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Is all lost for Mehbooba Mufti and her party?

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kashmirThe trail of death and destruction left behind by nearly four weeks of unrest in the Kashmir Valley has dealt a serious blow to the political base of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The worst affected south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam — the political bastion of the PDP — have turned into the party’s Waterloo.

The cycle of violence has left 71 people dead and over 11,000 injured. And most of casualties in the deadliest unrest the valley has seen in six years are from the south. In fact, the unrest started from there after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed in Bamdoora village of Anantnag on July 8 in a gunfight with the security forces. Wani belonged to Tral town — also in the south.

While violence and public demonstrations have been widespread in the valley after Wani’s death, the magnitude of anger and protests has been massive in this PDP stronghold.

Out of 28 seats the PDP won in the 2014 elections, most were from the south. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her late father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed themselves belong to the town of Bijbehara in Anantnag. In fact, Mehbooba has won all her elections from south Kashmir.

But today the space seems to have shrunk — not only for Mehbooba and her PDP colleagues, but also for all mainstream politicians.

None of the PDP or opposition National Conference (NC) MLAs has been able to hold a single public meeting since the unrest started. In fact, none of these political representatives is reportedly living in their homes in these constituencies at present. They have shifted to the safety of their government accommodation in Srinagar or Jammu.

Except for an odd political statement, all mainstream politicians are conspicuous by their absence from the constituencies. Anger against the PDP is palpable because the party is in power and the people blame it for their sufferings.

Given the pro-separatist groundswell that followed the unrest, mainstream politics — especially that of the ruling party — has been confined to official meetings and drawing rooms. The separatists, once believed to be somewhat “sympathetic towards the PDP”, are today gunning for the party.

Known for her soft posturing towards the separatists in the past, Mehbooba is now taking them head-on. The Chief Minister has blamed them for pushing innocent youths into stone pelting while warning them that violence would yield no positive result except to bring more misery for the common man.

Under these circumstances, the PDP is battling anger from the very people who voted it in as an alternative to the NC.

Logically, the PDP’s loss should have been the NC’s gain. But, given the complexities of the Kashmir situation, this has not been the case. Former Chief Minister and working President of the NC, Omar Abdullah, has been issuing statements to stage a political comeback in a situation where his rivals are shrinking fast.

The alliance with the right-wing BJP, the use of pellet guns, unending curfews, shattered tourism are some of the issues raked up by Mehbooba’s opponents against her. They also say that the crisis has proved that her administrative inexperience was the reason for her reluctance to assume power after her father’s death.

Her anxiety over what happened in Kashmir when she remained engaged in developmental activities became evident when she lost her cool during a joint press conference with Rajnath Singh here last week.

Her image is badly bruised in the public eye and her political rivals are using this to regain lost ground.

Senior PDP leader and Lok Sabha member Muzaffar Hussain Baig has said unless the terms of alliance signed with the BJP are fulfilled in letter and spirit the PDP might pull out of the ruling coalition.

The BJP has decided to continue the alliance with the PDP despite the alarming situation in Kashmir.

The central government would not like to intervene by imposing Governor’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir because that would mean removal of the only political interface between the security forces and the people.

In the given situation the only way out for Mehbooba is to remain in power, work for peace and normalcy, and then try to rebuild her personal image as well as that of her party.

While peace and normalcy remain the main agenda of governance in Jammu and Kashmir at the moment, the PDP and Mehbooba need much more than good luck to regain lost political ground in Kashmir.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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