The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has released draft amendments to the IT intermediary rules 2021, pertaining to online gaming for public consultations.
The draft has been prepared to ensure that online games should be offered in conformity with Indian laws and that the users of such games be safeguarded against potential harm.
On December 26, 2022, the government through a gazette notification, notified a change in Allocation of Business rules designating Meity as the nodal ministry for online gaming-related concerns. A week later, the Ministry released the draft rules for public consultation on Monday, a statement from the IT ministry said.
Briefing reporters on the proposed draft, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar affirmed that "The rules are simple - we would like the online gaming ecosystem to expand and grow and be an important catalyst to India's One trillion dollar Digital economy goal by 2025-26. We also envision a bigger role for startups in the online gaming industry".
According to the ministry's statement, the Minister said his Ministry moved swiftly in framing the policy and this was possible due to a series of meetings and consultations conducted with stakeholders. He added that the Ministry would be holding another set of public consultations to finalize the policy soon.
Further, the minister said the draft proposed a self-regulatory mechanism which, in future, may also regulate the content of online gaming and ensure that the games do not have violent, addictive or sexual content.
Currently, the age gating is 18 years and the government would like to keep it that way and see if the present framework works to expand the innovation ecosystem around online gaming while keeping it safe and trusted for users.
Regarding safety concerns, the Minister said around 40 to 45 per cent of the gamers in India are women, so it was all more important to keep the gaming ecosystem safe.
( With inputs from ANI )
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