Entertainment
Film, TV associations cancel Ram Rahim’s membership (Lead)
New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) The Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) on Saturday cancelled the membership of rapist Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his “adopted daughter” Honeypreet Kaur, with the Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA) following suit.
They have barred the two from making any movies in future.
Actor Sushant Singh, general secretary of CINTAA, told IANS: “We have cancelled his (Ram Rahim’s) work permit. It’s the committee’s decision. He has committed a crime. Depending on the heinous nature of the crime, we had the power to cancel his membership. Considering that, he is not worthy of our membership.”
Asked of they have cancelled Honeypreet’s membership too, he said, “She was not our member. Only he was. Now his membership is cancelled for lifetime.”
Earlier IFTDA too cancelled their membership.
“Ram Rahim cannot work in the Indian film and television industry anymore. His membership has been cancelled by the IFTDA. The decision was taken yesterday (Friday) evening,” IFTDA president Ashoke Pandit told IANS over phone from Mumbai on Saturday.
Pandit said the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPAA) is contemplating terminating Ram Rahim’s membership too from Monday.
“We are organisations of creative and dignified people. We can’t have a goon or criminal amongst us. The law has taken a hard stand on him, and considering how many people died in Haryana due to his manipulation…,” Pandit, who is also the vice president of IMPAA, said while explaining the reason for Ram Rahim’s ouster from IFTDA.
Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment by a CBI special court on August 28 for the rape of two female disciples.
The Dera chief set out on a film career with the 2015 film “MSG: The Messenger”, following it up with “MSG-2 The Messenger” and “MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart”, “Hind Ka Napak Ko Jawab: MSG Lion Heart 2” and “Jattu Engineer”, all of which he claimed to have written and directed. He acted in the films too.
Honeypreet, whom the Dera website describes as his daughter (not real daughter), also co-directed some of these projects and acted opposite him.
–IANS
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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.
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