On Tuesday, during the second session of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ PM Narendra Modi ended up asking, “Ye PUBG-wala hai kya?” (Is your son a PUBG player?) while replying to a mother concerned about her son’s addiction to online gaming. This made the audience break in laughter.

Parents across the country can relate to what Madhumita Sengupta asked the PM at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0 held at Talkatora stadium. She told him that her son used to be attentive in studies, however, since he started playing online games he has been lagging behind – trying to making him understand hasn’t helped either.

While addressing the problem, the PM said, “if we want the kids to dissociate themselves from technology, it would only make them lag behind.” “We have to interest them in technology, however, we also have to make them understand how it affects us – they have to understand whether it is making him a robot or a human?” he said.

PM Modi encouraged the parents to talk more to their children about technology and make it a “dinner table conversation” – new apps, games, so that the kid does not feel left out and makes him feel that he can have a conversation about it with his parents.


“Everyone here has a phone in their hands,” PM Modi noted. He also reminded the students, that it should be used to expand one’s horizon, his knowledge, and not be bogged down by it. Modi also advised the parents to encourage kids to move from “PlayStation to the playground.”

PUBG which has become a sensation amongst the teens and young adults in India, ever since it launched in December 2017.

Also known as PlayerUnknown’s Battleground, PUBG is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed by  PUBG Corporation. The game usually has 100 players jumping out from a plane on an island, actually one can choose from four islands. The players then go on and loot arms, medicines, vests, scopes, helmets, etc., and start the mission of shooting down the enemies. The final team or individual who wins the game, after everyone else has died, wins a chicken dinner (Yes, a virtual one!).

In recent times the game has created quite a few waves in the country. Gujarat government has gone so far as to ban PUBG in the primary schools, saying it is “adversely affecting the students’ studies.” A students body in Jammu and Kashmir also asked for a ban on the game, blaming it for poor results of students. According to media reports, the game has a whopping 10 million people logging in to play every day.