MP Kartikeya Sharma urges govt to grant Esports 'Official Sports' status

MP Kartikeya Sharma urged the govt in Rajya Sabha to grant Official Sports Status to Esports and regulate online gaming, highlighting its economic significance while warning against its unregulated impact on child safety and mental health.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, MP Kartikeya Sharma on Tuesday urged the Government to grant Official Sports Status to Esports and introduce comprehensive regulation of online gaming, citing its growing economic significance as well as rising concerns around child safety and mental health.

India's Booming Gaming and Creative Economy

Calling electronic gaming a "digital frontier of both promise and peril," Sharma said India's Orange Economy is no longer a fringe sector but a key driver of the country's economic future. He noted that India's creative economy is currently valued at around USD 30 billion and supports nearly 8 percent of the working population, forming a critical pillar of the Government's USD 1 trillion digital economy vision.

Highlighting the scale of the gaming ecosystem, Sharma pointed out that India today has over 500 million amateur gamers, the largest gaming audience globally, along with lakhs of professional players. The domestic gaming market, currently estimated at USD 3.7 billion, is projected to grow to USD 10 billion by 2030, while the AVGC sector is expected to require nearly 2 million skilled professionals by 2030.

Push for Official Sports Status for Esports

To harness this growth in a structured manner, Sharma pressed for Official Sports Status for Esports, stating that formal recognition would help establish professional leagues, regulated training systems, and legitimate career pathways for Indian youth, while strengthening India's position in the global digital economy.

Concerns Over Unregulated Gaming and Child Safety

However, Sharma also sounded a strong warning over the "crisis of unregulated amateur online gaming," particularly its impact on children. Referring to clinical studies, he said excessive and unregulated gaming has been directly linked to rising cases of gaming addiction, ADHD, anxiety, and depression among children and adolescents, with several reported instances of self-harm driven by gaming dependency.

Speaking as a parent, Sharma said technological advancement must not come at the cost of child safety. He stressed that protecting children in digital spaces is both a policy necessity and a moral responsibility.

Call for Comprehensive Regulation

The Rajya Sabha MP called for regulation across the entire gaming ecosystem, including game development, publishing, and streaming platforms, and recommended mandatory game audits to ensure age-appropriate content and safer digital environments.

The Path to Responsible Digital Growth

Sharma also welcomed the Union Budget proposal to set up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools, calling it a "right first step" towards nurturing India's Yuva Shakti and preparing students for future digital careers.

Concluding his remarks, Sharma said India's challenge is not whether to grow digitally, but how to do so responsibly. The choice, he said, lies between unregulated expansion and disciplined, policy-driven development. (ANI)

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