MOHUA launches Swachh Toycathon

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, has launched the Swachh Toycathon under the Swachh Amrit Mahotsav, which is a one-of-its-kind competition to create toys from waste. The National Action Plan for Toys (NAPT) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Phase-2) have come together to create the competition (SBM 2.0). It looks into potential remedies for the usage of trash in toy production. Swachh Amrit Mahotsav is a fortnight-long series of activities with an aim to promote public engagement and take a step towards the goal of creating ‘Garbage Free Cities’. The events will be held from September 17, Seva Diwas, till October 2, Swachhata Diwas.

The Swachh Toycathon competition investigates cutting-edge methods for using dry waste in toy production. The competition will be open to all people and organisations who present innovative ideas for producing toys out of dry waste. The creation of effective designs that can be produced on a wider scale will be the main goal. The toys should be aesthetically pleasing in appearance and must meet the minimum safety requirements. The competition will be held on the MyGov portal, with the Center for Creative Learning at IIT Gandhinagar serving as the initiative’s knowledge partner. 

The competition has been designed around three main themes: ‘Fun and Learn’ seeks concepts for early prototypes of toys made from waste at home, at work, and in the environment; ‘Use and Enjoy’ seeks concepts for models of games and play in parks and open spaces made from waste; and ‘New and Old’ seeks concepts and solutions for circularity in the toy industry.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, first expressed his intent to make India a major centre for toys in August 2020 through his Mann ki Baat address to the nation. To accomplish this, he emphasised the need for expanding India’s global footprint, developing organic synergies across demographics, and utilising the availability of raw materials and artisan skill sets. To support the toy sector, especially handcrafted toys and traditional handicrafts, the National Action Plan for Toys 2020 (NAPT) was introduced. 

As part of NAPT 2020, a comprehensive action plan was developed to incentivise local production and encourage handicraft manufacturers. Some of the proposed actions outlined in the plan were launching central government schemes, establishing toy production hubs across the nation, enhancing the R&D infrastructure of toys to support self-discovery and self-learning, fostering creativity, upskilling artisans, organising hackathons and competitions to promote creativity and innovation, increasing public awareness of and demand for native toys including puppets, wooden dolls, clay toys, and tribal games, etc. NAPT was commissioned by The Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, but it will be carried out in partnership with 14 central ministries, including those in charge of education, textiles, railroads, science and technology, and information and broadcasting.

At the Toycathon launch, professors Uday Athvankar and Manish Jain from IIT Gandhinagar and Vidyun Goel from the Toy Bank discussed the design of toys and games, cognitive science, and their opinions on how the initiative would affect the toy business.