)(o) of the Cable Television Networks Rules 1994 will have the same meaning assigned to it in the Cinematograph Act 1952.