Games for money

The government is being asked to take control of toys

Based on the results of nine months, Russian GDP growth is 4%. Industrial production is increasing at the same rate (and the growth leaders here are non-ferrous metallurgy, fuel and food industries). But investment in fixed capital is growing much more slowly - by only 2.5%. Gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by almost $9 billion. And inflation for nine months was 10.3%. These figures will be announced today at a government meeting by Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ivan Materov.

The MEDT believes that among the government's immediate tasks is the creation of a law on guaranteeing citizens' deposits (in fact, this project should have already been considered by the cabinet, and, according to government experts, this did not happen, including through the fault of the MEDT itself). In addition, German Gref’s department has something to say about administrative reform. The ministry believes that the most important thing is to develop rules for citizens' access to information about the activities of government authorities, as well as a bill on the fundamentals of local self-government.

The government also intends today to study how restoration work is going in the southern regions after devastating floods, and the issue of another increase in wages for public sector employees, which the Ministry of Labor intends to raise. They say that this intention is opposed by the Ministry of Finance, which has calculated that the price of the issue is 10.5 billion rubles, and financiers do not know where to get the money for this.

But the Ministry of Education, apparently, is ready to outdo the financial and economic bloc of the Cabinet of Ministers, since it turned out that it is they who know well where the money can come from. The educational department entered the government with an initiative: to issue a resolution on the procedure for conducting social, psychological and pedagogical examination of board, computer and other games, toys and “play structures” for children. The Ministry of Education argues for its initiative by the fact that toys have appeared on the Russian market that provoke the development of cruelty, fears, and premature sexual manifestations in children. At the same time, the ministry either complains about the market economy: “the interests of making a profit have begun to come to the fore for manufacturers,” or puts it at the forefront: “the costs associated with the examination of toys are paid by the applicant.” The key point of the proposed innovative resolution is that the Ministry of Education itself will carry out such an examination.

Vera KUZNETSOVA