Context: Recently, the Ministry of Women & Child Development and Ministry of Education have jointly launched the Toycathon-2021.

Need for Toycathon

• 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.
• 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.
• Toycathon is being organized to develop India as the global Toy manufacturing hub.
• The launch of Toycathon 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.

About Toycathon-2021

• Toycathon 2021 is an inter-ministerial initiative organized by Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell with support from All India Council for Technical Education.
• The other ministries involved are Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Toycathon is based on nine themes

• 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 Startup Level and will allow participation of students and teachers from schools, colleges and universities apart from startups and toy experts.