New Delhi: New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called on toy manufacturers to focus on innovation and reduce the use of plastic in manufacturing and instead increase the use of eco-friendly materials. Inaugurating India’s first Toy Fair 2021, Modi said, “We have to be self-reliant in the toy sector and also meet the needs of the global market”.
‘This first toy fair is not just a business or economic event. This program is a link to strengthen the country’s age-old culture of sports and cheer,’ he said, adding that the event is a platform where one can discuss all the aspects of the industry and exchange ideas.
Research on toys has been going since the era of Indus Valley civilization, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, he said.
Mr Modi appealed to the country’s toy manufacturers to make toys that are better for both ecology and psychology! He asked them to make toys using things that can be recycled and less plastic.
Realising the importance of toys in the overall development of children, he said the Government has taken effective steps and brought changes through the New National Education Policy.
‘We can take the world back towards eco-friendly toys, through our software engineers computer games can bring the stories of India to the world’, he said. But despite all this, today India’s share in the $ 100 billion global toy market is very small. 85 per cent of the toys in the country are sourced from abroad, ‘ he stated. He stressed the need to change this situation.
