Feature
Unhappy officials can go for central postings: Kejriwal
New Delhi:Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sent out a stern message to senior bureaucrats, saying IAS officers who had issues working with his government were welcome to join the central government.
“No hooliganism by bureaucrats will be tolerated in Delhi. The IAS officers played politics… we will not tolerate this… If you indulge in corruption, then you’ll go to jail,” Kejriwal said in an interview to CNN-IBN.
“If you don’t agree with cabinet decisions, then you’ll be suspended. All those IAS officers who have problem with our government should leave Delhi,” he added.
The chief minister said that never in the country’s history had IAS officers gone on mass casual leave.
“They have gone on a strike for the first time. Those who have problem with us should give us their names. I’ll write to the (union) home minister to send them out of Delhi or they should join the central government,” he added.
The Indian Administrative Service Association did not comment on the remark, though one officer said if Kejriwal had issues regarding administrative control over senior officers, he should sort it out with the Centre.
“Why embroil officers?” a bureaucrat told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
“He should be the one who should go. He was an Indian Revenue Service officer and he quit. The kind of statements he is making are very bad,” he said.
“He should not run roughshod over officials,” another officer said.
Subhash Chandra, special secretary (prisons), and Yashpal Garg, special secretary (prosecution), were suspended by the Delhi government for allegedly refusing to sign two cabinet notes related to hike in salaries of public prosecutors and prison staff.
Following the order, officers belonging to DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre – to which Chandra and Garg belong – decided to go on a strike.
The central government, however, declared the suspensions as invalid.
The Delhi government earlier suspended three officers after they failed to provide relief material to slum dwellers in Shakur Basti whose shanties were demolished by Railways authorities.
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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