India’s first online gaming Centre of Excellence to come in Shillong

The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced the establishment of India’s first Centre of Excellence for online gaming in Shillong.

The Digital India Startup Hub, in collaboration with the Software Technology Parks of India, will establish India’s first Centre of Excellence in Online Gaming in Shillong by March 2023. The Centre of Excellence in Shillong, Meghalaya, is designed to catalyse startups and entrepreneurs in the development of the Next Gen Online Gaming ecosystem.

“It is PM Shri Narendra Modi ji’s vision that the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs come from Shillong, Kohima, and other areas of the Northeast,” Chandrasekhar was reported as saying during a press conference in Shillong on Friday.

The minister also emphasised the importance of Digital Skills after Covid, as the rate of digitisation of products, services, and gadgets continues to rise globally.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has released for public comment Draft modifications to IT Rules 2021 relating to online gambling.

The ministry has made available for public comment draught revisions to the IT intermediary regulations 2021 relevant to online gambling. The draught was created to guarantee that online games are delivered in accordance with Indian regulations and that players of such games are protected from any damage.

The document envisioned a self-regulation structure that, in the future, might also govern the content of online gaming and guarantee that it does not contain violent, addictive, or sexual material.

The current age gating is 18 years, and the government wants to test if the current framework works to develop the innovation ecosystem around online gaming while keeping it secure and trustworthy for consumers.

Concerning safety, the minister previously stated that 40 to 45 percent of gamers in India are women, making it all the more crucial to maintain the gaming ecosystem secure.