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Akhilesh Yadav likely to contesting Lok Sabha polls from Kannauj
Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday hinted he will contest the next Lok Sabha election from Kannauj, the seat now held by his wife Dimple Yadav.
Talking to reporters, the Samajwadi Party chief said it was his “sincere wish to contest from Kannauj, a land dear to socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia”.
Akhilesh Yadav hints of contesting next Lok Sabha election from Kannauj:
Akhilesh Yadav is now a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
He started his parliamentary journey from Kannauj in 2000. His wife contested a by-election from there in 2012. In 2014, Kannauj was one of the four seats the Samajwadi Party was able to retain.
Am with SP ‘for now’, says Shivpal Singh Yadav on 63rd birthday:
Shivpal Singh Yadav, the estranged uncle of former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) head Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday trashed speculation about joining the Congress and said he was “wedded to the wishes and commands” of his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his 63rd birthday celebrations in the state capital, Shivpal, former PWD Minister and former SP chief, said that “for now” he was with the Samajwadi Party and would take an “appropriate decision in the interest of the people and the state” before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He also indirectly blamed his estranged nephew Akhilesh Yadav for the mess in the SP and said “people who are neither taking decisions nor allowing others to take were weakening the party”, which had once struggled for the poor, marginalised, backward and the downtrodden.
Shivpal Yadav said that lawlessness was growing in the state and that despite graft being on the rise, the SP was not able to raise the issues as the principal opposition party in the state assembly. He also cut a cake, surrounded by his supporters who hailed him as the ‘Vikas Purush’ (Man of development) of the state.
There has been speculation that Shivpal Singh Yadav was feeling suffocated in the SP, a party in which he enjoyed the number two status after his brother Mulayam Singh, until he was edged out by Akhilesh Yadav in a power tussle in 2016. The 63-year-old is currently merely a legislator from Jaswantnagar and has no party position.
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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