Feature
Amit Shah launches ‘Parivartan Rath’ campaign in Bihar
New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday launched the party’s high-tech ‘Parivartan Rath’ campaign for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls by flagging off 160 GPS-fitted ‘chariots’ here.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, known for his poll management and innovative strategy to counter rivals, has named the high tech chariots ‘Parivartan Raths’ to send out a political message that “people in all 243 Bihar assembly seats want change”.
These chariots are meant to reach out to people in villages across Bihar, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s July 25 rally in Muzaffarpur.
“These ‘Parivartan Raths’ will reach out to people in every village with a message to provide clean water, electricity, roads, education, health and jobs to them if the NDA was voted to power in the upcoming Bihar polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Shah said in an address delivered minutes ahead of the flagging off of the chariots.
The party plans to hold 100,000 meetings in 100 days ahead of the elections.
Shah said the BJP’s focus is clear — mobilise people for a change in Bihar and free them from the ‘jungle raj’ of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who joined hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad.
Shah mainly attacked Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad during his over half-an-hour speech here.
“One high-tech rath of the party will visit at least five villages in a day.
“The BJP will reach out to 800 villages across the state to counter the propaganda by the new combine of Janata Dal-U, RJD, Congress and National Congress Party,” BJP state president Mangal Pandey said.
Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that people were fed up with Nitish Kumar’s bad governance and the deteriorating law and order situation.
“BJP’s raths would expose the failures of the Nitish Kumar government,” he said.
He said the high-tech raths would also show a video film in Hindi, depicting the misrule and bad governance during the 15 years of the Lalu-Rabri rule in Bihar.
“Besides, the BJP will inform people with the help of film about the total failure of the Nitish Kumar government after he ended his alliance with us,” he 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.
Cheers and Cheers: Barzilla’s Joyful Ode to Inclusivity and Celebration
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
Lockdowns in China Force Urban Communities to Defy Censorship and Vent Frustration Online
What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story
IPL 20202 UPDATE: KXIP vs MI IPL Dream11 Team Prediction for Today Match, Update Point Table of all Team.
In a Live debate AAP leader Syed Asad Abbas hurls abuses to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
‘India’s Most Wanted’ trailer out Arjun Kapoor on hunt of Osama-Bin-Laden
Time to move on: Sonakshi on Shatrughan’s joining Congress
