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Rahul Gandhi shut doors for BSP-SP as Congress to contest LS polls alone
Lucknow: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday virtually shut the doors on the BSP and Samajwadi Party and said that while he respected their leaders Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, there should be no doubt that his party will fight the coming Lok Sabha polls with “its full might and ability” in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing Congress workers at the party office, the Gandhi scion said that the time had come when the ideology of the Congress should be resurrected in the state and added, while gesturing towards party General Secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia, that these people had been sent to Uttar Pradesh not just for the Lok Sabha polls but to also ensure that the Congress “forms the next state government”.
“We will yield not an inch on our ideology. The people of the state have suffered a lot, they have tried and tested every party and the Congress will have to form the next government for the sake of progress and prosperity of Uttar Pradesh,” he declared as the workers applauded amid slogans of “Rahul Bhaiyya, Rahul Bhaiyya”.
Exhorting party activists to work hard for the electoral battle that lies ahead, he pointed out that it was a “fight between an ideology and unity and brotherhood on one side and the RSS, BJP and Narendra Modi’s divisive and hate-centred politics on the other”.
He assured the party workers that leaders will not be “air-dropped any more” and that the grassroot workers would be encouraged.
Rahul Gandhi respects Akhilesh-Mayawati but shuts doors for SP-BSP for LS polls:
He again trained his guns on Prime Minister Modi for alleged corruption.
Gandhi said that there was no dearth of issues to put the Modi government on the mat — be it farm loan waiver, promised jobs and even corruption. Modi had let down the people of all sections of the society, the Congress leader said at the end of a roadshow of his sister Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia.
“Loans of no farmer has been waived but his industrialist friends have got benefits from the Prime Minister. Two crore jobs were promised every year but nothing has happened.”
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, he imitated Modi’s style of speech and said that while earlier he used to speak with his head held high and his 56-inch chest pumped up, now he spoke with his head down.
“He is on the defensive, his hollowness has been exposed before the whole country,” Gandhi 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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