It's no better on the desktop. With uBlockOrigin, I can see 33 primary domains (ad and social networks), and 3 times that number secondary ones, blocked.
Yes, and it breaks the back button too. That is one of my major pet peeves and I immediately add any site that does it to a black hole filter.
Yep. Mindless advertising is huge in India because ad-blockers aren't really mainstream yet.