Children's Day in India

Universally, Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November, every year. This date was chosen as a day to celebrate childhood. Prior to 1959 Children’s Day was universally celebrated in the month of October. This was first celebrated in the year 1954, as decided by the UN General Assembly. Basically this day was instituted with the sole aim of promoting communal exchange and understanding among children, as well as to bring about beneficiary action to promote the welfare of children, all over the globe.


The date 20th November, was chosen as it marks the anniversary of the day in 1959, when the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly adopted. In 1989 the Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed on the same date, which has been sanctioned by 191 states, ever since.

However, while 20th November is universally celebrated as Children’s Day, in India this day has been preponed to 14th November, the date the marks the birth anniversary of independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

The reason why his birthday has been chosen for the celebration of children is because of his love and passion for children. Pandit Nehru is also regarded as the country’s special child to have been the first Prime Minister, after her long struggle for independence.


The day is marked with a lot of activities for children. But the fact remains that only a section of the country’s children actually have an opportunity to celebrate their existence. Schools organize events and activities that their students thoroughly enjoy, but there is an entire populace of young ones that are left ignored on this special day – the downtrodden street children.
Instead of celebrating it with pomposity in schools and clubs and hotels, why not bring a difference into the lives of children who are unprivileged. While celebrating being a child, the fortunate ones should be reminded about their good fortune to have all that they are endowed with, while there are others who can barely feed or clothe themselves.


Thus, while this day was globally instituted to provide children with basic Rights, maybe one can make a difference to a child’s life by doing something special. Parties and celebrations happen all the time, but how about taking the fortunate children to homes that shelter street children and have them befriend those kids, donating clothes, toys, stationery, books, etc.


Another way of celebrating this day differently would be to have your children, whether as teacher or parent, organize a party for some underprivileged children. In fact, if this is done in every neighborhood, imagine how many smiles there will be across the nation.


Childhood is about innocence and playfulness. It is about joy and freedom. Maybe on this day you can make your own child sign up to sponsor the education of an unprivileged child, either through an NGO dedicated to educating and providing better living conditions for street children, or maybe you could do so for your employee’s child.

Celebrating Children’s Day is about giving children the right to enjoy and grow into healthy and educated citizens of the country, and if you can teach your child the value of sharing with others what they are lucky to have, then not only your child will grow into a responsible human being, but also another child who otherwise could have ended up being a delinquent, had it not been for your thoughtfulness.