Feature
UP govt launches portal for online registration of Madarsas
Lucknow: In a bid to check “irregularities in madarsas”, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday launched a portal of UP madarsa board for online registration of all such Islamic institutions.
“There were a number of complaints of irregularities in madarsas and it was decided to make the registration online so that details of all madarsas, their management, teachers, etc are available online,” UP Waqf Minister Mohsin Raza told reporters in Lucknow.
This is a step towards digitisation which is on the priority of the Yogi Adityanath government, he said. The portal aims to bring transparency in the 19,000 recognised and 560 aided madarsas in the state, the state Waqf minister said.
The move will bring transparency as all the details of the madarsas will be available online, the minister said.
“The madarsa education should also be modern like in other educational institutions. With modernisation, students of madarsas will be able to get technical education and they will get better job opportunities,” Minority Welfare cabinet minister Lakshmi Narain Chowdhury said at the programme where the portal was launched.
There are over 19,000 recognised and 560 aided madarsas in the state, he said, adding that the new portal will help in improving the quality of madarsa education.
Attacking the previous non-BJP governments, Chowdhury alleged that they used madarsa for “appeasement” and as vote banks and there was no record of teachers, students, payments, registrations and other schemes maintained by them.
To check irregularities, UP govt launch portal for online registration of Madarsas:
“Our government’s priority is to give better and job-oriented education to all youths so that doctors and engineers are produced from these madarsas,” he said.
Asked later by media persons about action likely to be taken against madarsas where national anthem was not sung on Independence Day, he said such madarsas “lack patriotism” and action against them is justified.
“Reports are coming from madarsas… We are looking into the matter,” he said but did not elaborate on action likely to be taken against such madarsas.
MoS minority welfare Baldev Aulakh had earlier warned action against madarsas if they did not follow the order to them to unfurl the national flag and recite the national anthem as part of Independence Day celebrations.
At the launch programme Principal Secretary of the department Monika Garg said, “The portal is an attempt to connect all madarsas to a unified ecosystem. It will not only help in improving quality of education, transparency and also check exploitation of teachers.”
She said that affiliation of new madarsas and their aid will be done through this portal.
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
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.