Very nicely written, as usual I may add. I always had problems understanding GST workings, but this article helped me understand it very well. Thanks and keep this wonderful initiative going.
A small query: how to un-archive the articles? Or where to view the archived articles?
Thanks. The "SubStack" app allows left swipe to remove the sticker from display and archives it, but it does not allow me to restore it back on display. I was looking for that option. Using the browser is quite cumbersome.
The Daily Brief by ZERODHA has dived deep into the Ban on Online Money Game and explains things as they’re and as they will impact. The Daily Brief’s Neutral approach makes it Most Worthy read. Gambling has been a popular pastime in ancient and colonial India, and continues to be in modern India.Ancient Indian texts have also references to the devastation that the habit of gambling can bring into one's personal, family and social life.
We’ve a regulated lottery system prevalent.Parliament passed the Lottery Regulation Act of 1998 and subsequently the Lottery Regulation Rules 2010. These provisions provide an overarching framework for lottery operations across India. The rules and regulations grant states the authority to either ban or conduct lotteries, and frame legislation to implement their respective decisions in line with the provisions of the central legislation.
The Indian lottery market is conservatively estimated to be around
$33 billion annually
(across all States and Union Territories and considering non-participation of minors) with corresponding revenue for the government projected to be approximately $26 billion, including potential earning in the form of taxes and profit at $ 12 billion, The lottery market is projected to grow at an Average Annual Growth Rate of 5.1% in India to reach $44.3 billion by 2030.
Well this reference further evidences that Indians’ have a psyche for gambling.
The root cause for playing online money games/buying lottery/Chopad/Cards/speculation in stock market or commodities or as popular in some countries Prediction Betting etc,is that the player is so convinced of his being right of his judgement that he puts his highest possessions on stake.We’ve prominent examples in Mahabharata and Mythology.
A similar issue comes in Alcohol where in some states we’ve dry and other states allow.Now,Alcohol smuggling is rampant.
All above and some related issues lead to one point .. can we change human nature?
*just two days back knowledge@wharton: may give us some idea—Why Do People Play the Lottery?*
The paper was published in July in The Review of Economic Studies. Co-authors are Hunt Allcott, sustainability professor at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability; Dmitry Taubinsky, public economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley; and Afras Y. Sial, former research coordinator at Wharton and doctoral candidate in economics at UC Berkeley.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Consumers enjoy buying lottery tickets as a form of entertainment and most don’t think they are spending too much. Behavioral biases, including financial illiteracy, lead lower-income consumers to buy more tickets. Americans spend more than $100 billion a year on lottery tickets, which is more than what they spend on cigarettes or on music, sports tickets, movie tickets, books, and video games combined. But people keep buying more tickets every year, although *the odds of winning a jackpot are about 1 in 300 million.* *People enjoy playing the lottery, and it’s important to take that seriously,”* Lockwood said. “It’s a mistake to think only about what the probabilities of winning and prize values in the same way it would be a mistake to try to understand whether video games are good or bad by focusing only on the quality of the graphics.”
So, as Rightly noted by The Brief by ZERODHA,”Bans, as we know, are near-impossible to enforce in a digitally- enabled, connected world and this has exposed the Indian populace to a variety of gaming options which include those offered by offshore entities many of which are illegal.”
Hence,one has only to keep a watch.Parliament has done its job.
As India grapples with slowing middle class consumption driven by weak demand, there is hope in the GST 2.0 reforms to give consumption some support.
TDB does a good job of figuring stuff out and writing it for a broader audience. Congratulations on such intense work (likely on a daily basis). A quick suggestion: please avoid media links as sources of information because the articles(unless reposted) usually do not contain the main source. It'd be beneficial to stick to the main source. Thank you for your efforts.
The skill vs chance divide seems random to me. And that too created in 1867! Like we are talking about a time which has nothing to do with present reality anymore. The scopes were so different.
Though it must be noted that India is generally harsh on anything it thinks of as “bad for conscience“ and tries to ban these. More so because India has a huge middle class and lower income families who are prone to getting stuck at these games and loose hard earned money.
It would be interesting to find all cases of acts that are following through from the 1800s! Would help make a fun blogpost on how 200 year old laws are being used to regulate current industries. 😁
Very nice. Also note that most of these British era laws were made just after 1857, and their goal was more to control the people by a foreign government to avoid any kind of uprising like 1857 again.
