Feature
United opposition shares stage at Lalu Prasad’s ‘BJP bhagao desh bachao’ rally
Patna: In a display of opposition unity against the BJP, political heavyweights, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, shared a platform at Lalu Prasad’s mega rally here today.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad has already said the ‘BJP bhagao desh bachao’ rally would herald the decline of the BJP-led NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who is staring at an expulsion from the party for defying orders of not to attend the rally, was greeted warmly by Prasad who embraced him on the dais.
JD(U) leader K C Tyagi, in a letter to Yadav, had asked him to skip the rally and if he attends it would mean that he has quit the party voluntarily.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress general secretary C P Joshi were present at the rally.
The RJD chief and his wife Rabri Devi greeted Trinamool supremo Banerjee and their son Tejaswi Yadav touched her feet.
Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Sharad Yadav at Lalu Prasad’s mega ‘BJP bhagao desh bachao’ rally:
CPI’s general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy and secretary D Raja were present on the dais while JMM chief and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, and JVM president Babulal Marandi were attended the rally.
Prasad, his wife, sons Tejaswi and Tej Pratap Yadav, and daughter Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha MP were seated on the front row of the VVIP dais greeting leaders from other parties on their arrival.
Early speakers including Raghubansh Prasad Singh, Abdul Bari Siddiwui, Shivanand Tiwari and others criticised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for breaking the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ the grand alliance and joining hands with the BJP to form a new government in the state.
They also showered praise on Prasad’s son and former deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav, describing him as the “future leader of Bihar.”
Akhilesh Yadav, Hemant Soren, Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap came together on the dais and waived at the crowd signalling unity among younger generation of the major opposition parties.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the rally at Gandhi Maidan, where a total of 64 CCTV cameras have been installed with large number of people have assembled at the rally.
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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