Feature
BJP president to kick off ‘Mission Bihar’
Patna: BJP president Amit Shah is set to kick-start ‘Mission Bihar’ from tomorrow so as to attract extremely backward castes (EBCs) on the birth anniversary of former chief minister Karpoori Thakur.
Shah will address a public meeting being organised by the BJP’s EBCs wing to claim the socialist leader’s legacy in the election year, state BJP president Mangal Pandey said.
It will be Shah’s first visit to Bihar after becoming the BJP president.
Shah will arrive here Friday on a two-day visit (Jan 23-24) to take stock of the party’s preparation first hand by meeting party leaders and workers from panchayat to district level, a senior BJP leader said.
Shah’s visit assumes significance as Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) of Nitish Kumar are set to merge in the state.
“BJP is eyeing to make a dent in the social support base of the EBCs by celebrating Thakur’s birth anniversary in a big way this time ahead of crucial state assembly polls later this year,” JD-U leader Neeraj Kumar said.
State BJP president Pandey said the mere news of Shah’s visit to Bihar has already created a “feel good” feeling among party leaders and workers. “Shah’s visit will boost the confidence and morale of the party in the election year.”
Earlier this month, Shah had held a meeting in Delhi with the BJP’s core group from Bihar to discuss the party’s strategy for the assembly polls.
With an ambitious target of winning 185 seats in the 243-member assembly, Shah asked BJP leaders from Bihar to strengthen the party’s connect with the people and aim to repeat the party’s performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls when it had won 31 out of 40 seats.
The BJP has set another goal of enrolling 75 lakh members in Bihar alone during its nationwide membership drive targeting 10 crore new members.
Popularly known as ‘Jan Nayak’ (people’s leader), Karpoori Thakur was one of the socialist leaders close to Jayaprakash Narayan who spearheaded the movement for total revolution as well as protests against the Emergency (1975-77) during Congress rule.
Belonging to the extremely backward castes (EBCs), Thakur emerged as an important icon for consolidating EBC votes in caste-ridden Bihar. The EBCs are a cluster of over 100 castes accounting for around 32 percent of the electorate.
Karpoori Thakur was Bihar’s chief minister from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. He died in 1988.
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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