Feature
Fabricated reprt sent to RTI by journalists: AYUSH ministry
Pic credit: embassy of india
New Delhi: The AYUSH ministry on Saturday expressed “anguish” at the mischievous misinformation being spread in a section of media and social media and termed as “fabricated” a purported RTI reply that had claimed that the central government does not recruit Muslims in the ministry as a policy.
“The ministry of AYUSH has noted with anguish certain mischievous misinformation being spread in certain section of media and social media quoting a reply to an RTI by mentioning a fabricated draft as annexure I to that letter, which has never been issued by the ministry or any of its agencies. The ministry strongly condemns this piece of misreporting,” said a strongly-worded statement from the ministry.
It said that the contents regarding religion based data “are not only fabricated but factually incorrect”.
The response of the ministry’s international cooperation section clearly said that invitations were sent to yoga experts/enthusiasts without reference to their religions, and added the ministry is initiating “appropriate action” in the matter.
The statement cautioned that such misreporting was aimed at causing “chasm” between different sections of society and promoting disharmony and mistrust.
The response came in response to a series of RTI applications by a journalist who had sought the number of Muslim yoga teachers and trainers hired for foreign assignments during the first World Yoga Day on June 21 last year.
“As per government policy: no Muslim candidate was invited, selected or sent abroad,” the reply was quoted as saying.
The ministry, however, on Saturday said that an RTI request dated September 17, 2015 was received from Pushp Sharma which sought information about various issues including how many times yoga councils were formulated in last ten years, detail list of each council, name of Yoga council members who got selected and how many Muslim candidates were invited.
It said that on receipt of the query, it forwarded this RTI request to its three agencies, namely the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy and its international cooperation wing.
“This is a simple forwarding letter under section 6(3) of RTI Act and therefore does not contain any reply to the queries.
“The same forwarding letter of the ministry has been used by a section of the media in this matter, but with a non-existent, fictitious ‘ANNEXURE- I’, (which has never been issued by the ministry),” it said.
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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