India's PORN website Shutdown!

BLOCKED: Some 857 websites have been singled out and banned under the new government directive

India has ordered internet providers to seal off access to a staggering 857 porn websites.

The government has described the cull as a way to protect social decency – as it will prevent children from accessing the pornographic content.

David Cameron introduced similar measures across the UK – although these block have recently been challenged in Europe.

Indian adults will reportedly still be able to access pornographic websites using virtual private networks, dubbed VPNs, or proxy servers.

N.N. Kaul – a spokesman for India's department of telecom – said the government was controlling easy access to pornography following a directive from the country's top court.

A leaked government order asks service providers to block access to the 857 sites on grounds of morality and decency.

“We have to block each site one by one and it will take a few days for all service providers to block all the sites ”

Telecom company executive

Adult Friend Finder and a number of other dating websites and adult-oriented blogs are amongst the banned websites.

The move has triggered outrage online as well as in the country, which has the second biggest population of internet users in the world, after China.

The hashtag #pornban started trending on Twitter as soon as the news broke.

Many have voiced concern that the government would ban consenting adults from accessing pornography.

However a number of people have also voiced approval for the ban – branding pornography as an assault on Indian culture.

An unnamed telecom company executive told the BBC the ban would take "a few days" to enforce.

"We have to block each site one by one and it will take a few days for all service providers to block all the sites," the source revealed.