Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ jointly launched the Toycathon 2021 here today. This Toycathon is aimed to conceptualize innovative toys based on the Indian value system which will inculcate the positive behaviour and good value among the children. Shri Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, MoE were present during the launch event of Toycathon-2021. The Union Ministers also jointly launched the Toycathon Portal on the occasion.

Addressing a press Conference on the occasion Smt. Smriti Irani stated that India imports 80 per cent of toys and the government is working towards promoting the indigenous toy industry for making the country self-reliant in this sector. She said that the collaboration with Ministry of Education paves the way for the participation of students, faculties from all schools, colleges and universities of the country with regards to needs of the MSME industry in our country. Appreciating the initiative the Minister said, “This is the first time when school children will innovate, design and conceptualize toysalso for specially abled ‘divyang children’. She informed that students and faculty members participating in Toycathon can get prizes upto 50 lakhs. The minister further stated that Commerce Ministry and MSME Ministry have taken various steps to protect the toy manufacturing industry and to make it competitive. “To create awareness about safe toys which are not harmful chemically, Ministry of Education and Ministry of WCD will adopt special measures,” she added. Smt. Iranialso thanked those industries participants who have responded to the clarion call of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and supportedAtmanirbharBharat  with regard to this segment of  toy manufacturing.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pokhriyal said that Toycathon is being organized to develop India as the global Toy manufacturing hub. He said size of toy market in India is about one billion USD but unfortunately 80% of the toys are imported. The launch of Toycathon today, is an endeavor by the government to create an ecosystem for the domestic Toy industry and the local manufacturers, tapping the untapped resources and utilizing their potential. Recalling the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of 5 trillion-dollar economy and considering the huge potential of our toy market, he exhorted all to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in Toy industry. He further stated that National Education Policy-2020 also lays emphasis on innovation and research in learning, starting from the primary education. Aligned with the goals of National Education Policy, the Toycathon aims to capture innovative prowess of 33 crores students across the country, he added.

About Toycathon 2021:

Taking a giant leap in the path of becoming ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Ministry of Textile, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Ministry of MSME, Ministry of I&B and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have jointly launched Toycathon-2021.

This is a special kind of hackathon where students and teachers from schools and colleges, design experts, toy experts and startups will get together to crowd source ideas for developing toys and games that are based on Indian culture and ethos, local folklore and heroes, and Indian value systems.While this will greatly help India develop into a global hub for toys and games, it will also help our children to understand the ethos and values of Indian culture as envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020.

The Toycathon is based on nine themes viz. Indian Culture, History, Knowledge of India and Ethos; Learning, Education and Schooling; Social and human values; Occupations & specific fields; Environment; Divyang ; Fitness and sport; Out of the box, creative and logical thinking and Rediscovering/redesigning traditional Indian toys

The Toycathon will have 3 variants of tracks of Junior Level, Senior Level and Start up Leveland will allow participation of students and teachers from schools, colleges and universitiesapart from startups and toy experts. Participants will have two options for ideasubmission; they can either submit ideas for the published problem statements or undernovel toy concepts category. This is the high time we utilize brightest creative minds andcarve out games based on our Indian culture, tradition and heritage and stories of ancientIndia showcasingthe beliefs and traditions of people.

For participation in Toycathon 2021, please visit https://toycathon.mic.gov.in.The Proposals can be submitted online from 5^th January to 20^th January, 2021.

Click here to access the PPT on Toycathon-2021

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BY/TFK