National icons, yoga and ‘sanskaar’ in the Indian toy story

NEW DELHI: Toys on Sardar Patel, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Rani Laxmibai, Paramvir Chakra recipients and Indian systems such as yoga, apart from those which promote ‘Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat’ scheme will be part of the Centre's ‘Team up for Toys’ campaign announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

The proposal also involves a campaign against addiction to online gaming and encouraging toys to “promote physical activity, Indian ethos and national values in children”.

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Trade will hold its first multi-ministry consultation on the scheme on Wednesday. The tentative action plan has tasks for nine ministries to enhance India's share in the global toy market and usher in behavioural change in people to choose Indian toys over imported ones. Toys have to “reflect Indian sanskaar and should have an emotive appeal, balancing between modern technology and innovation”, says the department.

“We had asked ministries for suggestions. The approach will involve promoting changes in behaviour of parents and also promotion of Indian toys, using them in our pedagogical approach and also making the Indian toy market sustainable. Every ministry will be involved in it and so will state governments,” a senior official in DPIIT told ET. “Indian cultural ethos and folk stories will be an integral part of the push to the campaign. What does an Indian tractor or tiller look like, children need to know. Asha workers will be roped in to popularise toys,” the official added.

Ministries of education, textiles, I&B, commerce, women and child development, culture, tourism, railways, urban development, science and technology and IT had been asked to send inputs and its representatives will attend Wednesday’s meeting. The education ministry has been asked to look at inclusion of indigenous toys as a major learning resource activity, as part of the recently announced National Education Policy, which brings preschool under its ambit. “Curriculum across classes may include age-appropriate Indian stories such as Panchatantra, which have moral values, depicted in the form of toys in games, miniature toy models of great Indian personalities, national icons such as Sardar Patel, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rani Laxmibai,” the DPIIT's reference note said.

The plan also includes developing kits for Ek Bharat, Shreshta Bharat, a flagship scheme of the education ministry. “Children can learn about paired states and their mahapurush through this...toys can also be used to depict national events from 1857 to 1947, ganganyaan, India@75.”

Apart from IITs which will be roped in to look at the technology aspect of toys, the National Institute for design and National Institute for Fashion Technology will study the concept of "Toys and national values."

Using non hazardous material and creating toys that will help in mainstreaming children with learning disability will also be a top focus, the plan said.

The ministries of Science and Technology and IT will look at how "India's indigenous games can be featured in the digital space and creating a digital repository archiving description of history," while the Ministry of culture could work on an "Indian Toy Museum." Similarly, the Ministry of Tourism has been asked to initiate toy routes that can be taken to promote toy clusters across the country, while the MSME will look at establishing toy circles in areas with toy clusters, knowledge centres in collaboration design institutes and support indigenous manufacturers to comply with quality standards. The ministry will also undertake a study of district-wise study of indigenius toys, the plan said.

Recently, PM Narendra Modi called for increasing India’s share in the global toy market. Though the PM made no mention of it, the toy trade is presently dominated by China and India is a key market for Chinese toys.

The PM said that the global toy industry is worth more than Rs 7 lakh crores, but India hardly has any participation in it. Parts of India Channapatna in Karnataka, Kondaplli in Andhra Pradesh, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, Dhubri in Assam, Varanasi in UP are many such places that have their own toys, he had said.

"Commerce and urban development ministries will look at exhibiting the toys better, while the MSME will look at ways to make the industry which right now is small scale, traditionally handicraft-based and spread across the country industry, sustainable. We are focussing on making them part of the industry set-up and looking at what all schemes can be applied to them," the DPIIT senior official, quoted above, said.

The official added that the department is also looking at addressing skill upgradation and credit needs of the toy clusters and facilitating their engagement with foreign investors. "We are also looking at export of Indian toys, how GI tags can be awarded to the manufacturers."

Meanwhile, the communication units of the government, including Doordarshan and All India Radio have been instructed to "run large scale campaigns with aspirational organisations such as ISRO and DRDO on toys," have special shows to promote indigenous puppetry and also organise debates on the harmful effects of chemicals in toys, run awareness campaigns among Indian parents on Indian toy brands.