Feature
North India affected due to cold waves
New Delhi:Delayed flights and trains and slow movement of road traffic due to foggy conditions affected life across north India on Friday as the cold wave continued to grip the region.
Thirty-four flights were delayed on Friday due to poor visibility caused by the dense fog in Delhi, said an official.
Four of the flights were to depart from Delhi while 30 others were to arrive, said the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
According to the Northern Railway, 35 trains were cancelled while 14 ran behind schedule due to the fog in and around Delhi. One train was rescheduled.
Friday was the season’s coldest day in Delhi, with the minimum temperature recorded at 4.2 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average.
The capital was engulfed by dense fog, with visibility slumping to 200 metres and the humidity at 8.30 a.m. at 97 percent, the weather office said.
“The weather is likely to remain the same in the coming days,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.
Most parts of Jammu and Kashmir were under a severe cold wave with Srinagar recording a low of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius. Jammu’s temperature was a high of 10.7 degrees.
The weather in hill destinations of Shimla, Kasauli, Chail, Kufri, Narkanda, Dharamsala, Palampur and Manali in Himachal Pradesh continued to be ‘warmer’ and perfect for a break from the biting chill of the plains where the sun has largely been fogged out.
“What a sunny weather in Shimla these days. We are basking in the sun for hours,” said Nitin Malhotra, a tourist from Delhi.
“We are marketing the concept of relaxing and basking under the sun in the hills when fog is engulfing the plains,” Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corp deputy general manager Vijay Sharma told IANS.
Manmohan Singh, director of Shimla’s meteorological department, said most of the hill destinations have a pleasant weather owing to long sunny days.
“The maximum temperature in the hills is two-three degrees above average compared to the plains,” he said.
The humidity level of plus 80 percent causes fog, he added. Singh said the sunny weather conditions would continue in the hills till January 27.
Shimla, located around 7,000 feet above sea level, recorded a high of 13.8 degrees on Friday.
Friday’s minimum temperature was 1.7 degrees Celsius in Shimla, 5.2 in Dharamsala and minus 3.6 degrees Celsius in Manali.
Even Chandigarh was a shade colder with a high of 13.7 degrees, six degrees below normal. Ambala in Haryana recorded a high of 12.3 degrees.
In Punjab, Amritsar and Ludhiana recorded a maximum temperature of 10 degrees each, making the day quite cold for people. This was 8-9 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature in Ludhiana was 4.2 degrees.
The Met office in Chandigarh predicted foggy conditions till Sunday.
In Jammu and Kashmir, foggy weather continued for a third day.
The foggy and cold weather will continue for three to four days in Jammu city after which the weather will start improving, a Met official told IANS.
In Ladakh region, Leh town recorded minus 16.2 degrees Celsius and Kargil town recorded minus 16.4 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.
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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