Feature
Demands for Sex Change operation increased in India
New Delhi: Its strange but its true that the demand for sex change operation in central Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital increased as compared to last year. As the sex-change operation and its growing demand in the city suggests old taboos are beginning to melt away as told by doctors.
Two engineers and a medical student are among those in the queue. That’s not surprising, according to Dr P S Bhandari, who heads the hospital’s plastic surgery division. Most such patients come from middle-class backgrounds. “Ten years ago, we would get one or two such cases in a year. But now, we are getting three to four requests every month,” said Dr Rajiv Mehta, consultant psychiatrist.
Ila (name changed) was one such person Mehta recently examined. The 27-year-old from Noida was born a girl but detested dressing or behaving like one. “I hated wearing frocks and playing with dolls. When I was forced to conform, I would fight with my folks at home. My parents were not ready to accept things. They felt I was doing it deliberately,” Ila told media, adding that she slipped into depression due to the constant conflict.
Dr Mehta told Ila tried to commit suicide three years ago by overdosing on sleeping pills. Her parents rushed her to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital where a detailed evaluation revealed that she was suffering from severe depression with lots of anxiety, alcohol and nicotine dependence.
He added that Ila would consume more than half a bottle of whisky and 20 cigarettes a day. Ila said she felt like a boy trapped in a female body. Doctors diagnosed her with gender identity disorder (GID) a conflict between a person’s physical gender and the gender he or she identifies with and explained the condition to her parents.
After her parents gave their consent, Ila was put on antidepressants and detoxified for drugs. She was encouraged to live in a male gender role and put on testosterone therapy for months. After that, she underwent surgeries at a Mumbai hospital to remove her breasts and vagina, and get a reconstructed penis. “A sex-change surgery is irreversible. So, we ask such patients to cross-dress and live like a man or a woman as the case may be for six months before undergoing surgery,” one of the psychiatrists said.
Increasing acceptance of GID, social support and the availability of sexchange surgeries have encouraged people to demand corrective measures.
A patient requires complete psychiatric evaluation before undergoing such an operation. Dr Sameer Malhotra, who heads the department of mental health and behavioural sciences at Max Hospital Saket, said he, too, had observed a rise in demand for such surgeries. Because sex-change surgery is costly in private hospitals, many patients also queue up at public hospitals, such as Lok Nayak.
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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