Feature
Lok Sabha elections 2019: PM Narendra Modi, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to share stage in NDA Sankalp rally
Thousands of people have gathered in Patna on Sunday to witness Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar share the stage at the NDA’s Sankalp rally.
This is the first time Nitish Kumar and Modi will come together on the same platform after they shared the stage at a a political rally in 2009 in Ludhiana.
It is also the first joint rally by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar since November 2005.
During the rally at the Gandhi Maidan, Modi will officially kick-start the NDA’s election campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Billboards, banners, posters and hoardings with pictures of NDA leaders have come up across Patna.
Modi’s first rally in Gandhi Maidan when he was campaigning as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate in October 2013, was marred by a series of blasts that killed six people and injured nearly 100 others.
The NDA has hired 18 trains and nearly 5,000 buses to ferry its supporters to the Sankalp rally.
Thousands of people were seen chanting “Modi zindabad”, “Abki baar Modi Sarkar”.
Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik said nearly 4,000 police personnel had been deployed in and around the sprawling ground.
The police have also set up dozens of watch towers and 60 door-frame metal detectors were installed. Bomb disposal and anti-terrorist squads too have been deployed, Malik said.
Since early this month, BJP and its allies, the Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have been busy touring different parts of the state to mobilise support for the rally.
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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