Feature
ABVP makes comeback in JNU; AISF wins president’s post
New Delhi: In a major boost to the BJP, RSS affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad made a comeback at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after 14 years on Sunday by winning the students union joint secretary’s post.
The joint secretary’s post was won by AVBP’s Saurabh Sharma.
The JNUSU president’s post was won by the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation’s (AISF) candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, while vice president and general secretary’s posts were retained by Left-leaning All India Students Association (AISA). The seats were won by Shehla Rashid Shora and Rama Naga respectively.
“The poll results were declared at 8 a.m. today (Sunday). Since paper ballots are used for polling and counting is done manually, the counting process takes longer at the JNU. The voting percentage at the university is also relatively high. The ABVP made a comeback at the JNU after almost 15 years,” said JNU poll’s chief election commissioner Praveen Thallapelli.
The AISF won the president’s post by 67 votes over AISA, while AISA nominee won the vice-president’s post against his ABVP rival by 234 votes. For the general secretary’s post, AISA candidate defeated ABVP nominee by 213 votes while joint secretary’s post was claimed by ABVP, defeating AISA by 28 votes.
The ABVP last won a post in the JNU elections in 2001 when Sandeep Mahapatra became the president by a vote’s margin.
Shehla Rashid of AISA is the first Kashmiri woman in JNU history to contest the students’ union polls and win in the central panel. She is also this year’s highest polled candidate (1,387), according to JNU sources.
“This victory is a mandate for carrying on the struggles for which JNUSU is known. We will carry on the struggle for social justice, gender justice and against privatisation and saffronisation of education,” said Shehla after winning the vice president’s post.
“We are content with the overall Left mandate, but we have to take cognizance of the proliferation of the right-wing in the campus and work collectively towards establishing a Left-progressive consciousness on the campus,” she added.
The students’ union elections in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Friday recorded 53.3 percent turnout, a marginal dip over last year, when the turnout was 54.58 percent.
A total of 22 candidates contested the JNUSU central panel that includes posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary.
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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