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Bihar’s development has been derailed: BJP
Patna: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had “betrayed” the BJP and that Bihar’s development had been derailed after his party was ousted from the state government.
“Nitish Kumar has derailed Bihar’s development process; the image of Bihar has deteriorated and the crime graph has gone up and even left behind the 2005 crime figures when ‘jungle raj’ prevailed in the state,” the former deputy chief minister said while releasing the BJP report card on the Nitish Kumar government’s performance in the last 25 months.
Sushil Kumar Modi said cases of rape, abduction and murder have increased in the last two years, adding that no new schemes were launched while old schemes for the state’s development were stopped.
“Bihar’s growth rate has remained half of what it was during the tenure of the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar, when the BJP was a partner in the government,” he said. According to him, when the BJP-JD(U) alliance was in power, the state’s GDP was 15.5 percent in 2012-13 but had now come down to 8 percent.
Leader of Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav said that Nitish Kumar could not develop Bihar along with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad.
“Both will only bring back the jungle raj,” Yadav said.
Nitish Kumar on Monday said the state had developed in the last 10 years and his government had worked for its development with justice for all.
“Bihar has now a positive image as the rule of law has been established. It recorded high growth rate and witnessed the development of basic infrastructure to human development in the last one decade, which was lauded and studied by foreign universities,” Nitish Kumar said while releasing a final report card on his government’s performance ahead of the coming Bihar assembly polls in October-November.
Nitish Kumar has repeatedly told the media that development took place during his two terms as chief minister from 2005 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2015.
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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