Feature
Manipur quake: CM Okram Ibobi visits relief camp today
Manipur: As the government relief has not been reached to the people so far affected by the January 4 earthquake, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi today visited a relief camp at Kanglatongbi.
Accompanied by some ministers and MLAs and district officials, the chief minister visited the camp for a few minutes and left after assuring the affected of help.
At least 75 people are staying in the relief camp set up in a school in Kanglatongbi along National Highway-2. Some 179 houses were damaged there, local resident Shiva Kumar Das said.
Ibobi inaugurated a power sub-station at Sekmai, a few km from Kanglatongbi that is about 30 km from Imphal.
Official sources said on Wednesday that hundreds of people in Tamenglong district were affected, for whom two relief camps were set up. Five camps were set up in Senapati district, where over 1,000 houses were damaged.
At least seven people were killed and over 100 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked Manipur and other north-eastern states before dawn.
Many affected villagers as well as local women vendors said that the state government was yet to provide them basic relief materials or monetary compensation.
The chief minister was yet to visit the damaged market complexes in Imphal, just a few metres away from his office, they added.
“The complexes are closed down and made out of bounds. We have been requesting the government to give us alternative sites to ply our businesses but there has been no positive response,” lamented local street vendor K. Sorojini.
In the absence of an alternative site, some women vendors were selling vegetables, fish and other consumables by the roadside, leading to resentment among other street vendors.
“Licence holders inside the complexes used to abuse and chase us away. Sometimes we were manhandled as they said that customers do not go inside as we ply our trade at the entrance. The government should see to it that our business is not affected,” said fish vendor Ibemma.
Another displaced vendor Priya said: “We are selling our wares by the roadside not by choice. We are daily wagers and have to somehow feed our children.”
Apart from the two marketing complexes, most parts of the state capital are closed as some high rise buildings have been partially damaged by the quake.
Officials said owners of buildings and houses higher than three storeys were issued notices last year, asking them for certificates from structural engineers on constructions but there was not much response.
The Manipur government had sought Rs.500 crore from the Centre. In the face of alleged inadequate government relief, some BJP activists and non-governmental organisations have distributed some materials among the affected.
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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