Feature
Forget operation, now you can change sex by clicking an online form
In Norway, any child over the age of six can now legally change his or her sex. “Daddy, guess what, I’m a female now! Daddy, what does female mean?”
Gender trends in the West are astonishing.
Last month in the United States, a student responded to a reference to gender by commenting that there are two biological genders, male and female. Furious teachers barred him from the class at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
In Asia, any student who answered a question on gender without saying that there are two biological genders, male and female, would risk getting thrown out of class.
East and West seem to be different planets on this topic.
In parts of Europe and the United States, if a bearded man working as a professional sperm donor claims to be female, using the word “him” for him (oops!) is a hate crime, and repeat offences can lead to a jail sentence.
This was on my mind as I have two family members travelling to Europe this week. I warned them to avoid all gender questions. “But what if someone gives me a form and I have to tick a ‘male or female’ box?” I told her that this would definitely be a trick question, and she should throw the form back in their faces, saying: “Your discredited binary gender categories outrage me.”
These days if you meet a Western baby, you can’t tell what sex it is, since many consider it evil to dress girls in pink and boys in blue. You have to say something like: “What a cute little, er, offspring, it looks just like one or other of its, er, begetters.”
In several Western countries you can now change your sex by clicking an online form.
It was revealed in recent days that an Argentinian man named Sergio Lazarovich got his pension money paid five years early by changing his sex to female. Now if this column was being written in the West, this writer would have to refer to this guy as a woman, because journalists are required to follow their subjects’ self-chosen sex, even when it is patently idiotic to do so. Lazarovich’s relatives are quoted saying that he is the sort of man who makes homophobic comments and has a string of girlfriends, including after his, er, “sex change”.
Schools in Sweden are instructed by the government to “counteract traditional gender roles and gender patterns”, the New York Times reported approvingly last week.
One Swedish couple was unhappy when their daughter came home having been taught to be rude, loud and untidy (that is, more like a boy). The teacher was unapologetic. ‘This is what we do here, and we are not going to stop it,” she told the reporter.
I think making girls behave like boys may qualify as The Dumbest Idea in History, beating even Chairman Mao’s “Let’s kill all the birds”, British India’s “Let’s lubricate bullets with pig fat”, and Hollywood’s decision to finance a film called “Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.”
Meanwhile, I am updating my all-purpose answer to my children’s questions, from “Ask your mother” to “Ask your other begetter”.
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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