Its sad that these colonial era repressive laws are still in use. India must rewrite these laws with more humane focus to its democracy and its age old ethos.
Some laws that comes to mind:
1. Police Act, 1861
• Problem: Written right after the 1857 revolt to keep Indians in check, not to serve citizens. Creates a militaristic, colonial-style police force.
• Needed: A modern law focusing on community policing, accountability, independent oversight, and protection of citizens’ rights.
⸻
2. Prisons Act, 1894
• Problem: Oriented toward punishment and control, not rehabilitation.
• Needed: Overhaul for a modern correctional philosophy — rehabilitation, mental health care, vocational training.
⸻
3. Forest Act, 1927
• Problem: Designed for resource extraction and colonial control of tribal lands. Criminalized indigenous forest communities.
• Needed: Laws recognizing tribal rights, sustainability, biodiversity protection, not just revenue generation.
⸻
4. Indian Evidence Act, 1872
(just replaced in 2023 by Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, but still relevant in practice)
• Problem: Written for an era of paper records, doesn’t account for digital evidence, AI-generated content, blockchain records, cybersecurity issues.
• Needed: Robust digital evidence rules, stronger privacy safeguards, chain of custody protocols.
• Needed: Commercial contract law reform, clear rules for online agreements, fintech, and cross-border commerce.
⸻
6. Official Secrets Act, 1923
• Problem: A blunt colonial tool to suppress dissent, still used against journalists and activists.
• Needed: Replace with a balanced national security law that protects sensitive information while guaranteeing freedom of press.
⸻
7. Labour & Factory Laws
• Many are colonial or colonial-inspired.
• Problem: Too many fragmented acts, compliance-heavy.
• Needed: Simplified labour codes that protect workers while encouraging entrepreneurship (Govt has started this with the new 4 labour codes, but implementation is slow).
Very interesting! Had no idea so many of these laws have retained much of the original formulations. One could argue that merely being a product of colonial legacy isn't bad *if* the laws achieve the intended results, but your "needed" sections do seem to prove otherwise :)
Very nicely written, as usual I may add. I always had problems understanding GST workings, but this article helped me understand it very well. Thanks and keep this wonderful initiative going.
A small query: how to un-archive the articles? Or where to view the archived articles?
Thank you :)
Check this: https://thedailybrief.zerodha.com/archive
Thanks. The "SubStack" app allows left swipe to remove the sticker from display and archives it, but it does not allow me to restore it back on display. I was looking for that option. Using the browser is quite cumbersome.
The Daily Brief by ZERODHA has dived deep into the Ban on Online Money Game and explains things as they’re and as they will impact. The Daily Brief’s Neutral approach makes it Most Worthy read. Gambling has been a popular pastime in ancient and colonial India, and continues to be in modern India.Ancient Indian texts have also references to the devastation that the habit of gambling can bring into one's personal, family and social life.
We’ve a regulated lottery system prevalent.Parliament passed the Lottery Regulation Act of 1998 and subsequently the Lottery Regulation Rules 2010. These provisions provide an overarching framework for lottery operations across India. The rules and regulations grant states the authority to either ban or conduct lotteries, and frame legislation to implement their respective decisions in line with the provisions of the central legislation.
The Indian lottery market is conservatively estimated to be around
$33 billion annually
(across all States and Union Territories and considering non-participation of minors) with corresponding revenue for the government projected to be approximately $26 billion, including potential earning in the form of taxes and profit at $ 12 billion, The lottery market is projected to grow at an Average Annual Growth Rate of 5.1% in India to reach $44.3 billion by 2030.
Well this reference further evidences that Indians’ have a psyche for gambling.
The root cause for playing online money games/buying lottery/Chopad/Cards/speculation in stock market or commodities or as popular in some countries Prediction Betting etc,is that the player is so convinced of his being right of his judgement that he puts his highest possessions on stake.We’ve prominent examples in Mahabharata and Mythology.
A similar issue comes in Alcohol where in some states we’ve dry and other states allow.Now,Alcohol smuggling is rampant.
All above and some related issues lead to one point .. can we change human nature?
