Feature
Modi to open global summit on child deaths
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate here on August 27 the Call To Action Summit 2015, a global meet for ending preventable child and maternal deaths, it was announced on Thursday.
The two-day summit would have ministers, medical experts and officials from 24 countries deciding on strategies and sharing practices, said Rakesh Kumar, joint secretary in the health and family welfare ministry.
The 24 countries, which include the US and Ethiopia, were the “priority” countries as child and maternal deaths there amount to two-thirds of the global total, he told a press conference.
The Call To Action Summit, first hosted in the US in 2012, aims to end preventable child deaths by 2035. It will be co-hosted by the WHO, Unicef, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Tata Trusts.
C.K. Mishra, the additional secretary and mission director of the National Health Mission, said: “The decline of child and maternal deaths in the country has been an outstanding story in the global scenario.”
The decline rate of infant, mother deaths has been high due to effective health practices and vaccines, Mishra said, adding the deaths have fallen by nearly 50 percent.
Mishra said that AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) doctors would be appointed in rural areas to facilitate access to health care.
He added: “Qualified people are not always necessary, but a trained non-medical person could also take care of basic health care.
“Eradicating infant mortality and improving maternal health are also a part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This summit will adopt policies to move ahead in the world scenario.”
The decline of child and maternal deaths in India have had a “tremendous” improvement and has been faster than the global average, the official said.
About 45 different practices being followed in the world to end preventable child and mother deaths, which will be displayed at the meet.
Mishra said 24 states in India had met fertility goals of 2.1 required for population stabilisation.
According to the health and family welfare ministry’s figures, the total number of child deaths in the world has fallen by 48 percent, from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012.
Maternal deaths globally have also decreased by 45 percent, from 523,000 in 1990 to 289,000 in 2013.
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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