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Our emphasis on research and development is very scanty: Pranab Mukherjee
Kolkata: President Pranab Mukherjee today stated that India’s emphasis on research and development is very scanty. He stated this while comparing India with other BRICS members.
He further stated that was a “general apathy” towards research in the country and India cannot aspire to become one of the top nations in the world without having world-class academic institutions.
“India cannot aspire to become one of the top nations in the world and sit at the high table of the international comity without having world-class academic institutions,” Mukherjee said, while delivering the Debranjan Mukherji Memorial lecture at the Raj Bhavan here.
Comparing India with other BRICS members, he said: “Our emphasis on research and development is very scanty. There is general apathy towards research. In BRICS countries, Brazil and China are far ahead in research work.”
He said that while physical infrastructure for higher education has expanded fast in recent years in the country, which now had 712 universities and over 36,000 colleges, not a single Indian institution figured in the top 200 rankings till some time back.
The president also said that as Visitor to a large number of institutions of higher learning, he has been regularly convening conferences and emphasising on the need to improve international rankings.
“The basic problem is not lack of merit on the part of our higher learning institutions but technicalities and our not providing relevant information to the international rating agencies,” he said.
Mukherjee expressed happiness over institutions now taking the ranking process more seriously in a proactive and systematic manner.
Thanks to the efforts of the institutions concerned and his constant prodding, two Indian institutions have broken into the top 200 for the first time.
The president exuded confidence that many more institutions would make it to the list soon.
He also said that the internet, mobile phones and television have transformed the world.
“There are no longer any territorial limitations. Technology and e-classrooms can be used to access best of teachers anywhere. This will help address the problem of faculty shortages.”
Stressing the need for cross-fertilisation of ideas, he said faculty and student exchanges should be regularly organised. Novel ideas that can be transformed into marketable products should be supported and higher education institutions should in association with grassroots entrepreneurs create incubation centres.
The memorial lecture has been instituted in the memory of Late Debranjan Mukherji, an influential figure who taught Bengali language and literature.
He served in Suri Vidyasagar College, Guskara Mahavidyalaya, Bidhanchandra College at Asansol and the University of Burdwan, where he later became the head of the department of Bengali.
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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