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Navy’s 48 warships being built indigenously: Vice chief
Kolkata: Hailing the country’s indigenous shipbuilding capabilities, Vice Admiral P. Murugesan, vice chief of the navy, on Tuesday said that 48 warships are currently under construction in Indian shipyards.
These 48 ships being manufactured for the Indian Navy include aircraft carriers, frigates, destroyers, submarines, corvettes and fast attack crafts.
“The greatest news is that all these 48 ships are being built in Indian shipyards,” Murugesan said at the simultaneous launch of three Water Jet Fast Attack Crafts (WJFAC) at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) here.
“It is a reflection of our indigenous capabilities and a proud moment for all of us that our country has achieved such a status that we can build all kind of warships in India itself,” the vice admiral said.
“INS Vikrant, a 40,000-tonne warship, is being built at the Cochin shipyard. No other country in our neighbourhood is building such a large ship,” said Murugesan while referring to the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier launched in 2013.
Murugesan also praised the GRSE, which has so far built 94 ships for the navy.
Credited with building the country’s first indigenous stealth anti-submarine warfare corvette, INS Kamorta, the GRSE is also India’s first shipyard to export a warship – CGS Barracuda – that was commissioned by the National Coast Guard of Mauritius in March.
The three WJFAC – Tarmugli, Tillanchang, Tihayu – are named after Andaman and Nicobar group of islands, and are among the four such warships being built by GRSE.
GRSE chairman and managing director Rear Admiral A.K. Verma (retd) said two of the three WJFACs will be delivered for commissioning in the last quarter of the year.
With a displacement of around 315 tonnes each, the ships are designed for a maximum speed of 35 knots with an endurance of nearly 2,000 nautical miles at 12-14 knots.
Powered by the latest 4,000-series MTU engines with advanced machinery control system, the ships will be fitted with CRN-91 indigenous 30mm gun with optronic pedestal and have the latest communication equipment and radars to enable effective surveillance.
The WJFACs are ideally suited for interception of fast-moving surface craft and will perform anti-smuggling, fishery protection and search and rescue operations.
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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