Feature
Mumbai marks Aruna Shanbaug’s 68th birthday
Mumbai:Nurses of the KEM Hospital on Monday fondly remembered their colleague Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug, who remained in coma for 42 years after sexual assault when she was 25 and died here on May 18.
Since morning, scores of nurses visited the tiny room No.4 in the hospital which was Shanbaug’s home as she lay there for over four decades – deserted by her family and relatives, but cared lovingly by the nurses of the hospital. They put flowers, symbolically cut cake, and greeted one another.
KEM Hospital dean Avinash Supe said nurses have been remembering Aruna Shanbaug since morning. A commemorative programme has been organised in the hospital auditorium later in the day by the nursing staff.
“We have also decided to rename the room No.4 after Aruna Shanbaug and continue giving care to patients there,” Supe told.
The demand for renaming the room was made by the nursing staff shortly after Shanbaug’s death. Later, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the Thane Nursing Training College would also be renamed after her.
In another development, a Marathi biography on Shanbaug, ‘Vyatha Arunachi’ (Aruna’s Agony), penned by Mumbai journalist Neha Purav after her death two weeks ago, would be released later in the day.
“I used to go and sit at Aruna’s bedside for many years, observed her from close quarters and also interacted with the nurses who cared for her all these years. I thought of writing the book after she died,” Purav told IANS.
The book will be released at a public function at Mumbai Press Club in the presence of Supe, former Rajya Sabha member Bharat Raut, dean of Sir JJ Group of Hospital T.P. Lahane, former mayors Shraddha Jadhav and Shubha Raul, Darpan Publishers’ Deepak Mhatre and other prominent personalities.
Giving highlights, Purav said the book details the agony of Aruna’s life in hospital, how the nurses tried to help her selflessly, how she was deserted by her family members, how her former fiancé even applied a ‘red tika’ on her forehead four years after she lapsed into coma, but later succumbed to family pressures and refused to accept her as his wife.
Last week, a Mumbai journalist tracked down the current whereabouts of Sohanlal Valmiki, the former hospital contract sweeper who perpetrated the crime on Shanbaug 42 years ago shortly before she was proceeding on leave to get married.
Valmiki was traced to a village in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh.
According to latest reports, following the “discovery” of a person of disrepute in their midst, the villagers now want him to leave the village.
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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