Ramesh Pokhriyal, Smriti Irani introduce ‘Toycathon 2021’ to support manufacturing of indigenous toys

Photo Credits: ANI

Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Union Minister of Women and Child Development have introduced ‘Toycathon 2021’ on Tuesday which is line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call of making India a production hub of toys.

While addressing the event, Pokhriyal iterated on the statistics that 80 per cent of the toys in India are based on the imports and the country has the potential to manufacture them. He said, “The ToyCathon 2021 is being organized to create awareness among the school students about the rich cultural heritage of our country. The toy market is Rs 7 Lakh crores in the world. In our country, 80 per cent of the toys are imported. I hope this would prove a milestone in the foundation of self-reliant India.”

Smriti Irani revealed the prize amount for the participation of student’s and faculty members which may be up to Rs 50 lakhs. She said, “For the first time in the history of our country we shall see the participation of schools along with students from higher educational institutions with regards to needs of the MSME industry in our country.”

Irani further added, “Never before has the fascination of the country ever been captured till such time that Prime Minister Narendra Modi pronounced to the entire country the need to ensure that we support local industry with regards to toy manufacturing.”

Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, Ministry of Education mentioned that Toycathon will be promoting positive behaviour as per the Indian value systems. Jere said, “A few months back the government of India launched Toy Story as an inter-ministerial mission to promote toy manufacturing, innovation and entrepreneurship in toys in the country. One of the key initiatives under this mission is Toycathon where we will reach out to youngsters, school students, faculties, start-ups, professionals and request them to conceptualise toys based on Indian, those, culture, civilization, our heroes and some of the important events of the past.” Toycathon will have the participation of Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Micros, Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

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