Feature
‘NDA using terror groups to destabilise Congress regimes in North-East’
New Delhi: The Congress party on Wednesday accused the NDA government at the Centre of “blatantly” trying to “destabilise” elected Congress governments in the north-eastern states by using terror groups to upset the law and order situation.
“The (union) Home Ministry and the Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs are directly involved in creating law and order problems in the north-east,” Congress leader V. Narayanasamy claimed while briefing media persons at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here.
Nayaranasamy is the Congress leader in-charge of the seven northeastern states of which four — Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh — are ruled by it.
“Some terror groups are very close to the Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs (Kiren Rijiju). In Arunachal Pradesh, Rijiju is directly involved in such activities to destabilise our government. They are trying to destabilise the democratically elected governments. The Home Ministry, MoS Home and BJP President Amit Shah are involved in this. All this is happening with the approval of PM Narendra Modi,” charged Narayanasamy.
Rijiju, however, called the allegations “a joke”.
“This is a joke and should not be taken seriously at all. There is no point in paying heed to any comments from any person who does not have any support from the people,” Rijiju told IANS.
Rijiju, who was in Ladakh for an event and got to know about the allegations made by Narayanasamy through some of the BJP leaders, said: “No one would take Narayanasamy’s comments seriously as he was talking without any proof.”
Rijiju said he would call a press conference on Thursday and give a strong reply to the false charge levelled against him.
“Even media is not going to believe the allegation made by the Congress leader. No one should make casual remarks on the militancy issue in northeast as it is a very critical issue,” he told IANS.
Narayanasamy, however, said the Congress party will raise this issue in parliament and outside it. MLAs of the Congress party were being threatened using terrorist outfits to switch over to the BJP, thereby destabilising the state governments, a statement issued by the Congress in-charge said.
“Ever since the BJP government has come to power, the Centre has been blatantly trying to destabilise duly elected Congress governments in the north-eastern states,” the statement added.
He said the government was unabashedly using their power at the Centre and “through the political heavyweights in Delhi, the BJP is trying every trick to attain instability”.
“These blatant efforts at destabilisation are not only threatening to divert the democratic will of the people, but have also created a security issue in the area after a long time,” he said.
The senior Congress leader said the lives of security personnel were at risk on a daily basis and the people of the region were living in constant fear.
“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about high moral values and cooperative federalism, on the other hand, BJP President Amit Shah is indulging in disturbing duly elected Congress governments in the north-east,” said Nayaranaswamy.
“The central government has appointed governors from RSS background who are acting as destabilising agents and be it the home ministry or the DONER ministry, all are working in tandem with the sole aim of grabbing power through the backdoor,” he said.
Narayanasamy said the Naga peace talks failed because of the home ministry’s failure to carry all the terrorist outfits to the negotiating table and try to resolve the vexed issue.
“R.N. Ravi, interlocutor for the Naga talks, is said to be unhappy over the breakdown of the ceasefire agreement with the NSCN(K) and is believed to have conveyed to the Prime Minister’s Office about alleged ‘mishandling’ of the Naga rebel group by the home ministry,” he said.
“NSCN-K withdrew from the peace talks because of Rijiju’s comments that he would not engage with terror groups like them,” he said.
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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