Feature
UP govt presents Rs 4.79 lakh crore budget for financial Year’20
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government today presented a Rs 4.79 lakh crore budget for 2019-20, and announced populist schemes ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The annual budget presented by finance minister Rajesh Agarwal in state Assembly is 12 per cent higher than the 2018-19 budget of Rs 4,28,384.52 crore.
The budget includes new schemes totalling Rs 21,212.95 crore.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present in the Assembly when the finance minister read out the budget speech punctuated with Urdu couplets.
This is the third budget of the Adityanath government.
Agarwal announced a number of new populist schemes, including ‘Kanya Sumangala Yojana’ to raise health and educational standard of girls, brighten their future and bring in a positive change in the thinking towards women.
An amount of Rs 1,200 crore has been proposed for the Yojana.
For conservation of bovine cattle, the government has allotted Rs 247.60 crore towards maintenance and construction of ‘gaushalas’ in rural areas.
Uttar Pradesh government presents Rs 4.79 lakh crore budget for 2019-20:
As per the budget estimate for 2019-20, the total receipts would be Rs 4,70,684.48 crore. The amount includes Rs 3,91,734.40 crore of revenue receipts and Rs 78,950.08 crore of capital receipts.
The tax revenue is pegged at Rs 2,93,039.17 crore, including Rs 1,40,176 crore of the state’s own tax revenue and Rs 1,52,863.17 crore of the state’s share in the central taxes.
The total state expenditure is estimated at Rs 4,79,701.10 crore. It includes Rs 3,63,957.04 crore of revenue expenditure and Rs 1,15,744.06 crore of capital expenditure.
A revenue saving of Rs 27,777.36 crore is estimated in the year 2019-20.
The state’s fiscal deficit has been pegged at Rs 46,910.62 crore in 2019-20.
The state’s debt liability is estimated at 29.98 per cent of the state’s GDP.
After deducting total expenditure from the receipts of consolidated fund, a deficit of Rs 9,016.62 crore has been projected for next fiscal.
Net receipts of Rs 9,500 crore is expected from public account. The closing balance for 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 8,708.85 crore in which opening balance of Rs 8,225.47 crore has been taken into account.
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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