Feature
Yoga Day: From Kashmir to Kerala, people do asanas in tandem with PM
New Delhi: Millions of Indians on Tuesday morning stretched and twisted their bodies and performed breathing exercises to celebrate the second International Yoga Day, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chandigarh urging people to delink the ancient Indian practice from their religious beliefs.
“Yoga is not a religious activity. Many people do not understand yoga completely. It is not what you will get from yoga, but what is important is what you will give to yoga and what all (ailments) will it rid you off,” he said early in the morning in a nearly 30-minute speech before the yoga session.
Yoga, the prime minister said, could give “health assurance at zero budget” and it should be made a part of everyone’s daily life for peace and harmony.
Mass yoga events were held in schools, public places, lawns of residential localities and office complexes across thousands of Indian villages, cities, and towns — from the deserts of Rajasthan to eastern planes and from the Himalayan heights to high seas — on naval warships — down south. The celebrations of the day and yoga performances even went high up in the sky at 35,000 feet above Earth on some morning flights.
Modi, in a white T-shirt and a payjama with a stole around his neck, led from the front in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex. Stretching on a mat and staring at the overcast Chandigarh skies, he himself performed the asanas among the crowd of over 30,000 yoga enthusiasts.
“Yoga binds body, mind, intelligence and soul. It provides a balance to mind and body. Anyone can do it anywhere,” said Modi, a keen yoga enthusiast on whose proposal the UN marked June 21 to be celebrated as the International Yoga Day every year.
In the run-up to the celebrations, the government had created a huge hype to popularize the event, asking people to organise ceremonies for mass participations.
In Delhi, as the morning sun broke through the overnight clouds, tens of thousands of its residents performed asanas. Over 10,000 people gathered at Central Park in the heart of Connaught Place and the circular road around it, making it one of the largest yoga events in the city.
It rained heavily in Mumbai but that did not deter lakhs of school and college students and men and women of all ages from doing yoga exercises in many parts of the city and suburbs.
The Indian Navy in Mumbai completed a three-week long capsule to train 25 personnel and popularise yoga among thousands of its sailors and civilians while over 2,000 took part in a yoga programme at Kohli Grounds.
Tamil Nadu capital Chennai also saw thousands of people performing yoga. The navy marked the day with its officers and personnel performing yoga on INS Adyar.
And it wasn’t just the metro cities.
In Jammu and Kashmir, scores performed yoga exercises and the main function was held at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu. Similar functions were held in Srinagar and Leh and Kargil towns of the Ladakh region.
In Himachal Pradesh, the day was observed amid cloudy conditions and yet thousands did asanas in hundreds of camps across the state.
In Left-ruled Kerala, the day sparked a controversy as Health Minister K.K. Shailaja was irked by Sanskrit kirtans rendered at an event. She pointed out that yoga doesn’t belong to any particular religion and is also practised by atheists.
Celebrations were also held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and northeastern states.
High up in the sky, budget airline SpiceJet conducted practice sessions on all its two-hour morning flights. It was a special 10-minute ‘Upa-Yoga’ onboard capsule for its passengers and crew. The participants performed while seated. The special asanas are believed to help activate joints, muscles and energy systems to overcome jetlag, fear of flying and breathing difficulties.
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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