Entertainment
Message behind ‘Pad Man’ truly inspiring: Malala Yousafzai
Islamabad/London, Jan 19 (IANS) Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has backed Twinkle Khanna’s film “Pad Man” on menstrual hygiene, saying it imparts an “inspiring” message.
Yousafzai met “Pad Man” producer Twinkle as the latter addressed students at The Oxford Union, the world’s most prestigious debating society, on Thursday.
“I’m really excited to see the film ‘Pad Man’… because the message behind the film is truly inspiring,” Yousafzai told Twinkle before her speech, read a statement.
Twinkle, who is also an author, joined cultural, political and high profile figures here, ahead of the worldwide release of her much-anticipated debut as producer, of “Pad Man”, in cinemas on January 25.
“Pad Man” is based on the life of social entrepreneur and activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, who revolutionised sanitary hygiene in rural India 20 years ago by inventing a machine to make low-cost sanitary pads.
Eager students attended Twinkle’s session at The Oxford Union in what marked the first time for an Indian film to be showcased at the institution.
Twinkle engaged the audience by explaining why the world needs to know about the story and the importance of spotlighting issues relating to menstrual hygiene.
“My primary motivation to make a movie on menstruation was to bring awareness to a subject that so far has been tucked away in shadows and like Voldemort is never mentioned.”
She also pointed out the global nature of the problems including in the UK, saying that: “In the beginning, I thought that period poverty was only a problem in my country and countries like Africa, Bangladesh, but groups like Plan International UK have found that one in 10 school girls in the UK itself are missing school because they are unable to afford hygiene products and end up using substitutes like rolled up socks.”
In the question-and-answer session that followed her speech, Twinkle asked the audience to raise their hands if they were currently on their periods. When almost three quarters of the room raised their arms, Twinkle said: “Now imagine sitting here with a rag cloth or a rolled up sock or even wadded up newspaper between your legs. Would it even be possible for you to study under those circumstances?
“Yet, pads are still seen as a luxury item. It is odd that pads are taxed at 12 percent in India but brooms are tax free, because it is more important that you keep your house clean rather than your body, and that America has taxes on tampons but Viagra is in fact tax-free, perhaps because policies are made by 65-year-old men.”
Asked whether or not she could accept the fact that religious practices can sometimes form an obstacle when it comes to female menstruation, Twinkle said: “In Hinduism, you often see the priest sweating in front of the �Yajna’ (a ritual conducted in front of a sacred fire). If god can accept his sweat, then he can accept my blood!”
–IANS
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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
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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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