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Pawar plays caste politics: Raj Thackeray
Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday flayed NCP president Sharad Pawar for opposing conferring of the state’s highest award on an eminent historian and accused the former union minister of indulging “only in caste politics for vested interest”.
Criticising the Nationalist Congress Party leader’s opposition to conferment of the prestigious Maharashtra Bhushan on eminent historian Balwant Moreshwar alias Babasaheb Purandare on Wednesday, Thackeray lamented that the event had been sullied by the controversy raging for the past few days.
Attacking the NCP supremo for opposing the award, Thackeray asked if Purandare did not deserve the award, why did he (Pawar) felicitate him on two occasions in the past.
To a question, Thackeray warned: “If anybody dares to touch Purandare, we will do a ‘tandav’ in Maharashtra.”
The state government’s decision to award Purandare, 95, kicked off a row between lobbies for and against as his writings on the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji have become an emotional issue in the state.
The Sambhaji Brigade, considered representative of the powerful Maratha community, and other opponents allege a ‘Brahmanical conspiracy’ by Purandare and others to defame Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother Jijabai, calling him a Hindu king though he had many Muslims serving him, distorting history with untruths and creating controversies.
A group of leaders, including descendents of the Chhatrapati clan — Udayanraje Bhosale, NCP MP from Satara, and Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje of Kolhapur, have asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to defer conferment of the award till the controversy is put to rest.
Other prominent opponents include Jnanpith laureate Bhalchandra Nemade, Mukta Dabholkar (daughter of slain anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar), Medha Pansare (daughter of slain CPI leader Govind Pansare), and leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, activists and other groups across the state.
While the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena leaders have already favoured the award for Purandare, the MNS came out in support on Tuesday. Even the NCP’s official position is that Purandare deserves the award.
“I feel the portrayal of Shivaji in Purandare’s work is not in keeping with history. I have respect for him but I have a different image of Shivaji in my mind,” Nemade urged in his letter to Fadnavis.
Opposing the government’s move, some so-called Sambhaji Brigade activists ransacked the office of BJP’s Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde in Ahmednagar on Tuesday.
Considering the strong feelings over the upcoming award ceremony, Maharashtra Police have increased security around Purandare’s Pune residence.
Several top NCP leaders have demanded that the award for Purandare should be cancelled, and around 50 village panchayats in Pune district also passed a resolution in the same vein.
Over a decade ago, a similar controversy erupted when American historian James Laine penned a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji, raking up the questions of his parentage.
It resulted in an attack by Sambhaji Brigade on Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, a police case against Laine and a ban on his book in India.
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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