As India enters Unlock 2.0 there are very few changes to the restrictions that had previously been imposed. This includes the fact that sport has yet to return to the country. This is bad news for sports fans in India who are waiting until they can visit stadiums to watch sporting action and support their favourite teams. However, they may be able to get some sporting excitement from betting on international sports at reputable betting sites, like those mentioned here. Sports fans can also take a closer look at what can be learned from the recent government Unlock 2.0 announcement and whether there is any news about when the sport will return in India?

What is restricted during Unlock 2.0?

Given the fact that COVID-19 is still causing concern in India, it’s not surprising that there are still many restrictions in place. The restrictions that are continuing during Unlock 2.0 include the remaining closure of:

• Educational establishments.
• Metro rail services.

It was also confirmed that all political and social events continue to be forbidden, as well as sports gatherings.

There were some slight easements announced by the government. The curfew was reduced by two hours and will be operated from 10 pm to 5 am. It’s also been announced that individual states will no longer be able to seal borders.

Sports that have been affected by COVID-19

Several different sports have been affected by the ban on sports gatherings in India. They are all awaiting news about when they can return, as are the fans.

In football, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) paused all activities as soon as the lockdown was announced in the country. The Indian Super League (ISL) had already been decided before restrictions were applied but the I-League still had four rounds remaining. Mohun Bagan was not able to be beaten, so they were declared champions. Although football leagues around the world have now started to return, there is no sign of this happening in India as yet.

Cricket has also been affected by the interruption of sport in India, with the postponement of the IPL. There has been some suggestion that the IPL will take place starting in September but this is far from certain. Even if this does happen, it’s possible that the tournament will take place in another country, such as the UAE.

One potentially positive happening is the recent statement made by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Dhruv Batra at a FICCI webinar on ‘Sporting Events: Embracing the New Normal’. He said that he hoped national sports competitions in India would resume by October. It remains to be seen whether this happens.

In summary

The Indian government has announced that many restrictions will remain in place during Unlock 2.0. These restrictions include a bar on sports gatherings. This means that players and fans will need to wait patiently until they can become involved with the sport again. This involves all aspects of the sport experience including playing, watching, and betting on the results of matches and tournaments.

This Thursday an unexpected thing happened. The company Hindustan Unilever finally decided to drop the word Fair from its product called Fair and Lovely. This incident received happily by many people because they felt uncomfortable whenever they came across the advertisement. A girl who was twenty-two years old was particularly affected by the line that she decided to file a petition against the company. She received over 15,000 signatures in just two weeks. She filed the petition on Change.org. The name of the girl is Chandana Hiran and she took this brave move to stop the discrimination against black skin colour everywhere.

What was her inspiration?

(1/3) Let’s talk about #bodypositivity

For the longest time, I have felt insecure because of my knees. They are slightly darker & and I’ve always received comments that made me feel like there is something wrong with them. So I started to hide them completely. pic.twitter.com/dqZrYy8dCS

— MoonChild🌛 (@chandana_hiran) June 29, 2020

Chandana Hiran got inspiration from the Black Lives Matter Movement happening in the US. Although the company HUL did not share that she was the reason behind the change however we know that she is one of the many women who stood up against the ideology. Because of the continuous views of the women regarding their advertisement the company at last removed the word.

In India, the idea behind being beautiful is being fair. Many women go behind the creams and other beauty products that make them look fair. This is because of the discrimination against the dark skin colour. Everywhere they go people want them to do something to be fair. Even in the marriage ads, the groom wants a woman who is fair and lovely. So to take away this thought from the people’s mind girls like Chandana Hiran are bravely sharing their views. They are battling against the mediums that make people believe that being fair is being lovely.

Chandana Hiram boldly shared her views with News18. She said that she demanded the company to change its brand ideology which they used effectively all these years to sell the cream. However now as many people are aware of how it affects people in general girls like Chandana Hiran are fighting against it.

She also used the social media platform as a medium to share her thoughts with the public. She posted the views on her profile page and asked many people to sign the petition. Finally, when HUL changed it she also thanked the company for their step.

