Feature
Students protest, detained after Gajendra Chauhan takes charge at FTII
Pune (Maharashtra): As actor Gajendra Chauhan took charge as the Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) today, students staged a strong protest outside the campus.
Several students shouted “Go back, go back” and clashed with the police following which almost 20 students have been detained.
The police, deployed in large numbers, resorted to mild caning after some students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) attempted to block the route taken by Chauhan, who came for his first take-over meeting of the FTII Society. He was appointed its chairman in June last year.
At least 17 students had already been served notices warning them of stringent action if they attempted to create a ruckus on the campus during Chauhan’s visit.
Some students accused the police of high-handedness and manhandling the students who were protesting peacefully when they were forcibly dragged by the police personnel to waiting vans.
Student leader Reema Kaur told that their demonstration was “silent, and made violent by the police”.
“The students were protesting at the gate peacefully. Police staged a lathi-charge. They hurt many students and put them in the riot van. It is a curfew-like situation on the campus,” Kaur said.
FTII Students’ Association (FTIISA) president Harishankar Nachimuthu was also among those detained, Kaur added.
The FTIISA had announced on Wednesday its plan to ‘resist’ Chauhan as its demands remained unmet by the authorities concerned.
“Our core demand was to place the newly-appointed society in abeyance and to set proper criteria and procedure to appoint the FTII Society and it still remains the same,” the FTIISA said in a statement.
The FTIISA said that “we still have problem with these appointments and will continue to resist it unless the concerned authorities put the society in abeyance and set a process for further appointements, since it is the question of our academics.”
The direct protest against Chauhan on Thursday came after the students on June 12 went on strike, which was called off on October 28 — after 139 days, “against the political appointments of incapable people in the FTII Society”.
Chauhan, best known for essaying the role of ‘Yudhishthir’ in B.R. Chopra’s “Mahabharat” besides featuring in small roles in various films like “Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge” and “Baghban”, was appointed FTII chairman on June 9, last year.
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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