Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to make India a global toy manufacturing powerhouse will not just spell the death knell of China’s toy industry, but, as a result of its already dilapidated and overestimated economy, it will also go a long way in ending the illicit trafficking of drugs globally, particularly their smuggling into India from foreign countries. By manufacturing toys for its domestic consumption, and also, in the long run, overtaking China to gain control over the global supply chains of toys, India will ensure that the illegal drug trade across nations suffers a severe blow.
In what authorities are calling a first, the Customs Air Intelligence officials seized MDMA drug pills and crystals worth $9500, equivalent to Rs. 7lakhs, WION reported. The contraband had arrived at the Foreign Post Office in the city from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK). The drugs, which were seized from three different parcels, contained 15 grey skull-shaped MDMA pills “MYBRAND” and 7 grams of MDMA crystal powder, 50 green grenades & 50 purple skull MDMA pills and 100 MDMA pills with marking ‘Tesla’ respectively.
The smuggling of drugs in toy packages around the world is rampant, and a strong and moral nation is required to step up and put an end to the trafficking of the drug. As supply chains have been hegemonically controlled by China, especially when it comes to toys, the smuggling of drugs alongside toys has gone unchecked. The global toy market, with an estimated valuation of around 7 lakh crore rupees, is dominated by 80 per cent Chinese goods.
As India emerges as a global manufacturer of toys, its dependence on China and other nations in this sector will drastically go down, and chances of drugs being trafficked into the country along with toys too will go down. Prime Minister Modi is therefore looking at eliminating two major issues by making the country self-sufficient, and subsequently a global toy behemoth. One, he is looking to cut down India’s dependence on Chinese toys, and two, the resultant drug trafficking rackets.
The Prime Minister said, “India has the talent and the ability to become a toy hub.” He also said that the new National Education Policy focuses on toys for children to nurture their creativity and innovation quotient. According to the New Education Policy 2020, students will be introduced to toy-making from the sixth standard, as the Indian government scales up its efforts to boost the toy-making industry.