Censorship in India Targets Video Games

India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will likely adopt a bill giving India's government the power to censor and rate video games, according to Indian news outlet Daily News & Analysis.

"This is true that there is a proposal that the Censor Board should start censoring all video games--and I agree with proposal totally," India's Censor Board chairperson Sharmila Tagore told the news outlet. "We have already submitted our proposal to the ministry and the draft is being considered by them."

The country's official censors have the power to ban films, books, and certain Internet websites, and this extended authority over computer games would allow them to make certain titles unavailable to the Indian public.

The bill would also allow the Censor Board to rate video games as suitable for certain age groups, as is done by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the states. Game manufacturers would be required to place these labels on a game's packaging.

Tagore also told Daily News & Analysis that the Censor Board would make developers remove certain features from a game if they "are not suitable for children" and would like their game to be available in the country.