Feature
We need e-platform of women MPs:Modi
New Delhi:Laying stress on moving towards women-led development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged elected representatives to use technology to be more effective in their role and suggested creating a e-platform of women MPs.
Addressing the National Conference of Women Legislators, he said the country must think beyond “women development” and move towards “women-led development” and asked woman lawmakers to interact with panchayat and municipal representatives in their area as a step towards their “empowerment”.
He however did not mention the women’s reservation bill to which President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari had referred in their speeches on Saturday.
The two-day conference, which concluded on Sunday, was attended by women members of parliament and state legislatures and legilative councils, union ministers and present and former chief ministers.
In her speech at the valedictory session held in the central hall of parliament, former president Pratibha Devisingh Patil said children should be imparted values to respect women. She also stressed that women legislators should scrutinise provisions of gender budgeting.
Patil said women should be imparted training in self-protection and emphasised on their economic self-dependence. She said women legislators should come together in the fight against money and muscle power.
The first-of-its-kind conference adopted a resolution which the participants resolved to work for transparent, accountable and inclusive governance and to contribute to task of building a Resurgent India.
In his address, Modi said there was need to change the psychological feeling concerning women empowerment as empowerment is needed for those who are weak and not for those who are capable and strong.
“I am unable to understand who are men to empower (women). But the need is that we should understand our strength ourselves,” he said.
Noting that a country is enriched by the power of its women, he said multitasking, considered to be a very important element of modern day management, comes naturally to women.
Also noting his government had a large share of women ministers, he praised External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying her capability is widely recognised.
Congratulating Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for her leadership and vision to organise the conference, he said in addition to the structured component of such events, experiences shared informally among delegates were also extremely enriching.
“Women have higher success ratio despite the fewer opportunities they get in comparison to men,” Modi said, referring to Rwanda, saying that the east African country was brought back to its feet by women after massacres in which a large number of men were killed.
He urged women to work more towards srcutinising bills in parliament, saying they have a long-term perspective of events.
“I would urge Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, can you create an e-platform of women representatives,” he said.
Also admitting women are better in adopting technologies than men and “are specially gifted by god in this aspect”, he urged the women legislators to engage with their constituents using technology.
Shehnaz Ganai, a member of legislative council of Jammu and Kashmir who spoke before the concluding session, suggested that such conferences should be held in states, while former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said that women must raise their voice to get 33 percent reservation in parliament and assemblies.
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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