Feature
Google gives $5 lakh for child safety in India
Bengaluru: Global search engine Google on Monday announced $500,000 (Rs.3.2 crore) in grants to promote child safety campaigns in India.
“The grants will support non-profit organisations (NGOs) with smart applications and promote child safety programmes and campaigns in India,” the company’s Indian subsidiary said in a statement here.
The three non-profit NGOs are Childline India Foundation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Tulir.
The three NGOs provide free counselling to children in need of help, rescuing them from slavery, trafficking, sexual abuse and forced labour.
“The grants through Google.org will be used to reach more children and create greater awareness about the need to protect their future,” Google India managing director Rajan Anandan said in the statement.
Childline, which provides a free phone service for children in need of help or protection, will develop an online platform to offer its services with the grant.
“As technology plays a key role in transforming lives, we offer support to the three NGOs, which provide safety and protection to the children,” Anandan asserted.
Similarly, Google will fund Andolan to create a programme for fighting child sexual abuse and develop an online information site for its mission.
Tulir works to prevent and heal child sexual abuse across the country. It offers a school-based curriculum to help children stay safe, education for professionals working with children and resources for healing victims.
As children’s safety and protection is a shared responsibility, the company believes its efforts would have a social impact.
“Children are vulnerable to physical, economic and sexual exploitation at homes, schools and other protective environments,” Anandan said.
Globally, the US-based Google has donated over $100 million in grants, $1 billion in technology resources and 80,000 hours of its volunteering to non-profits in 2014.
“The Google grant will enable us to spread awareness among children and parents and make them active participants and torch-bearers in their protection,” Andolan chairperson R.S. Chaurasia said on the occasion.
Childline India Foundation executive director Anjaiah Pandiri said 39 percent of the 1.2-billion people were children below 18 years and 40 percent of them were marginalized for various reasons.
“Vast number of children are accessing internet and using mobiles, which are connected to the net. Google’s support in strengthening and expanding our range of programmes is much needed for impacting their lives positively,” Pandiri noted.
Founded in 1998 by Stanford research students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google is a top web property in all major global markets.
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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