Minister Anurag Thakur launches 'Azadi Quest' online educational mobile games

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday launched ‘Azadi Quest’, a series of online educational mobile games that will highlight the contribution of unsung heroes of the freedom struggle. The ‘Azadi Quest’ and ‘Heroes of Bharat’ mobile games have been developed by Zynga India, in collaboration with the Publications Division and Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR).

“These games are an effort to tap into the huge market of online gamers and to educate them through games. Various arms of Government of India have collected information about unsung freedom fighters from the corners of the country,” Thakur said at the launch of the games. He said the gaming sector has grown by 28 percent in 2021 alone, while the number of online gamers is expected to touch 45 crore by 2023.

I-B Secretary Apurva Chandra said the idea about developing the games was conceived during a meeting Thakur had with representatives of Zynga India on the sidelines of the Dubai Expo earlier this year. He said Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary in the I-B Ministry, worked closely with Zynga, Publications Division and ICHR for six months in developing the games. The Publications Division also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Zynga India to develop a series of games under the ongoing 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. Kishore Kichli, Country Head of Zynga India, said the initiative was designed to engage players of all ages while harnessing the power of interactive entertainment as a teaching experience about this important era.

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The first two games in the series ‘Azadi Quest’ tell the story of India’s freedom struggle, highlighting key milestones and heroes, interwoven with fun game play. ‘Heroes of Bharat’ is designed as a quiz game to test the knowledge of the players about the heroes of India’s Independence through 750 questions spread across 75 levels and also tell them about the lesser known heroes through 75 ‘Azadi Veer’ cards which can be shared across social media platforms.