Feature
Sonia to use ‘Ganga’ as a weapon in Varanasi to discredit Modi
Lucknow : A little over two years ago, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, had told a sea of supporters and party workers that he had been beckoned by the Ganga to come to Varanasi to contest the Lok Sabha elections. “Mujhe Ganga maiyya ne bulaya hai (Mother Ganga has summoned me),” he told jubilant supporters as he sought their votes. Ganga became his stepping stone to 7, Race Course Road.
On August 2, as Congress president Sonia Gandhi comes to Kashi for a road show, she, sources say, is set to take the sheen of Ganga off the prime minister and “take him to task over the pathetic situation of the holy river” despite the hullabulloo and crores of rupees that have gone in vain to clean it up. The Ganga will be an impassioned weapon in Gandhi’s armour against Modi, said a senior party leader.
Strategists in the Congress, which was pushed to its worst electoral tally in its history by Modi’s high-decibel campaign, say the party chief is likely to whip up passions about how the river continues to be a “big mess” many many years after her late husband Rajiv Gandhi rolled out the ‘Ganga Safai Abhiyan’ from the Dr Rajendra Prasad Ghat on June 14, 1986.
Before her roadshow criss-crosses the narrow bylines of Kashi, she will be closeted with environmentalists, locals involved in Ganga cleanup activities and Vishambhar Nath Mishra, mahout of the fabled Sankat Mochan temple, whose father had led a major drive to clean up the river.
Sources told IANS that while Gandhi’s speeches and campaign would focus on issues like price rise, inflation, crime and communal tension, her primary focus would be Modi and his “failures with regard to his parliamentary constituency”.
Gandhi’s 12-km road show is part of the Congress’ ongoing ’27 saal, UP behaal’ (UP has been ignored for 27 years) campaign that began last week and saw senior state party leaders take a bus trip from Delhi to Kanpur and a well-attended Udghosh interactive programme in the state capital by party vice president Rahul Gandhi.
With new faces in the state — Raj Babbar and Sheila Dixit — pitchforked by party strategist Prashant Kishore, the Congress is trying hard to regain its lost glory in the state, which it once ruled for many decades till being ousted from power in 1989.
The Congress has a mere 28 seats in the 403-member UP assembly. This is six up from its previous tally and the party is leaving nothing to chance to improve its numbers this time round. Assembly elections are due early next year.
From caste combinations to new faces to exploring the possibility of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigning, party mandarins are in a proactive mode. The Congress formed the government in UP in 1951,1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1980 and 1985, after which it yielded space to the BJP and regional parties after the Mandal era.
While the outcome of these efforts would only be known next year, the party for now is oiling its armoury to take on Modi and dent his credentials in the run up to the 2017 assembly polls.
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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