No Plans To Limit Time Spent On Online Gaming: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The government has no plans to limit the amount of time users spend on playing online games, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed the Parliament. 

Noting that there was a sharp increase in online gaming in the country, Chandrasekhar said that the Centre was aware of the pitfalls associated with the industry. 

“The government is aware of the possible risks and challenges associated with the online games including that of violence abetting video games, addiction to it, and consequential financial loss,” Chandrasekhar said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. 

Highlighting that online gaming has increased the potential of exposure to violence, Chandrasekhar added that IT Rules, 2021 were equipped to deal with online gaming intermediaries in such instances. 

He said that it was incumbent upon intermediaries to do due diligence and the failure to do so would exempt them from safe harbour provisions.

“The rules cast specific obligation on intermediaries to observe due diligence by making reasonable efforts to cause its user not to host, display, publish, transmit or share any information that is harmful to child, causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence, relates to encourages gambling, or violates any law for the time being in force..,” the minister added. 

Debate Over Online Gaming 

The statement comes amidst a raging debate over the effect of online games on children, especially adolescents. 

In one instance earlier this year, a 16-year-old teenager allegedly shot his mother for stopping him from playing online games. In a separate incident, a Bengaluru boy stole INR 4.8 Lakh from his father to fuel his appetite for online games.

Besides, there have been countless incidents of financial frauds involving fake online games and players losing money to such games. Just a day prior on Wednesday (December 14), a 29-year-old Coimbatore man allegedly died by suicide after he lost the money he borrowed from friends and relatives on online games.

Such has been the outcry that the Madras High Court (HC) last month, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), sought a response from the Centre on steps taken to restrict participation of minors in online gambling and sports betting platforms.

Prior to that in October, the Madras HC also expressed concerns over addiction of youngsters to banned ‘violent’ online games such as Free Fire and PUBG. It also initiated suo motu proceedings to regulate usage of YouTube channels that publish tutorials for the banned games. 

Citing anecdotal evidence, experts say that there has been a 30%-40% increase in cases of aggressive behaviour among children addicted to online games. 

Even as the space continues to grapple with its challenges, the Indian online gaming industry continues to grow and is projected to reach a market size of $5 Bn by 2025. The growth of the online space has spawned many unicorns including Games24x7, Dream11, Mobile Premier League and listed platform Nazara Technologies.

As per Inc42, the number of online gamers in the country is projected to hover around the 657 Mn mark by 2025.