 bill no vii  of 2007 the violent and indecent video games (prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement) bill, 2007 a billto provide for prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement of video games showingviolence and indecency in their operations in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1   (1) this act may be called the violent and indecent video games (prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement) act, 2007short title, extend and commencement(2) it shall extend to the whole of india(3) it shall come into effect with immediate effectdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in case of a state the government of that state and for all other purposes the central government;(b) "sale" includes giving on rent or allowing free access to game on internet;(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;60 of 1986 45 of 1860(d) words and expressions used in this act but not defined and defined in the indecent representation of women (prohibition) act, 1986 and the india penal code shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in these acts3 (1) no person shall distribute, sell or advertise such video games in the country which contain violence, bloodshed and indecent material or representation(2) the central government shall not allow import of such video 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 video games available with in its territorial jurisdiction and notify such video games which certain violence and indecencyappropriate governmentto monitorthe 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 games in the market in such manner as may be prescribed5 if any portal or website is selling any violent or indecent video games the central government shall block the portal or the website:provided that the central government shall not block any portal or website without giving their representatives a reasonable opportunity of being heardthe central government to block the portals/ websites selling violent and indecent games6 it shall be the responsibility of each parent to check the content of the video game they are giving to their children or the games being acquired by children themselves and evaluate the ratings given on these video gamesparents to check the contents of games7 every school shall design/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 game launched in the country in any manner shall be subject to the approval of children films society of indiagames to be launched withthe approvalof 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 three years or with fine, which may extend to five lakh rupees or with bothoffences by companies10 where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this act orof 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 contravention(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 firmpower to remove difficulties11 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government 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:provided 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, the provisions in any other law, for the time being in force, relating to violent and indecent video gamespower to make rules13 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act 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 video games many of which are violent and indecent duke nankeen, max, payne, elite warriors, hitman, commandoes, dooms are all names of most popular video games in the market right now all these are war or killing games which children are exposed to from the age of three years and above these games are highly engaging and interactive unlike watching programmes on tvapart from this, there are a host of free video 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 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 50 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 tv 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 there is an urgent need to ban these games containing violence, bloodshed and indecent material from the reach of the children and save the future of the societyhence this billmahendra mohan memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 13 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the matter will relate to details only, the delegation of powers is of normal character rajya sabha————— a billto provide for prohibition on distribution, sale and advertisement of video games showingviolence and indecency in their operations in the country and for matters connectedtherewith or incidental thereto—————(shri mahendra mohan, mp)mgipmrnd—1219rs—16-03-2007