Feature
Narendra Modi allocates Defence to Rajnath, Home Ministry for Amit Shah in regime
New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi after taking oath yesterday for second term at Rashtrapati Bhawan along with 58 others today distributed portfolios of Ministry to his newly elected regime of Ministers.
Yesterday, President Ram Nath Kovind as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the allocation of portfolios among the following members of the Union Council of Ministers.
According to our sources, former Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has been handed over Home Ministry who has joined Cabinet for the first time. This important portfolio was earlier in hands of Rajnath Singh.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi also keeps in-charge of: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; and all important policy issues; and some other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.
Here is a complete list of Ministries allotted to 58 ministers took oath along with Prime Minister:
* Cabinet Minister: Rajnath Singh gets Minister of Defence.
* Amit Shah: Given Minister of Home Affairs.
* Nitin Gadkari: Minister of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
* D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
* Nirmala Sitharaman: Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
* Ramvilas Paswan: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
* Narendra Singh Tomar: Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Panchayati Raj.
* Ravi Shankar Prasad: Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
* Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister of Food Processing Industries.
* Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Narendra Modi gives Home Ministry to Amit Shah, Rajnath gets Defence, Sitaraman to handle Finance:
* Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: Minister of External Affairs.
* Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank: Minister of Human Resource Development.
* Arjun Munda: Minister of Tribal Affairs.
* Smriti Irani: Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
* Harsh Vardhan: Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.
* Prakash Javadekar: Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
* Piyush Goyal: Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
* Dharmendra Pradhan: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
* Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister of Minority Affairs.
* Pralhad Joshi: Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.
* Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
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.