Feature
Man makes road by moving mountain to send children to school
Phulbani: Eight hours of gruelling work every day for two years, Jalandhar Nayak has been single-handedly moving mountain to construct a 15-kilometre road, connecting his village Gumsahi to the main road in Phulbani town of Kandhamal district in Odisha.
The district administration has now decided to honour and support Nayak’s efforts by paying him under the MGNREGS scheme.
“Nayak’s effort and determination to cut mountains to build a road left me spellbound… He will be paid under MGNREGS scheme for all the days he has worked,” Brundha D told reporters yesterday.
Much like Bihar’s ‘mountain man’ Dasrath Manjhi, who has spent 22 years of his life to build a 360-feet road, Nayak, with his steely resolve, has carved out an 8-km-long stretch through hillocks in two years and plans to extend it by another 7 km in the next three years.
The 45-year-old tribal man, who has never had access to education, said the problems faced by his three sons in crossing the hillocks to reach school in the town prompted him to take up hammer and chisel.
Nayak’s efforts went largely unnoticed until yesterday when the collector invited him to her office, having read reports about him in a local newspaper.
Man moves mountain to make road for sending children to school:
The collector offered him financial support and directed the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Phulbani to engage labourers and complete the road construction work.
Interestingly, Nayak and his family are the only residents of the village. Others have left Gumisahi long ago owing to lack of proper road and essential facilities.
Armed with a hammer, digging bar and chisel, Nayak, who earns his livelihood by selling vegetables, wants to make life easier for his sons.
He thanked the district administration for recognising his efforts.
“The district collector has assured me to complete the construction of the road to my village,” Nayak said.
The collector said they are planning to felicitate Nayak for his determination and hard work during the Kandhamal Utsav.
“We are thinking of felicitating Jalandhar Nayak during the Kandhamal Utsav for his strong determination to construct a road in this remote part of the state,” she said.
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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