Entertainment
State funeral for Sridevi ordered by Maharashtra CM: RTI reply
Mumbai, March 30 (IANS) The controversial state funeral accorded to veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi last month, was under the instructions of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a RTI query has revealed on Friday.
RTI activist Anil Galgali had sought to know from the General Administration Department’s Protocol Department, which comes under Fadnavis, as to who had the power to authorize the state funeral for Sridevi and past recipients of it.
In its response, the department informed that the discretionary powers to grant a funeral with full state honours was vested with the Chief Minister and it was not related with the conferment of any national honours or Padma honours on the deceased personality, he said.
“With regards to the full state honours for the late Amma Yangar Ayyappan, known as the famed actress Sridevi, verbal ordered were received from the CMO on February 25, 2018 and conveyed to the Mumbai Suburban District Collector and Mumbai Police Commissioner the following day to do the needful,” Galgali said, quoting the RTI reply.
Asked the reasons for filing the RTI query, the activist said that it was to clear the confusion created on who is entitled to a state funeral and who is authorized to permit it.
Sridevi died in her room in Hotel Jemeirah Emirates Towers due to “accidental drowning” on February 24, and was later honoured by a state funeral on February 28, leading to massive debates on social media questioning the measure.
“Among the speculation was that state funeral can be accorded to a person who is conferred with a National award or a Padma honour, but now a new information has come to light that it actually falls within the CM’s discretion,” Galgali said.
Besides Sridevi, 40 other eminent personalities were given a funeral with full state honours between June 22, 2012-March 26, 2018, according to the RTI reply.
Prominent among them were former Chief Ministers and Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and A.R. Antulay, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Vipassana Guru Satyanarayan Goenka, Dawoodi Bohra spiritual head Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, former Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil, farmers leader and ex-MP Sharad Joshi, Marathi literatteur Mangesh Padgaonkar, former Union Minister Jaywantiben Mehta, senior journalist Muzaffar Hussain, and eminent cardiologist B. K. Goyal.
–IANS
qn/vd
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
Content provided by Adverloom