Feature
Arun Jaitley’s last rites to be performed today
New Delhi: In yet another untimely and shocking loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley passed away at the age of 66 on Tuesday. He was suffering from multiple health issues for several months. Arun Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS on August 9. He was critical and was constantly kept under observation at the ICU. Arun Jaitley breathed his last at 12.07 pm on August 24.
The veteran BJP leader will be cremated at the Nigambodh Ghat in the afternoon. Almost all top BJP leaders, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh reached the Jaitley residence on Saturday to be with the family and console them while Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is away on a tour, mourned his friend from afar. PM Modi during an address in Bahrain expressed sadness that his friend left while he is away. Arun Jaitley was BJP’s man of all seasons. He was the man the BJP would turn to solve problems and address issues publicly. He was the BJP’s troubleshooter-in-chief. The legal luminary and veteran party leader was responsible for ushering in the biggest tax reforms in the country in the form of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017.
Former minister Arun Jaitley’s body is being taken to the BJP office in a gun carriage that is usually used for Prime Ministers, Presidents and Defence Ministers. Arun Jaitley, who held the defence portfolio in the first term of the Modi government, passed away on Saturday. His body is now being taken to the BJP headquarters.
Arun Jaitley’s mortal remains will be brought to the BJP headquarters at the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg around 10.30 am for his admirers and followers to pay their last respects. From the BJP headquarters, it will be taken to the Nigambodh Ghat on the banks of the Yamuna River for performing the last rites around 2.30 pm.
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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