PUBG Mobile has caught by storm the interest of millions of Indians, so much so that its addiction has caught the attention of the Gujarat government, who have issued a circular asking school to ban students from playing PUBG Mobile during school hours.
The circular, directed at the District Primary Education Officers of Gujarat, was issued by Gujarat’s Primary Education Department, and stated that the addiction to the multiplayer game was “adversely affecting their studies”.
Chairperson of the Gujarat child rights body, Jagruti Pandya, has stated to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to issue a recommendation to ban PUBG in the entire state. Jagruti Pandya stated,
The NCPCR had sent a letter to all the states and recommended a ban on the game. All the states are required to implement it. Looking at the negative effects of the game, we had recently sent a letter to the state government recommending a ban on the game.
The popularity of PUBG is such that it has already been downloaded 100 million times on the play store itself, with over 10 million daily active players. It has overtaken YouTube as the 2nd most download app, and India is just behind USA as the most active user base. All these factors, along with a concerning report by Quartz India stating that an average player plays the game for about 8 hours a week, has been the main reason for this move.
