Mumbai: The state govt has sanctioned Rs 2 crore to celebrate Chacha Nehru Bal Mahotsav in the state. The funds were approved by the Women and Child Development Department, headed by NCP minister Aditi Tatkare. “In order to develop the latent qualities of all children in the state, especially orphans, destitute, and wayward children admitted for rehabilitation in govt/non-govt organisations working in the field of child welfare, and to instil a sense of brotherhood and team spirit among them, the format of the Children’s Festival organised every year in 36 districts and 6 divisional levels has been partially revised. The 6 divisional festivals, organised independently at one place from the year 2025-26, have been given the form of a state-level festival,” said an official.“The Finance Department has made available a fund of Rs 2,09,95,000 for organising the Chacha Nehru Children’s Festival in the second week of November. So, distributing funds to the Commissioner, Women and Child Development, Pune, for organising the Chacha Nehru Children’s Festival for children in the financial year 2025-26 was under the consideration of the govt,” the official added. Children’s Day in India is celebrated on Nov 14, marking the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister. The day honours Nehru’s love for children and his belief that they are the nation’s future, emphasising the importance of their education and well-being. Last month, Mumbai Congress slammed the ruling BJP for “deliberately not naming the Science Centre Metro station on Line 3 after the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru”. In a post on X on Monday, city Congress chief spokesperson, Sachin Sawant, said: “Because the BJP suffers from an allergy to the name Nehru,” they have deliberately omitted it and named the Metro station merely as Science Centre. “The entire country knows that the area in Worli (where the Metro station is located) is identified by the name Nehru Science Centre,” he added. Recalling how names of institutions named after Nehru were changed earlier, Sawant said: “They earlier changed the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi to Prime Ministers’ Museum, and replaced Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) with My Bharat.”
