Feature
Rail Budget 2016 key highlights
New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has presented his second rail budget at the budget session of parliament here today.
The key highlights of the Rail Budget 2016 are mentioned below:
• Prabhu expects Traffic Revenue Target at Rs. 1.85 lakh crore next year.
• Saving of Rs.8, 720 crore from last year’s estimates.
• Investment of Rs.1.21 lakh crore has been proposed for Railways
• Revenue growth of over 10% this year.
• Expect the financial year 2017 Operating Ratio at 92%.
• Seven km of broad gauge lines to be commissioned every day during 2016-17.
• Hope to commission 19 km of new broad gauge track every day by 2018-19
• Rs.8.8 lakh crore to be spent on infrastructure in five years
• Rs.40,000 crore expected from the government as nudgetary support
• Electrification budget increased by 50%.
• Dustbins will be provided to all non ac coaches soon
• Internal audit to revamp Railway functioning
• Online booking of retiring rooms made possible
• 17,000 additional bio-toilets to be provided by the end of current fiscal
• Finalised bids for two new loco factories under Make in India initiative
• WiFi facilities at 100 more stations this year and 400 stations next year
• 2,800 km of broad gauge track conversion proposed
• 65,000 additional berths created by augmenting 884 coaches.
• Academic facility at Vadodara being upgraded to university level
• Railways to generate 9 crore mandays of employment in 2017-18 and 14 crore mandays in 2018-19
• To increase lower berth quota for senior citizens by 50 percent
• Dedicated freight corridors envisaged for North-South, East-West and East Coast alignments
• Social media being increasingly used to ensure transparency
• LIC approved to invest Rs. 1.5 lakh crore over 5 years on extremely favourable terms.
• Two elevated tracks envisaged from Churchgate and CST on Mumbai’s suburban railway system
• Specialised teams envisaged in specific areas to improve efficiency
• All-India 24X7 helpline no. 182 for women
• Fully unreserved trains to be operated on high-density corridors
• Local art to be highlighted at railway stations
• IRCTC to begin marriage catering service in phased manner (13:13)
• New R&D organisation to be established
• Rs.50 crore to be provided for start-ups by railway employees
• E-catering to be extended to all stations
• Local cusine of choice to be made available to rail passengers
• No hike in railway fares.
• Invite FM radio stations to provide train borne entertainment via PA systems.
• We intend to publish Rail Bandhu magazine in all regional languages.
• GPS-based digital display in coaches for showing upcoming stations.
• CoolieS to be called ‘Sahayaks’.
• Baby Milk, Baby food and Hot water will be provided for travelling mothers.
• Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2000 tickets/min to 7,200/min.
• CCTV network has been provided at 311 railway stations.
• 1,780 ticket-vending machines announced.
• Special purpose vehicle for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speech corridor this month
• For the unreserved passenger- the Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes
• For reserved passenger – Humsafar, Tejas and UDAY Express announced.
• CCTV coverage at tatkaal counters.
• Railways will introduce ‘Clean my Coach’ service.
• Extending e-catering services from 45 large stations to all 408 ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ class stations.
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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