Feature
Bihar election to be political watershed: Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said he was confident the JD-U-RJD alliance with his party will be able to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “juggernaut” — as it happened in Delhi in February.
“Assembly elections in Bihar are a watershed event politically. It is very clear that the government’s strategy is two-faced like the one adopted during the 2014 general election,” Ramesh said during an interaction with the media at the Indian Women’s Press Corps here.
He said the BJP strategy would be of keeping the development agenda on top and communal polarisation at the bottom.
“The release of the census data on religion is not accidental. Each of the 243 constituencies are going to be fought bitterly. Caste is also going to be an important factor. It is going to be a (Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar versus Modi contest.”
“We are confident that the alliance will be able to stop the Modi juggernaut like in Delhi,” he added.
Ramesh added: “Another important factor politically is Hardik Patel who has completely redrawn the map of Gujarat. It questions the very foundation of the Gujarat model of development.”
On the Goods and Services Tax Bill, Ramesh said: “Empowerment committee of state finance ministers had unanimously supported GST. But Gujarat had opposed it. But when he became prime minister, he discovered the virtues of GST.”
He said the Congress has given a dissent note to the Rajya Sabha select committee on GST, demanding the tax rate should not be more than 18 percent, one percent additional surcharge should be done away with and in case of a dispute there must be independent mechanism.
Questioned about speculation of a special session being called to get the GST Bill passed, the Congress leader said the NDA government has as of now not made any effort to speak with the Congress on this.
The Rajya Sabha MP said since the NDA government came to power, inflation remains a “puzzling” phenomenon. “Inflation rates are low, but rise in cost of food items are worrying.”
Ramesh said though Modi has made “Swachh Bharat” a media blitz, he has not spoken about tackling open defecation and manual scavenging.
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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