*just two days back knowledge@wharton: may give us some idea—Why Do People Play the Lottery?*
The paper was published in July in The Review of Economic Studies. Co-authors are Hunt Allcott, sustainability professor at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability; Dmitry Taubinsky, public economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley; and Afras Y. Sial, former research coordinator at Wharton and doctoral candidate in economics at UC Berkeley.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Consumers enjoy buying lottery tickets as a form of entertainment and most don’t think they are spending too much. Behavioral biases, including financial illiteracy, lead lower-income consumers to buy more tickets. Americans spend more than $100 billion a year on lottery tickets, which is more than what they spend on cigarettes or on music, sports tickets, movie tickets, books, and video games combined. But people keep buying more tickets every year, although *the odds of winning a jackpot are about 1 in 300 million.* *People enjoy playing the lottery, and it’s important to take that seriously,”* Lockwood said. “It’s a mistake to think only about what the probabilities of winning and prize values in the same way it would be a mistake to try to understand whether video games are good or bad by focusing only on the quality of the graphics.”
So, as Rightly noted by The Brief by ZERODHA,”Bans, as we know, are near-impossible to enforce in a digitally- enabled, connected world and this has exposed the Indian populace to a variety of gaming options which include those offered by offshore entities many of which are illegal.”
Hence,one has only to keep a watch.Parliament has done its job.
As India grapples with slowing middle class consumption driven by weak demand, there is hope in the GST 2.0 reforms to give consumption some support.
TDB does a good job of figuring stuff out and writing it for a broader audience. Congratulations on such intense work (likely on a daily basis). A quick suggestion: please avoid media links as sources of information because the articles(unless reposted) usually do not contain the main source. It'd be beneficial to stick to the main source. Thank you for your efforts.
Thanks so much Prakhar, we'll keep your feedback in mind for future pieces :)
The skill vs chance divide seems random to me. And that too created in 1867! Like we are talking about a time which has nothing to do with present reality anymore. The scopes were so different.
Though it must be noted that India is generally harsh on anything it thinks of as “bad for conscience“ and tries to ban these. More so because India has a huge middle class and lower income families who are prone to getting stuck at these games and loose hard earned money.
It would be interesting to find all cases of acts that are following through from the 1800s! Would help make a fun blogpost on how 200 year old laws are being used to regulate current industries. 😁
We’ll explore this
Very nice. Also note that most of these British era laws were made just after 1857, and their goal was more to control the people by a foreign government to avoid any kind of uprising like 1857 again.
Its sad that these colonial era repressive laws are still in use. India must rewrite these laws with more humane focus to its democracy and its age old ethos.
Some laws that comes to mind:
1. Police Act, 1861
• Problem: Written right after the 1857 revolt to keep Indians in check, not to serve citizens. Creates a militaristic, colonial-style police force.
• Needed: A modern law focusing on community policing, accountability, independent oversight, and protection of citizens’ rights.
⸻
2. Prisons Act, 1894
• Problem: Oriented toward punishment and control, not rehabilitation.
• Needed: Overhaul for a modern correctional philosophy — rehabilitation, mental health care, vocational training.
⸻
3. Forest Act, 1927
• Problem: Designed for resource extraction and colonial control of tribal lands. Criminalized indigenous forest communities.
• Needed: Laws recognizing tribal rights, sustainability, biodiversity protection, not just revenue generation.
⸻
4. Indian Evidence Act, 1872
(just replaced in 2023 by Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, but still relevant in practice)
• Problem: Written for an era of paper records, doesn’t account for digital evidence, AI-generated content, blockchain records, cybersecurity issues.
• Needed: Robust digital evidence rules, stronger privacy safeguards, chain of custody protocols.
⸻
5. Indian Contract & Property Laws (1872, 1882)
• Problem: Largely untouched; don’t reflect modern commercial realities (IP, tech contracts, electronic transfers).
• Needed: Commercial contract law reform, clear rules for online agreements, fintech, and cross-border commerce.
⸻
6. Official Secrets Act, 1923
• Problem: A blunt colonial tool to suppress dissent, still used against journalists and activists.
• Needed: Replace with a balanced national security law that protects sensitive information while guaranteeing freedom of press.
⸻
7. Labour & Factory Laws
• Many are colonial or colonial-inspired.
• Problem: Too many fragmented acts, compliance-heavy.
• Needed: Simplified labour codes that protect workers while encouraging entrepreneurship (Govt has started this with the new 4 labour codes, but implementation is slow).
Very interesting! Had no idea so many of these laws have retained much of the original formulations. One could argue that merely being a product of colonial legacy isn't bad *if* the laws achieve the intended results, but your "needed" sections do seem to prove otherwise :)
Haha we can argue indeed - both ways. But generally these laws are also created by humans, like me and you, and they must be critiqued with time.