 bill no 253 of  2017 the violent and indecent online games (prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement) bill, 2017 by dr shrikant e shinde, mp abillto provide for prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement of online games showing violence and indecency in their operations in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;5(b) "online games" means a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the internet or another computer network;(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (d) "sale" includes giving on rent or allowing free access to online game on internet;(e) "videogame" means an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to visual feedback on a television screen or computer monitor; and1060 of 1986 45 of 1860(f) words and expressions used in this act but not defined and defined in the indecent representation of women (prohibition) act, 1986 and the indian penal code, 1860 shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in these acts153 (1) no person shall distribute, sell or advertise such online games in the country which contain violence, bloodshed and indecent material or representation(2) the central government shall not allow import of such online games in the country which are showing violence and indecencyprohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement of violent and indecent video games4 (1) it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to monitor the contents of online games available with in its territorial jurisdiction and notify such online games which contain violence and indecency20appropriate government to monitor the contents of games(2) the appropriate government shall from time to time, issue directions to the concerned authority and the police about the procedure to be followed in monitoring violent and indecent online games in the market in such manner as may be prescribed5 if any portal or website is selling, offering free downloading or free play of any violent or indecent online games, the central government shall block such portal or the website:25provided that the central government shall not block any portal or website without giving the representatives of such portal or website a reasonable opportunity of being heardthe central government to block the portals/ websites selling violent and indecent games306 it shall be the responsibility of each parent to check the content of the online game they are giving to their children or the games being acquired by children themselves and evaluate the ratings given on these online gamesparents to check the contents of games7 every school shall design or create curricula to guide/advice children to reduce their total screen time and the type of games to be playedschools to issue guidelines to students on games8 every new online game launched in the country in any manner shall be subject to the approval of chidren films society of indiaonline games to be launched with the approval of children films society of indiapenalty9 whoever contravenes or attempts to contravene or abets the contravention of theprovisions of this act shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to seven years or with fine, which may extend to fifteen lakh rupees or with bothoffences by companies510 (1) where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of business of the company as well as the company, shall be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to punishment if he proves that the contravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent such contravention1015(2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where a contravention of any of the provisions of this act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder has been committed by a company and it is proved that the contravention has taken place with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordinglyexplanation— for the purpose of this section:—(i) "company" means anybody corporate and include a firm or other association of individuals; and(ii) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm20power to remove difficulties11 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficult:25provided that no such orders shall be made after the expiry of the period of three years from the date of commencement of this actoverriding effect of the act12 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, theprovisions in any other law, for the time being in force, relating to violent and indecent video games/online gamespower to make rules3013 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act35(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before  each house of parliament, while it is in  session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions, aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have affect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonschildren in today's world are growing in a totally different kind of environment the tools for play and entertainment are online games many of which are  violent and indecent blue whale, pokemon go, san andreas, duke nankeen, max, payne, elite warriors, hitman, commandos, dooms are all names of most popular online games in the market right now all these are war or killing games which children are exposed to from their tender age of three years and above these games are highly engaging and interactive unlike watching television programmesindian association of biological psychiatry raised concern  over children's addition to violent online games such as "blue whale" there is a need for vigilance on the part of parents and government agencies to take precautionary measures in order to save children from ill effect of video or online games these online video games are extremely violent and compel children to take extreme steps including attempt to suicide or indulge in selfinjurious behaviour as per a study by lowa state university researchers found children who repeatedly play violent video games are learning thought patterns that will stick with them and influence behaviours as they grow older researchers also found that over time children start to think more aggressively and when provoked at home, school or in other situations, children will react much like they do when playing a violent video gameapart from this, there are host of free video games / online games available on internet many with warning that the games may contain explicit scenes of blood and gore according to medical experts, recurrent viewing of scenes of blood and gore causes defiance in child so with slight provocation, anger or hostility, the defiance is often directed at parents it further says that children also develop insensitivity to pain and bloodshed in the absence of adequate inputs from parents and teachers about the basic human right of letting other persons to live these children become less caring and less helpful towards their peersas a result, the new kid on the block is an angry young child he devotes hours before screen playing these violent and indecent games most of the parents do not check the contents of the games and just give into the demands of the children which come very cheap at fifty rupees a game parents here have an important role to play psychologists have found that when parents limit the time as well as the type of game their children play, children are less likely to show aggressive behaviour it is otherwise also reflecting bad on the kids as instead of going to play out door games, they are sitting hours together before the television or computer screen children are not born violent; they are made violent they become conditioned to associate violence with fun, as part of normal life the end result of unmonitored video violence is that we are training an army of kids there were several incidents in other countries where children went into unprovoked shooting spree killing many innocents the same is the case with indecent games which are, at times, marked for adults but land in the hands of children due to apathy of the shop keeper in selling those games to right kind of persons these games allow player to watch strip shows, depict nudity, sexual conduct and other contents harmful to minors these types of games are also available for free download from internet there is an urgent need to ban these games containing violence, bloodshed and incedent material from the reach of the children and save the future of the societyhence this bill memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 13 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out purposes of the bill as the matters will relate to details only, the delegation of powers is of a normal character lok  sabha———— a billto provide for prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement of online games showing violence and indecency in their operations in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr shrikant e shinde, mp)gmgipmrnd—2629ls(s3)—20-12-2017