Feature
Now, Nitish Kumar not to attend Rahul’s rally in Bihar
Patna: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s proposed rally in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections seems to have run into rough weather as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has now expressed his inability to attend it.
Though the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) earlier confirmed that Nitish Kumar would attend Rahul’s rally in Bihar’s West Champaran district on September 19, it later said he would be unable to do so due to his engagement with finalisation of candidates.
Interestingly, former chief minister Lalu Prasad too refused to share the stage with Rahul citing a busy schedule, and efforts were on to make him attend it.
A senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said that Lalu Prasad, however, assured the Congress leaders here that his younger son Tejaswi Yadav, regarded as his heir apparent, would attend the rally on his behalf.
JD-U general secretary and national spokesperson K.C. Tyagi and other senior party leaders would attend Rahul’s rally.
According to sources, Lalu Prasad was reluctant to share the dais with Rahul Gandhi as he was unhappy with the Congress leader over the latter’s political approach and stand on some issues.
After the RJD chief’s refusal to attend Rahul Gandhi’s Champaran rally to kick-start the Congress election campaign in Bihar, the Congress is trying to persuade the former chief minister to share the stage with the Gandhi family scion to project before the public the unity of the grand alliance comprising of JD-U, RJD and the Congress.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Choudhary personally visited Lalu Prasad twice since last Sunday to convince him to share the dais with Rahul Gandhi. “I am hopeful that Lalu-ji will attend the rally,” Choudhary said.
“Senior Congress leader and incharge of Bihar, C.P. Joshi, and another senior Congress leader from Haryana, Ajay Yadav, whose son Chiranjeev Rao is married to Lalu Prasad’s daughter, will talk to the RJD chief and request him to attend Rahul’s rally,” a Congress leader said.
Lalu Prasad’s relations with Rahul turned bitter after the latter openly objected to the then United Progressive Alliance government’s ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers from disqualification in September 2013. Lalu has been convicted in the multi-crore fodder scam case by a CBI court in Ranchi.
The Champaran rally would be the first big show of the grand alliance after the ‘Swabhiman rally’ in Patna on August 30, which was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar.
The grand alliance, in which RJD and JD-U would contest 100 seats each and the Congress 40 seats, is in direct fight with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Bihar polls.
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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