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Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar was seen justifying the government's ban on PUBG Mobile in the latest episode of The Ranveer Show on June 24, 2023. He was the latest guest on Ranveer Allahbadia's podcast, where he talked about several topics, from banning popular Chinese applications in India to Web 3.0, AI, and more.
During the conversation, the MeitY minister shared the thought process behind the ban of PUBG Mobile, Tencent Games' popular battle royale title in India. The game took the Indian esports scene by storm when it was first launched. However, it was banned in 2020 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) under Section 69A of the IT Act 2000.
Since then, Krafton has launched it as BGMI, which was recently re-released for the Indian audience after a 10-month ban inflicted in July 2022.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar shares reasons behind the ban on PUBG Mobile
When Ranveer Allahbadia spoke about how the community believed he had banned PUBG Mobile, here is what the minister said (a few words were translated from Hindi):
“Yes we have banned the game, and it is our, in a sense duty, to all of you (the countrymen) to keep the internet safe, to keep the internet trusted. And while we love innovations, and we love what young Indians and indeed youngsters all over the world are doing, we also have an obligation to make sure that things are not bad, unsafe or mistrusted.”
He then spoke about how the reasons for taking such decisions will always be made clear to the citizens (a few words were translated from Hindi):
“There certainly are interventions where we will say this is not good, and we will very transparently layout the criteria why it is not. We want to make sure that the internet is always safe and trusted for all the Indians, and therefore the ban of PUBG Mobile was justified.”
On the podcast, Rajeev Chandrasekhar also talked about BGMI's return to the Indian market. The MeitY minister shared how the return of BGMI and games like Call of Duty Mobile has made fans happy. He agreed that gaming has become a part of the lifestyle of youngsters in India, saying:
“We don’t want to be old grumpy uncles or grandfathers and come in the way of the youngsters. However, we have a duty not just to the country, but to all of the youngsters to make sure that whatever is out there is not addictive, does not disrupt their lives, or does not create harm for others.”
While talking about PUBG Mobile, the Union Minister also shared his thoughts on how several games create hostile environments for young girls who aspire to become gamers. He continued by saying that the ministry will certainly intervene in the future as well to ensure such issues aren't present in any games.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar also talked about his thoughts on the world of gaming. He said that the technology ministry is aware of the recent boost in the gaming industry in India. He said that it has chalked up rules to create a framework so that Indian games and gaming companies can grow.
He said that it is also the Prime Minister's wish that Indian stories be gamified in the next few years. After this, the podcaster asked the minister how the government decided that PUBG Mobile should be banned, along with other Chinese applications.
Mr. Chandrasekhar responded by saying that it was straightforward with PUBG Mobile. It fell foul of a few things the ministry thought should not be done. He talked about the game's server, for example, saying it should not be foreign, commenting:
“The game should not export the data of the consumers as that violates the fundamental right to privacy which is a part of article 21 of the constitution. You and I (the countrymen) have the fundamental right today that our data cannot be used or misused by anybody without our consent.”
He elaborated further on the reasons, saying that citizens' rights were being violated by the game:
“So there were a lot of these that were violating your (Indian’s) rights as a consumer and that is why it was done. Plus, there is an aspect of some games that are addictive, and cause harm. So, even on the content part of some games, there are some issues that PUBG Mobile fell afoul of.”
Rajeev Chandrasekhar clarified that these were simple decisions without any subjectivity. The government had laid out its criteria, and MeitY took the call to ban PUBG Mobile based on it.
