Feature
BJP keen to spread wings, meets in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Riding high on becoming the world’s largest political party, the BJP’s national executive committee began its meeting here on Friday to take stock of its 10-month rule at the Centre and chalk out strategies to spread its wings across the country.
As it was the executive’s first meeting after the BJP rode to power with an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, bonhomie and an upbeat mood marked the inaugural session at a star hotel in the city centre amidst tight security.
Party patriarch L.K. Advani shared the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
As the hosts for the two-day meet, the party’s Karnataka unit leaders honoured Advani, Modi, Shah and Jaitley in the local style by crowning them with the famous Mysore petha (headgear), draping a shawl, garlanding and gifting a basket of fresh fruits.
After Modi inaugurated the meeting by lighting a lamp with the other three leaders on the dais, Shah addressed the party’s 330-strong executive members.
The meet was not open to the media. According to party sources, Shah began his hour-long address in chaste Hindi by praising Modi for providing a corruption-free NDA government at the Centre since May 2014.
Listing out the achievements of the party and the government over the past 10 months on various fronts, including politics, economy and foreign policy, Shah claimed that ever since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power, the country got a stable government after many years and the economy has been revived.
“The economy is looking up and prices have been brought under control as evident from decline in inflation. A number of policy initiatives and administrative measures have been taken to revive growth and improve infrastructure,” Shah asserted.
The meeting will deliberate over various issues, including the controversial land acquisition bill which was stalled by the opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA lacks majority.
The executive will also draw an action plan to expand the party’s footprint in states like Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and the north-east region where its presence is minimal.
“The meeting will also work out on strategies to capture power in Bihar where elections to its state assembly are due later this year,” a party source 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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