Feature
Female ascetic vows to end life over sacred bath at Simhastha Kumbh
Ujjain:Trikal Bhavanta, a female ascetic, on Tuesday said she is ending her life by taking ‘samadhi’ after the government failed to allocate her all women ‘Akhara’ space and time for a sacred bath at the Simhastha Kumbh pilgrimage here.
She has been sitting in a 10 feet deep ditch in which, Trikal Bhavanta said, she would be buried alive.
The police has been trying to dissuade the ‘sadhvi’ (female sage) from committing any such act, Additional Superintendent of Police Amarendra Singh told reporters.
“Three policewomen have gone down the ditch to tell her to draw back from taking her life,” he said.
Allahabad-based Trikal Bhavanta in 2014 founded the ‘Shri Sarveshwar Mahadev Baikunth Dham Muktidwar’ – known in short as ‘Pari’ Akhara and billed as the first female Akhara in India.
She has since been waging a campaign for the ‘Pari’ Akhara to be given the same status as the male Akharas in Kumbh melas.
An Akhara is an order of Hindu renunciates who see themselves as defending and protecting ‘Dharma’. They trace their origin to the work of the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya.
They have always had male members.
The ‘Akharas’ are allotted special place and time for ‘shahi snan’ (royal bath) at every Kumbh pilgrimage.
The Madhya Pradesh government recognises 13 Akharas — all male — for the purpose of Simhastha Kumbh.
Earlier, Trikal Bhavanta had gone on a hunger strike to voice her demand that ‘Pari’ Akhara be given the same status and facilities at Simhastha Kumbh as the male Akharas.
She had ended the hunger strike on the assurance of Madhya Pradesh’s minister in charge of Simhastha Kumbh Bhupendra Singh that her demand would be looked into.
“Despite the assurance, my demands have not been heeded,” she said on Tuesday.
“Unless Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself gives an assurance, I will not back down,” she added.
Trikal Bhavanta’s agitation comes in the backdrop of a series of unsavoury incidents at Simhastha Kumbh which ‘sadhus’ (male sages) taking part in the pilgrimage blamed on government mismanagement.
On Sunday, a ‘sadhu’ Tapasvi Giri was seriously injured in a murderous attack near a temple.
There were also incidents of theft at the pilgrimage site.
Some sadhus demonstrated against these incidents of violence and theft on Sunday.
Chief Minister Chauhan was here on Monday to placate the sadhus.
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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