Feature
Bengal celebrates Rath Yatra with fervour
Kolkata:It’s that time of the year when thousands of devout Hindus pull the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balaram and their sister Subhadra. And Wednesday was no exception as devotees across West Bengal did their bit to be part of this age-old annual festival of Ratha Yatra.
In state capital Kolkata, chants of “Hare Krishna” reverberated as thousands of devotees pulled the decked-up chariots. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid obeisance to Lord Jagannath at the start of the Rath Yatra at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple on Albert Road here.
After a short ‘darshan’ or viewing, she flagged off the annual journey with a tug at the ropes accompanied by regional celebrities.
Believers sang and danced all the way through to the rhythmic beats of cymbals and drums. Spared from a downpour, they made most of the moments.
An estimated 50,000 devotees from 100 countries, including the US, Italy, France, Malaysia and Singapore, descended on the city to celebrate the festival.
The chariots were pulled through Minto Park, Sarat Bose Road, Hazra Road, Hazra crossing, Ashutosh Mukherjee Road, Exide crossing, Jawaharlal Nehru Road before being parked at Brigade Parade Ground on Outram Road till July 14.
In the week ahead, daily ‘darshans’ have been organised. The return journey or the ‘Ulto Rath’ on July 14 would mark the end of the festival.
Youth fests, performance by a troupe of Russian dancers and initiatives for youth empowerment would be the mainstays of the week-long celebrations.
The day saw children sporting new clothes and tugging miniature wooden chariots in the lanes and streets of the city. In addition to cultural programmes, special food festivals lured people to Nalban boating complex.
The festival marks the annual journey of the three deities from the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha, to their aunt’s residence in the Gundicha temple, around three km away.
Besides Kolkata, thousands of pilgrims attended the Rath Yatra festival at Mahesh in Hooghly district, one of the most popular venues in Bengal.
Dating back to the 14th century, the Mahesh Rath Yatra festival draws devotees from all corners of the world for its gigantic iron chariot that has been in operation since 1885.
A few lakh devotees also gathered at Mayapur in Nadia district on the occasion.
The 296-year old Rath Yatra — the oldest in the state — organised by Subarna Roy Choudhury’s clan, started from Barisha in Kolkata’s southern outskirts to Halishahar in North 24 Parganas.
Security has been beefed up in the city and the outskirts to prevent any untoward incident during the festival.
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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