Feature
Maharashtra BJP red-faced over ex-minister’s revelations
Mumbai: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra got a jolt when a purported sting operation of a former minister made some embarrassing revelations on various counts and individuals, here on Friday.
The ‘sting’ on Mumbai’s influential legislator Raj Purohit, a former minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government of 1995-1999, was carried out by some unidentified persons and aired on several local television channels besides going viral on various social networking sites.
Purohit’s no-holds-barred ‘mann ki baat’ in the videos shows him raising questions on the style of functioning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
“There is no collective decision-making in the BJP…It’s a fraud (dhokha)…Modi and Shah are the two power centres in the country…Such a democracy is meaningless,” Purohit said.
He alleged that the business community in the country is unhappy over certain decisions of the Modi government, including the move to unearth black money.
“Half the country’s economy runs on black money… I interact daily with the top businessmen…Don’t interfere in everything…Let things continue as they are…” Purohit advised.
Throwing open hints at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ alleged nexus with the builder lobby, Purohit claimed that the money power of Lodha Builders had prevented him from becoming a minister in the current government.
“I am suffering lot of injustice…I was a kingmaker…I am a very dangerous MLA…I am one of the senior-most persons. Yes, I could have been senior-most next to (Eknath) Khadse only…But I was not made minister,” Purohit claimed.
He said that the late union minister Gopinath Munde never favoured an alliance with the Shiv Sena and “wanted to be chief minister right from the beginning”.
The legislator added that if Munde had not died in a car crash and become the chief minister, Fadnavis would have been just a minister.
On his relations with another senior BJP leader, the late Pramod Mahajan, Purohit said they were “closest” to each other, and he executed Mahajan’s plans.
To a question on Lodha Builders – who, like legislator M.P. Lodha, are also the BJP’s prominent functionaries – Purohit said they spent lot of money during elections, running into “crores of rupees”.
Taking strong note of Purohit’s utterances, BJP state president Raosaheb Patil Danve said: “I have summoned him for personal discussions on the matter. We will first inquire about the genuineness of the video CDs, and then the party would take appropriate action.”
Taking umbrage at his statement about Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray – that “he is a bogus leader” – MNS activists vandalised Purohit’s office in Kalbadevi in south Mumbai.
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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