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ShareCensor Board chief Sharmila Tagore confirms green signal by I&B ministry
MUMBAI: Your favourite video game, where you can 'kill' your enemies by shooting them in the head, may be on its way to becoming a thing of the past.
The I&B ministry has finally heeded to pleas by parents to censor all graphic computer games. This basically means that computer games with too much blood and gore will not be made available for children. Same goes for those games which involve 'prizes' like virtual sex with a girl if you clear a certain level.
"Parents have been voicing their concerns against such computer games for a long time now. We decided it's high time we introduce censorship in computer and video games," says a source in the I&B ministry.
The draft bill being considered by the ministry also proposes that the Censor Board do this job and certify an age-limit for kids accessing particular video games. The Censor Board might also reserve the right to reject a video game if it is 'unsuitable' for an Indian audience.
"This is true that there is a proposal that the Censor Board should start censoring all video games - and I agree with proposal totally," says Sharmila Tagore, the chairperson of the Censor Board. "We have already submitted our proposal to the ministry and the draft is being considered by them," she added.
According to the proposal, the Censor board will mark the video games according to age groups and would clearly mention the age for which it is suitable. It will also be made mandatory for the manufacturer to carry the certificate on the cover of the game just as it is done on DVD covers.
"When this is done, the parents will get a clear idea about the contents of a video game that they are buying for their child. Also, if there are certain portions in the game that are not suitable for children, might get excluded from the game," adds Sharmila.
