On January 5, 2021, an inter-ministerial Initiative, Toycathon 2021, was jointly launched by Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister for Women & Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Textiles, 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.
- The idea behind the launch of Toycathon is to make India self-reliant in the toy sector by promoting the indigenous toy industry and to make India as a global Toy manufacturing hub.
- Currently India’s toy market stands at around 1.5 Billion USD imports with 80% import of toys.
Official Mascot of Toycathon 2021
Toycoo
Organizers of Toycathon 2021: 9
MoE, MoE’s Innovation Cell, MoWCD, Ministry of Textile, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (M/o MSME), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
Aim of Toycathon 2021:
–To conceptualize innovative toys based on the Indian value system, Indian culture and ethos, local folklore and heroes by involving participation of students, faculties from all schools, colleges and universities, design experts, toy experts and startups of the country.
–To teach positive behaviour and good value among the children.
Themes of Toycathon 2021: 9
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
Key Points:
–This is the first time when school children will innovate, design and conceptualize toys also for specially abled children.
–MoE and MoWCD will take special measures to create awareness about chemically safe toys.
–The hackathon can engage 33 crore Indian students in innovation and research which are the key components of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
–It will also help the children to understand the ethos and values of Indian culture as envisaged in NEP 2020.
–The Toycathon has 3 categories viz. Junior Level, Senior Level and Start up Level.
Additional Info:
–The proposals can be submitted online from January 5 to January 20, 2021.
–The Finale will be held on February 23-25, 2021.
–The participants can get prizes upto Rs 50 lakhs and the winners will also get an opportunity to showcase their concepts during ‘National Toy Fair’ starting Feb 27, 2021.
— In December 2020, Toycathon Challenge 2020 was launched in association with Amazon India.
Other Participants: Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, MoE
Recent Related News:
i.On October 8, 2020, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually inaugurated the Gyan Circle Ventures, a MeitY (funded Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Sri City (Chittoor), Andhra Pradesh (AP) through Video Conference from New Delhi.
ii.On October 1, 2020, Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) addressed the High-level meeting on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) – Beijing +25 virtually. The theme of the event was “Accelerating the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
About Ministry of Education (MoE):
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ constituency– Haridwar, Uttarakhand
Minister of State (MoS)– Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre
