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Abstract
The Channapatna toymaking industry provides livelihood to at least 4,000 artisan families. Incidentally, most of the artisans are women and they are from marginalised communities. Hence by revving up the toymaking industry of Channapatna, the women artisans of the town, by extension, can be emancipated and empowered thereby ensuring their financial inclusion. The toys enjoy the geographical indication (GI) tag. Yet the industry, which is at least two hundred years old, is yet to come out of the woods. An investigation by the researcher led her to identify the problems the toymakers face . Important among the problems they face is the shortage of the main raw material, namely, ivory wood.