Feature
Amit Shah in attendance, BJP expects big Patel show
Surat : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to put up a major show of strength of Patels at a rally here on Thursday in the presence of national party President Amit Shah to honour new Patel Ministers in the Vijay Rupani Gujarat government.
Dubbed Rajasvi Sanman Samaroh (royal felicitation ceremony), the event is expected to send the message to agitating Patidar leaders like Hardik Patel that the BJP continues to hold sway over the community.
Besides Amit Shah, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani would attend the programme where all Patel legislators and ministers would be honoured. It has been organised by Patidar Sanman Samiti.
The BJP has been holding a series of meetings and public contact programmes across Surat to make the event a huge success. Sources claimed that the party is looking at mobilising not less than three to four lakh people at the rally.
Several BJP leaders have been stationed in the diamond city of Surat to reach out to Patels in residential societies as well as public places. Some leaders are also holding one-on-one meetings with prominent people of the community.
“It is our tradition that whenever any community member achieves something, he or she is honoured. The Patels, as part of this tradition, have decided to felicitate Patel leaders who have taken over as new state party President (Jitubhai Vaghani) and Ministers,” Purushottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, said. Rupala is also a Patel.
Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja told reporters that “The function will see presence of lakhs of Patidars and Gujarat will be energised and motivated afresh.”
He visited the venue to review the security arrangements in wake of reports that a section of Patels may create ruckus at the event.
Groups of Patels have been disrupting several BJP and government functions since the beginning of their quota stir last year. They even tried to raise slogans in support of their cause as recently as August 30 at public function of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jamnagar, where he had come to inaugurate first phase of a Rs 12,000-crore irrigation project.
The reservation agitation leaders from the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) of Hardik Patel and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) have also been holding parallel meetings across the city to ensure the BJP event does not succeed. Even Congress leaders are learnt to be preparing for this.
“We will show our dissent at the event in a Gandhian manner and raise slogans of ‘Jai Sardar’ to oppose holding of the event,” Lalji Patel, chief of SPG said.
Meanwhile, the Surat police has picked up PAAS convenors Varun Patel and Lalit Vasoya in Surat. The two have been speaking openly against the event and alleging that the organisers were holding it under pressure from Amit Shah and the BJP.
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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