Giving Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) a push further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes India has the potential of becoming a prominent hub of toy production. He called on startups and entrepreneurs, in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, to develop innovative toys and games ‘for India and of India’ to meet domestic and international demand.
PM Modi highlighted Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. He said non-cooperation movement is an effort to make countrymen realise their self-respect and their power. “Today, when we are trying to making the country self-reliant, we have to move with full confidence, and make the country self-reliant in every area,” the prime minister said. “A seed that has been sown in the form of the non-cooperation movement, it is now the responsibility of all of us to transform it into a banyan tree of self-reliant India.”
He also brought the apps to the fore. “The Aatmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge’ selected the best apps from about 7,000 entries across India. These were from different categories like gaming, entertainment, business, utilities, social media and fitness, and have been built by India youth from different parts of the country,” PM Modi said. “Be it virtual games, be it the sector of toys in the self-reliant India campaign, all have to play a very important role, and therein lies an opportunity too.”
Once again drawing in on the non-cooperation movement, the prime minister said Gandhiji had written that non-cooperation movement as an effort to make fellow countrymen realise their self-respect and their power. “We can do two things through toys, bring back the glorious past in our lives and also spruce up our golden future. To my startup friends, to our new entrepreneurs, I say, team up for toys. For everybody, it is the time to get vocal for local toys,” he said.
PM Modi added that toys not only augment activity, they also give flight to aspirations and build the mind, and foster an intent too.
