Feature
U.P. CM Adityanath arrives in Agra, to visit Taj Mahal
Uttar Pradesh : Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit the Taj Mahal on Thursday against the backdrop of various controversial statements made by some BJP leaders and Ministers against the 17th century monument.
Over 14,000 policemen have been deployed across the city for the security of Mr. Adityanath, who arrived in Agra early on Thursday.
Mr. Adityanath will be the first BJP CM of U.P. to visit the monument of love.
The Chief Minister, who landed in the city’s Kheria Airport, went to Nangla Paima village and visited the rubber check dam. He also visited Kachhpura village.
“The monument is open for tourists and the entry will be allowed as per the routine process. The security has been stepped up,” he said.
According to his programme, Mr. Adityanath will stay for half an hour at the graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal and visit the Shah Jahan park nearby.
The Chief Minister will inspect various places along the way, inside and outside the monument.
He will also lay foundation for the development of a tourist pathway from the Taj Mahal to the Agra Fort.
He will also run a mega cleanliness campaign along with 500 BJP activists and social workers around the west gate of the Taj Mahal.
Along with the visit to the Taj Mahal, Mr. Adityanath will inaugurate various development projects in Agra, according to an official spokesman.
“During his tour of Agra.., the Chief Minister will be visiting all the places inside Taj Mahal,” Principal Secretary, Tourism, Awanish Awasthi said on Wednesday.
His decision to visit the Taj Mahal was announced after a series of controversies erupted, beginning with a U.P. Tourism Department booklet not mentioning the monument in its list of development projects in the State.
Subsequently, BJP MLA Sangeet Som called Taj Mahal a “blot on Indian history” and BJP MP Vinay Katiyar said it was originally a Shiva temple.
However, addressing a rally in Gorakhpur recently, Mr. Adityanath called Taj Mahal the “pride of India” and referred to it as a “world class monument.”
This was a significant departure from his remarks at a rally in Bihar last year, when he had said that the Taj does not represent Indian culture and that visiting foreign dignitaries should be presented with the Gita rather than replicas of Taj Mahal.
The last time a U.P. CM visited the Taj was Akhilesh Yadav, more than two years back.
That was the Valentine’s Day and Mr. Akhilesh sat on one of the benches in front of the monument along with his wife and Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav.
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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