Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually interacted with the participants of the Toy Hackathon – ‘Toycathon 2021’ ,the 1st of its kind initiative in India launched in January 2021, aims to crowd-source innovative toys and games ideas based on India’s culture, civilization, history, mythology and ethos.
i.Toycathon 2021 received 17000 ideas, out of which 1567 ideas were shortlisted for the Toycathon Grand Finale.
ii.The Grand Finale of Toycathon 2021 was virtually inaugurated by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani & Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre.
- It was held virtually from June 22-24, 2021 due to COVID 19 restrictions for the teams of digital toy ideas. Physical events will be organised separately for non-digital toy concepts.
- The winners will be announced on 26th June and will be awarded with a winning amount of around INR 60 lakhs.
Toycathon
It is an inter-ministerial challenge organized by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell with support from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD Ministry), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Why Hackathon for Toys?
i.At present, the Indian toy market is valued at around USD 1.5 billion USD, while the Global toy market is estimated to be more than USD 100 billion. This means that India has only 1.5% of the global market.
- India imports 80% of toys, most of which are made of plastic that are dangerous to children.
- This hackathon aims to make India Atma Nirbhar in the Toy sector and also make it a hub for the global toy manufacturing industry.
ii.Toys play a major role on psychomotor abilities of children, their memory skills. They will also help in easing the burden of rote learning science and other subjects.
iii.Growth in Toy Industry will have a positive impact on small-scale toy industries, artisans comprising rural population, poor people and tribal population.
Key Takeaways
- Union Minister Smriti Irani urged research bodies working under the Ministry of Education to look into the possibility of sustainable toys.
- Toycathon is an integral part of the Toy Fair 2021 and the Ministry of Textiles is planning for a regional physical toy fair at 12 places.
Recent Related News:
On January 5, 2021, an inter-ministerial Initiative, Toycathon 2021, was jointly launched by Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister for Women & Child Development (WCD) and Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Ministry of Education (MoE) along with Toycathon Portal (https://toycathon.mic.gov.in.) during the launch event in New Delhi.
About Ministry of Education (MoE)
Union Minister – Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ (Haridwar, Uttarakhand)
MoS – Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre (Akola, Maharashtra)
About Ministry of Women & Child Development
Union Minister – Smriti Irani (Amethi, UP)
MoS – Debasree Chaudhuri (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Raiganj, West Bengal)