I have goosebumps as I read this! Kudos to you .@Unilever I’m so so so happy rn. And I thank you on behalf of over 10k people who signed my petition for this to happen – https://t.co/EW7RjBTk6r #Unreal #ThankYou #AllShadesAreLovely
.@HUL_News pic.twitter.com/yhec0DJ2Hz

— MoonChild🌛 (@chandana_hiran) June 25, 2020

Other than this issue Hiran also questioned the objectification of women in the songs in Bollywood. Many songs in the industry have a woman wearing revealing outfits to appeal to men. She accused the industry of being misogynistic. The brave girl used the Change.org to talk about this issue also.

Conclusion

It is really good to see such young girls take a stand for what they believe in. This step shows us that people of India can use their voices to talk about issues that affect them personally. It worked well in the case of Chandana Hiran. She actually turned the head of a large company with her strong stand and her platform Change.org.

So because of people like Chandana Hiran, some wrong things in society can get straight. Now many people got inspired to share their views on Social media. It is an effective tool to talk about issues and problems in our society.

Also read: Women worldwide: What Do We Think About Feminism

Also read: 7 Instagram Accounts You Would Love To Follow Which Are Showcasing Feminism

Ready at Dawn is a game developer company based in America. At the start, they created games for PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Sony Computer Entertainment for the games such as God of War and Daxter. They are now part of the Oculus Studios from June 2020. Facebook bought the Ready At Dawn for the creation of VR titles. The news came from Oculus vice president Mike Verdu. In recent years the company was majorly working in VR developments. To get more information on the subject continue reading.

The history of Ready at Dawn

The game developing company was first started in Irvine, California in the year 2003. They launched the first game named Daxter in the year 2006. Then the company worked on God of War: Chains of Olympus which is a PSP game. Afterward, the company stopped developing games for PSP and began to make games for Sony. They developed the game called God of War: Ghost of Sparta along with Sony’s Santa Monica Studio.

In the year 2009, they started developing a new game engine. It was a complete console-centric platform. Many new features got added in it such as user interface, audio, and 3D content. Furthermore, in 2012 they had an idea to develop a type of action-adventure game in the third person. So Sony and Red At Dawn released the game called The Order: 1886. This game became very popular.

In 2017 they made Lone Echo and Echo Arena for the studio Oculus Rift. So now the Oculus Studio headed by Facebook bought the Ready at Dawn for the development of VR titles.

What can we expect?

The Vice president of Facebook Andrew “Boz” Bosworth shared in his Twitter platform that the studio will put more focus on developing VR content. As we all know that Ready At Dawn is an experienced developer of some of the first-class games its work with Facebook is going to produce ground-breaking results.

From the year 2018 Ready At Dawn got immersed in the development of Lone Echo II. The game was set to release in 2019 but got delayed. Now it is still delaying because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now it will release only during the second half of 2020. The former CEO of Red At Dawn Weerasuriya shared in 2018 that the company wanted to explore more on the VR medium.

So the developers think that VR is an excellent medium. The company is still focusing on VR and now along with Facebook, they will make something new. The continued interest shown by Facebook on VR titles confirms the fact that they will achieve something great. The company has put billions of dollars to achieve its VR goals. Many numbers of employees are also getting on the board after Facebook’s acquisition of the studios.

Facebook is the head of three VR game studios

via: Mark Zuckerburg Facebook

Ready At Dawn is the third studio in the list of studios that Facebook has bought. The first two studios are the Beat Games and Sanzaru Games which also created some wonderful VR content. Sanzaru studio is the studio that developed the popular game called “Asgard’s Wrath”. Moreover, Beat studios made the “Beat Saber”.

We can assume that with Ready At Dawn Facebook will release some excellent new titles. Facebook is prioritizing the VR titles at the moment so there will be something big in the future on the store for the gamers.

Conclusion

Facebook acquiring Ready At Dawn for its aim of creating VR content is a good plan. The Ready at Dawn is focusing on VR titles and Facebook is also in expectation of an excellent result as it is investing in virtual reality software.

Featured image source: Ready At Dawn

Also read: 5 of The Most Common Facebook Ad Mistakes