Minister of State for Women & Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri Thursday said that the government is planning to bring measures for ensuring that toys available to our children are of the required safety standards.

Speaking at seminar, organised by FICCI, Ms Chaudhuri said, "I understand that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is in the process of bringing out Quality Control Order for Toys to check the quality of toys imported and manufactured here."

She added that recently released National Education Policy (NEP) has now recognized the importance of Play amongst children and the need to create a flexible, multifaceted, multilevel, play-based, activity-based, discovery-based education for children from ages 3-8 years.

Chaudhuri said that learning through play is relevant throughout the whole early childhood period and beyond. "I can see 'Play' is an important aspect related to some of our schemes," she added.

Highlighting the Sustainable Development Goals, Ms Chaudhuri said, "The SDGs are addressed in the national development agenda of the government which are being implemented through various development schemes/programmes. I want to ensure on behalf of the government that development of child is high on the agenda and we would continue to take steps to ensure that our children's growth is healthy and safe," she said.

Chaudhuri also urged the industry, schools and civil society to partner with government schemes.

Manmeet Nanda, Joint Secretary, DPIIT said that government is in the process of coming out with a Quality Control Order (QCO) to check sub-standard imports and manufacturing of toy. The draft QCO has been notified to WTO for comments by members countries. She also mentioned that they are working with BIS to ensure that conformity assessment scheme for toy sector is not cumbersome for the industry, as majority of the players in the sector are from MSME sector.

Vivek Jhangiani, Chair, FICCI Toy Sector Committee and Director, Pleasantime Products (United Toys) said that FICCI intends to work towards improving learning outcomes with play and robust early childhood development learning systems.

"To ensure that India's children develop well, adequate investment in early childhood development is essential. This will be our small contribution towards achieving India's Sustainable Development Goals as envisioned by the United nations," he said.

Bhavesh Somaya, Co-chair, FICCI Toy Committee and Country Manager, India & Middle East, Hasbro said that there is a demand for physical play and interpersonal interactions amongst families.

"As the Toy Sector Committee of FICCI, we aim to create the value of play in India to responsibly create, manufacture, market and sell safe and inclusive toys and games that improve the lives of children and families," added Somaya.