Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Wednesday that the online game related to money has become a serious social and public health problem and its negative impact on society is clearly visible. Vaishnav on Wednesday, after passing the bill banning the online game played with money in the Lok Sabha, said that the proposed law would promote e-sport and social gaming and would make India the center of development of such games.
The Lok Sabha has passed the online gaming enrichment and regulation Bill, which provides facilities to operate the online game, sports facilities and advertisements to be played with money. The government is taking steps to curb the incidents of increasing addiction, money refinement and financial fraud through such an app.
Vaishnav said, “Our effort is to promote e-sports and social gaming, online social gaming and we want India to become a center of gaming development. Many efforts are already being made for this.”
The minister said that as far as digital technology is concerned, online gaming has emerged as a ‘major area’ with three main areas.
He said, “Two sectors, e-sports and online social gaming are good for society. We are promoting two out of three sectors … These two will get legal recognition and promote. The bill will form an authority that will basically make programs and plans that promote e-Sports and online social gaming.”
The minister said that the third sector is the online game related to money, which is harming the society and has emerged as a major social and public health problem.
Vaishnav said, “Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified a new disease ‘gaming disorder’ on the addiction to playing online games and its side effects, which causes anxiety, depression, sleep problem, social separation and stress.”
The minister said, “It causes psychological crisis and serious disruption in family and social life. We have seen that the middle class families have lost their entire life savings due to the addiction of the online game played with money. Cases of suicide have also come up. ”
What is in the bill?
The bill said that companies and their officers would be responsible if they were found running wrong gaming platforms. But the directors who do not have a hand in it will not be punished. The government and regulatory agencies will strictly investigate and implement the law.