Remembering Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 123rd birth anniversary today.
Nehru Jayanti is marked as the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India and is celebrated as the children’s day in India since Pt. Nehru carried a distinct and deep fondness for the little ones and children lovingly addressed Pt. Nehru as Chacha Nehru.
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad on 14th November 1889. He was the only son of Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani. Early in his teenage and between the years 15 to 23 Pt. Nehru studied in England at Harrow, Cambridge and the Inner Temple and returned to India in 1912. Pt. Nehru remained the Prime Minister of India for 17 long years and can rightly be called the architect of modern India. He set India on the path of democracy and nurtured its institution – Parliament, multi-party system, independent judiciary and free press. He was the one who encouraged the Panjayati Raj institution.
Pt. Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books like ‘The Discovery of India’, ‘Glimpses of World History’, his autobiography, ‘towards Freedom’ (1936) ran nine editions in the first year alone. Emotional sensitivity and intellectual passion infused his writings, giving them unusual appeal & topicality even today. He was awarded the most coveted Bharat Ratna in 1955. Pt. Nehru loved children and they affectionately called him as Chacha Nehru. Nehru Jayanti, his birthday is therefore observed as Children’s Day. He was strong and a correct believer of the philosophy that children are the future of the nation and should be prepared accordingly.
Although universally, Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November every year as declared by the United Nations in 1954, in India however it is celebrated on 14th November as a respectful tribute to commemorate Nehru Jayanti the birth anniversary of a legendary freedom fighter and independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
This day reminds to each and every one of us, to renew our commitment to the welfare of children and teach them to live by their Chacha Nehru’s quality and dream.
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