Top News
Open border deal among India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal
Thimpu: India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal on Monday signed a far-reaching agreement here that will enhance regional connectivity by facilitating seamless movement of people, goods and vehicles among the four nations, with the first phase set to begin in October.
The transport ministers of the four countries inked the Motor Vehicles Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN MVA).
India was represented at the meeting by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
“This (BBIN MVA) would enable the exchange of traffic rights and ease cross-border movement of goods, vehicles, and people, thereby helping expand people-to-people contact, trade, and economic exchanges between our countries,” a joint ministerial statement later said.
According to the statement, all the four countries will endeavour to carry out a six-month work-plan from July to December 2015 for the implementation of BBIN MVA. The staged implementation of the project is slated from October 2015.
During the meeting, Gadkari, who also hold charge of the shipping ministry, said: “We understand our advantage of linking with all our neighbours. Simultaneously, we recognise our additional responsibility to accommodate our neighbours’ concerns.”
“We are and will remain flexible enough to address various challenges faced by our neighbouring countries and are always ready to support their initiatives to bridge various deficits.”
Under the work-plan for project implementation, the formalisation of the BBIN MVA is expected to be completed by August. The installation of project pre-requisites like IT, infrastructure, tracking and regulatory systems are scheduled by December 2015.
The joint statement called BBIN MVA a complementary instrument to existing transport agreements at the bilateral levels between the four countries. This, it said, will continue to be honoured by the contracting parties.
The statement further said that the protocol is also a result of strong determination expressed by the leaders of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at their 18th summit in Kathmandu in November last year to deepen regional integration.
The leaders also noted with concern the poor merchandise trade under the free trade pact, which amounted to a mere $3 billion since July 2006.
“We further recall their renewed commitment to substantially enhance regional connectivity in a seamless manner through building and upgrading roads, railways, waterways infrastructure, energy grids, communications and air links,” the joint statement added.
The joint statement’s reference to the SAARC MVA assumes significance as the stalled agreement prompted the 18th summit to encourage member states to initiate regional and sub-regional steps to enhance connectivity. The BBIN MVA is the culmination of that development.
Gadkari announced in the meeting that a major breakthrough has also been achieved between India-Myanmar and Thailand and that the three nations have agreed to develop a similar framework agreement on the lines of the draft SAARC MVA.
“Secretary-level discussions were successfully concluded in Bengaluru this month and consensus has been reached on the text of agreement,” the minister said.
“On conclusion of this agreement, our sub-region will get access to the larger ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market through seamless passenger and cargo movement.”
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.
Content provided by Adverloom
Cheers and Cheers: Barzilla’s Joyful Ode to Inclusivity and Celebration
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
Lockdowns in China Force Urban Communities to Defy Censorship and Vent Frustration Online
What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story
IPL 20202 UPDATE: KXIP vs MI IPL Dream11 Team Prediction for Today Match, Update Point Table of all Team.
In a Live debate AAP leader Syed Asad Abbas hurls abuses to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
‘India’s Most Wanted’ trailer out Arjun Kapoor on hunt of Osama-Bin-Laden
Time to move on: Sonakshi on Shatrughan’s joining Congress
