Feature
Modi asks actors, youths to promote handloom
Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged movie stars, youths and others to use handloom products to give a much needed boost to the sector.
“If movie actors decide to use only handloom and handicraft products in one out of their five movies, then those movies will automatically attract good viewership,” Modi said.
Modi said film industry plays a major part in popularizing fashion.
He was here to launch the National Handloom Day and the India Handloom brand for better market positioning of Indian handloom products.
Speaking at the Madras University Centenary Auditorium, Modi said youths of today make purchases online and added that handloom products should also be made available online.
He said handloom products were to be branded because Indian handloom products lack global branding.
He said the sale of khadi products had gone up by 60 percent after his October 2 appeal to people to use at least one khadi product to brighten the lives of the producers.
A similar call should be given for handloom products.
Modi said handloom could be used for curtains, clothes, bedsheets, doormat and more.
The prime minister said handlooms form 15 percent of the total textile market, and if this was increased to 20 percent, the turnover of the sector would increase by 33 percent.
Starting this year, the National Handloom Day would be celebrated on August 7 every year.
It was on this day in 1905 that the boycott of British products began during India’s freedom struggle.
The National Handloom Day is observed to generate awareness about the importance of handloom industry which is part of India’s rich heritage and culture.
Over 43 lakh people are engaged in handloom weaving and allied activities in India.
The industry is a source of livelihood to large sections of rural population particularly women, and BPL families, in addition to being a part of the country’s rich cultural heritage and traditions.
Modi said innovation in design and production should be brought into the handloom sector.
Pointing out the importance of innovative design and marketing, he said the textiles ministry would hold design and marketing competitions.
According to him, pre-weaving stage should be mechanised to reduce the manual labour put in by the weaver.
Listing out the social security measures initiated by his government, Modi said the Mudra (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank was floated to meet the needs of micro, small and medium enterprises.
Modi said the government had increased the funding assistance to handloom clusters to Rs.2 crore from the earlier Rs.60 lakh.
Earlier in the day, Modi, who arrived in a special aircraft from New Delhi, was received by Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and her cabinet colleagues at the airport.
Modi went to the Madras University Centenary Auditorium.
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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