Published on Nov 30, 2020
Children's Day Festival : Children's Day or Bal Diwas (as it is known in the Hindi language) is celebrated with great enthusiasm and gaiety every year. It is celebrated on 14 November every year as a tribute to India's First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Children's Day in India is on November 14th
Children's Day is celebrated as a tribute to Nehru. Nehru, fondly called 'Chacha Nehru' was born on November 14, 1889. He was known for his affection for kids. He also established Children's Film Society India in 1955 to create indigenous cinema exclusively for kids.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s love for children is so legendary that his birthday, November 14, is celebrated as Children’s Day. Chacha Nehru, as he was affectionately addressed, felt that like flower buds in a garden, children should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, since they were the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow. For him, children were the real strength of a country and the very foundation of society.
This philosophy is amply demonstrated in the letters that he wrote to his daughter Indira Gandhi when she was a young girl, which were later published as books.
Nehru was known for his affection and love for kids, whom he regarded as the ‘future of the country’ and was fondly called as Chacha Nehru. “The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country,” he exclaimed once. He always emphasised on the education of children and played a major role in establishment of colleges in the country which are still considered one of the best in the country.
After his demise in 1964, his birth date, November 14, was decided to be celebrated as Children’s Day every year. On this day, schools and colleges organise various programmes like plays, competitions, cultural events etc., and sweets, books, stationary and other gifts are distributed to children. Also, November 20 is celebrated as the Universal Children’s Day, as declared by the United Nations.
The day is a reminder that every child deserves education, nurturing and the best of everything. They are the building blocks of the nation and hence, the future of the nation depends how well they are brought up. To those who are now an adult, keep the kid inside you alive!
The answer is quite simple. Pandit Nehru saw children as the future. He believed in their innocence and their ability to choose to do the right thing.
For him, children were synonymous to innocence and he saw in them, the picture of the future. When you grow up to be what you dream of, you will be doing it well for your country too.
Your friends you play with, go to school with and meet, will all grow up and pursue their interests and dreams. It will be in all your hands to make the country and the world, a better place than it is. It was this strong belief of this man that lead to recognizing his birthday as the children’s day. It was this strong belief and affection that made children call him “Chacha Nehru”.
Children’s day is celebrated the world over. Other countries do not celebrate it as Chacha Nehru’s birthday but they recognize the spirit of children and their role in shaping the future. While the international children’s day is on 20th November and is celebrated in many parts of the world, many countries also celebrate it on June 1st.
There are other countries that still have their own recognized children’s day.
For example in Japan, children’s day is a national holiday and is celebrated on 5th May as well a separate children’s day for girls is celebrated on 3rd March.
The first children’s day in the world was celebrated by Turkey in the year 1920. In India, the first children’s day was celebrated in the year 1964, after Jawaharlal Nehru’s death.
No matter what date the children’s day is celebrated in other parts of the world, the importance and the hope in children is universal. It is you who holds the key to shape the future of the world. The first prime minister of India firmly believed that.
