Feature
UP govt appoints Sulkhan Singh as new DGP
Lucknow: In a major rejig of the Uttar Pradesh Police, the state government on Friday named 1980-batch Indian Police Service officer Sulkhan Singh the new Director General of Police in place of Javeed Ahmad.
Ahmad has been made Director General of the Provincial Armed Constabulary. A dozen other senior police officers were also transferred.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also shunted out the powerful ADGP (Law and Order) Daljit Singh Chawdhary, who swaps his post with Economic Offences Wing ADGP Aditya Mishra. The EoW is considered a dumping ground for officials out of favour with the government.
It is the first police reshuffle after the Bharatiya Janata Party government assumed power on March 19th.
Till now Sulkhan Singh was posted as Director General of Police (Training) who is considered one of the finest and softspoken officers in Uttar Pradesh Police but many feel that the senior IPS officer was not given his due by successive Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party governments in the state.
The 59-year-old officer has just four months left before retirement.
Sulkhan Singh made new DGP of UP in place of Javeed Ahmad
Outgoing DGP Javeed Ahmad was posted by the previous Akhilesh Yadav government at the behest of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. He had superseded 15 police officers of the same rank to become the top cop in the state. Ahmad will retire in 2020.
DGP (Recruitment Board) Surya Kumar Shukla, who was also in the race for the top job, has retained his post but has been divested of the charge of DGP (Prosecution).
A 1986-batch IPS officer, Jawahar Lal Tripathi, has been removed as IGP (Intelligence) and made new DGP (Prosecution).
A 1984-batch IPS officer Alok Prasad, along with being DGP Homeguards, will hold the additional charge of DGP (Training) at the Police Headquarters.
A 1987-batch IPS officer Bhavesh Kumar Singh has been removed as ADGP (Security) and posted as the new ADGP (Prosecution). Vijay Kumar has been moved out of ATC Sitapur and named the new ADGP (Security).
IGP Alok Singh, who had been waitlisted, has been made the new IGP (PAC-Eastern Zone). IGP Navneit Sekeram incharge of the 1090 Women’s Powerline, has been divested of the additional charge of IGP PAC (Central Zone).
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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