Feature
BJP positions remain vacant since cabinet reshuffle
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet formation has left his party depleted of leaders to take charge of crucial postions.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah has been unable to fill positions after many of the office bearers of the party were sworn in to perform ministerial functions last November.
“More than five months after the reshuffle, we are still facing vacancies. It has resulted in serious organisational crisis in the party,” a BJP source told, not wishing to be identified.
A party spokesman refused to comment on the matter, saying it was the prerogative of the party president to fill postions as and when he desires.
Shah had announced his team in July last year after taking over as the party president. His team had 11 vice presidents, eight general secretaries (including one general secretary) and 14 secretaries.
Of the 11 vice presidents, four left. Bandaru Dattatreya was made minister of state (independent charge) for labour and employment and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi given minority affairs. Raghuvar Das became chief minister of Jharkhand and Kiran Maheshwari was inducted into Vasundhara Raje’s government in Rajasthan as cabinet minister of public health and water resources.
Out of eight general secretaries, three were assigned responsibilities as ministers in the Modi government. J.P Nadda was made cabinet minister with health portfolio, Rajiv Pratap Rudy was made Minister of State (independent charge) for Skill and entrepreneurship and Ramshankar Katheria was given responsibility as minister of state for human resource development.
Adding to the earlier vacancies, six seats of vice presidents, five of general secretaries and one post of Secretary are now lying vacant in the party.
At present there are 64 ministers in Modi Cabinet, including 26 cabinet ministers, 13 ministers of state (independent charge) and 25 ministers of state.
A party officials who did not want to be named told that a few months back, Shah had requested Modi to allocate organisation work to some of the BJP leaders. But no such decision was taken.
According to the party constitution, no post can remain vacant for more than six months. The time limit may be breached soon, says the official, unless Shah moves fast to fill in the vacancies.
With many “efficient and experienced” party officials getting ministerial berths, the party president is finding it hard to fill positions, the official said. That was the reason why in a rate move Ram Madhav, an RSS functionary, was brought in as general secretary of the party organisation, he added.
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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