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Toxic IL&FS bonds seem to have now infected the armed forces (IANS Exclusive)
New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) The IL&FS contagion continues to spread aggressively, the latest casualty being the Indian armed forces. Several lakhs of salaried workers across public sector undertakings and Postal Life Insurance have already been infected with these bonds. Now, it is learnt, the virus has also spread to the armed forces.
IANS learns that a few sections of the armed forces, primarily the army, have invested their corpus of funds in the once AAA rated IL&FS bonds to secure their future. The Indian Army has three specific funds in which fellow countrymen can contribute – Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties (set up in 2016 after the Siachen avalanche disaster and the Pathankot/Uri incidents), Army Central Welfare Fund and the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre Pune – towards the members/families of the armed forces who have made the supreme sacrifice for the nation. It is still not known whether these funds have invested in the virus-laden bonds.
There is also the flagship National Defence Fund which was set up to take charge of voluntary donations in cash and kind received for promotion of the national defence effort. The Fund is used for the welfare of members of the Armed Forces and paramilitary forces and their dependents. At the end of March 31, 2018, the total expenditure was Rs 64.75 crore, whole receipts were Rs 83.85 crore and the total cumulative balance was Rs 1115.18 crore.
There is also a department for ex-servicemen’s welfare which gives benefits to the widows of fatal battle casualties. This pertains to death due to accident in course of duties, death due to terror violence, death during enemy action in war or border skirmishes or against militants/terrorists and death during enemy action in war or warlike engagements specifically noted — the benefits are given in the following way, which is Rs 10 lakh each in the first two cases and Rs 15 and Rs 20 lakh respectively in the latter two cases. Various other benefits are provided to war widows.
These funds, formed by servicemen with the objective of supporting fatalities and army widows, have invested in these bonds considering the ratings and safety assurances portrayed by the rating agencies.
The corpus has membership of armymen and provides support to millions of armymen and their widows in case of eventualities.
With the IL&FS default, all these investments are now nearly junk, jeopardising the interest and future of millions of armed forces.
The army, it is learnt, will be making a representation to the defence ministry in this regard to seek directions and resolution.
Since it’s a non-government effort by military men to create a safety corpus, the government may not be able to resolve the same immediately, said government sources.
However, add government sources, this is likely to touch a sensitive nerve in an election year, especially against the backdrop of the Pulwama attack and the retaliatory act by India.
Politically, this is a land mine. Armed forces and the increasing patriotism will certainly take an aggressive campaign agenda in coming weeks.
— 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
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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