Feature
Mulayam tears off Shivpal’s resignation, but truce not in sight
Lucknow : Samajwadi party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday rejected the resignation of younger brother and former PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav as the state party chief.
Sources told IANS that in the 15-minute one-on-one meeting at Mulayam Singh’s 5, Vikramaditya Marg residence, the SP chief tore off Shivpal’s resignation letter.
What transpired thereafter is not known and the two are likely to meet once again at the party headquarters, the sources said.
According to the sources, the SP chief, who has so far not been able to broker peace between the warring “chacha-bhatija”, has made up his mind “for some tough decisions” which, an aide said “opened all possibilities”.
Meanwhile, a large crowd of supporters thronged the residence of Shivpal Yadav and demanded that the “mantra ji” be reinstated with full dignity and that Akhilesh Yadav apologise to him.
“Shivpal ji has brought up Akhilesh Yadav as his son, would pedal for miles to take him to school as netaji was busy with politics. Is this the way you treat a person like him,” asked an angry supporter.
Supporters, wearing t-shirts with images of Shivpal, also demanded action against party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who had on Thursday termed Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh as the villain behind all the party’s troubles.
Supporters of Shivpal who were shouting anti-Akhilesh slogans and threatened to go on fast and even indulge in self-immolation, said that it was, in fact, Ram Gopal Yadav who was behind the conspiracy to upstage the former minister.
Meanwhile, a string of legislators and some ministers, including former Mining Minister Gayatri Prajapati, met Shivpal at his official residence earlier in the day.
Assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey also drove up to Shivpal’s house and spent some time behind closed doors with him. While it was rumoured that the SP parliamentary board will meet on Friday, there was no word on this as yet.
Akhilesh Yadav has already rejected Shivpal’s resignation from the state cabinet. There was a brief meeting between the two on Thursday night at which both apparently remained dangers drawn.
An hour later, Shivpal, his wife Sarla and son Aditya Yadav faxed their resignation to Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Aditya is an elected chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation while Sarla Yadav is chairperson of the Etawah Cooperative Federation.
The move also explicitly proves that the theories of “sarkari ladai” and not a family feud were misplaced and something is terribly wrong within the first family of Uttar Pradesh.
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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