Feature
India to launch 23 foreign satellites
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): India has signed up contracts to launch 23 foreign satellites soon, an official of Antrix Corporation said here on Monday.
Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of Indian space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
“Out of 23 foreign satellites, two will go in two separate rockets. The remaining 21 satellites will piggy-back on bigger Indian satellite,” the official told.
He said ISRO would soon be launching six Singapore satellites weighing a total of around 660 kg.
According to him, the bigger of the six is an earth observation satellite, weighing 410 kg. Two are micro-satellites, weighing 130 kg and 80 kg respectively.
The remaining three are nano-satellites, cumulatively weighing 30 kg.
According to the Antrix Corporation official, ISRO will also be launching five small satellites from the US before 2016 as a piggy-back luggage.
Antrix Corporation had signed with US parties to launch nine small satellites, of which four were launched on Monday as a piggy-back luggage with ASTROSAT, India’s first space observatory.
Till date India has launched 51 foreign satellites for a fee.
Addressing the media, ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said things are changing with the US. “We are having more and more interaction with the US,” Kumar added.
Speaking about forthcoming rocket launches, he said the next polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) rocket launch will be fully commercial.
He said India would be launching communication satellite GSAT-15 using Ariane rocket, a European heavy-lift launch vehicle, this November and two navigation satellites from here.
According to Kumar, all the seven navigation satellites, part of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), would be in place in 2016.
Queried about the status of SAARC satellite announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ISRO chairman said Sri Lanka has given its consent to the configuration.
“It will be a two-tonne satellite with 12 transponders. Each SARRC nation will be given one transponder configured to give the data they need. The satellite will be launched by the end of 2016,” Kumar said.
On the data sent by India’s one-year-old Mars Orbiter, Mangalayan, and the result of the research done on them, the ISRO chief said the data would be shared with interested researchers.
According to him, the Mars Orbiter takes four pictures every two-and-half days and sends them back to ISRO.
On the issue of sourcing fully assembled rocket components by ISRO, Kumar said work has started and it would take around four-and-half years to achieve that.
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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