Online games should be banned, they adversely affect children's health: Congress MP

H Vasanthakumar, Indian National Congress (INC) MP from Kanyakumari on Tuesday urged the government to ban online games, citing its side effects on the mental and physical health of children.

"I urge the government to ban online games such as Blue Whale, PUBG and Rummy. PUBG was launched in 2017 and it has generated a huge global following across PCs, console cells and mobile platforms," said Vasanthakumar in Lok Sabha.

"By last December, the game had 200 million mobile downloads alone. A few cities in India have already banned the game citing concern that it was making the player more violent and distracting students from their school work," he added.

The MP further said that many parents have complained that computer games have no value to their children's studies. On the contrary, online games have produced a lot of negative effects on their mental and physical development.

"By doing so, the children will do minimum physical activity which further leads to numerous health issues such as obesity, cardiac problems and psychological problems. Ban the online games, for the future of India," said Vasanthakumar.