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Over 40,000 taxis go off road in Himachal
Shimla/Manali: Over 40,000 taxis went off the road in Himachal Pradesh on Friday in protest against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order restricting the entry of vehicles to the Rohtang Pass, overlooking picturesque destination of Manali, and the imposition of a heavy cess.
“All taxi, maxi-cab and auto operator unions in the state have joined the day-long strike call of the Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union of Manali,” commercial vehicle joint action committee chairman Jeet Ram Sharma told.
He said the strike will continue till midnight of May 29.
Thousands of tourists who are holidaying in the hills to escape the scorching heat of the plains have been inconvenienced by the strike.
“It was a really harrowing experience on reaching Shimla this (Friday) morning. There was no taxi and the potters were demanding exorbitant fare. The government should make transportation arrangements,” Priya Joseph, a tourist from Delhi, said.
On an average, about 10,000 tourists arrive in Shimla and Manali and other popular destination on a single day during the peak tourist season.
Meanwhile, the indefinite strike by Manali-based Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union has entered the eleventh day on Friday.
P.C. Thakur, president of the Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, told IANS that the NGT decision would severely hit the livelihood of over 1,500 taxi drivers and those associated with the hospitality business.
He said all business establishments in Manali town have also joined the strike on Friday.
The NGT has allowed restricted movement of 1,000 vehicles, including 600 petrol-driven, for three months from May 15 across the Rohtang Pass, some 52 km from Manali.
Each vehicle allowed to the Rohtang Pass for tourism purposes would pay an environmental cess at the rate of Rs.1,000 for petrol vehicles per visit. For diesel vehicles, the cess is Rs.2,500.
The picturesque Rohtang Pass is a major attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists.
Refraining from extending any relief from its order, the NGT on Thursday asked the state government to file a reply on how it would address the grievances of tourist vehicle operators. It was hearing a review petition of the Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union.
The NGT bench, while listing the case for the next hearing on May 29, headed by judicial member U.D. Salvi observed that its only concern was to protect the environment and it has taken a measured approach.
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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