Toycathon 2021: All you need to know about Indian toy industry

Toycathon 2021 is an inter-ministerial initiative of the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and the All India Council for Technical Education along with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Important Dates

Background:

1. The centre has organised Toycathon 2021/ Toy Hackathon for students, various toy designers, experts and startups. 
2. India has been home to many globally popular games such as Chess, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders but it is not listed among the leading developers and manufacturers of toys across the world.
3. It is under the ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ initiated by PM Narendra Modi, Toycathon-2021 was conceived to brainstorm India’s innovative minds so that they conceptualize various novel Toy and Games based on the Indian civilization, history, culture, mythology and ethos.

Toycathon 2021: Focus

1. Toy/Games concepts based on Indian civilization, heritage, culture, mythology, history, ethos, technology, ethnicity, national heroes and important events
2. Inculcate positive behaviour and good values
3. Toys for specially-abled/ Divyanga children
4. Boosting physical and mental fitness
5. Using eco-friendly, indigenous, non-hazardous or recycled material
6. Focus on promoting Vedic Mathematics
7. Encouraging national unity and respecting cultural diversity.
8. Supporting missions like Swatch Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Environment Conservation, Climate Change, Digital India, Skill India, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
9. Rediscovering/redesigning traditional Indian toys
10. Toys for pedagogy (for teaching students difficult concepts in Math, Science, Languages, Social Sciences, etc.)
11. The design should confine to basic toy guidelines issued by Govt. of India. Click the link to view the Gazette Notification

Significance:

1. Indias toy market stands at around 1.75 billion dollars that are around 0.8% of the world toy market.
2. At present, 80% of the toys are Chinese imports in India and they account for 90% of India's non branded Indian Market.  
3. The PM also said that it was time to get vocal about toys in India in his Mann ki Baat statements
4. This is the first time in India, schoolchildren would get to innovate, design and conceptualise toys
5. It is also good for specially-abled ''divyang "children

Themes of Toycathon 2021:

It is based on 9 themes this year:

1. Indian culture- History
2. Knowledge of India and ethos
3. Learning, education and schooling
4. Social and human values
5. Occupations and specific fields
6. Environment
7. Divyang - Fitness and sport
8. Out-of-the-box creative and logical thinking
9. Rediscovering traditional Indian toys

The Toycathon has three variants of tracks of junior level, senior level and startup Level and would allow participation of students and teachers from schools, colleges and universities apart from startups and toy experts.  Participants can either submit ideas for the published problems or under novel toy concepts category. The proposals can be submitted online from Jan 5 to 20, 2021.