Which Indian Diplomat is known to have mooted the idea of Universal Children’s Day?

20 November is celebrated as the international day for children. The United Nations General Assembly recommended in 1954 (resolution 836 (IX)) that all countries institute a Universal Children’s Day, to be observed as a day of understanding between children and of activity promoting the welfare of the world’s children. The date of 20 November marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. This convention has been ratified by 193 countries. 2010 marks the 21st anniversary of Universal Children’s Day.

However the Children’s day was first celebrated worldwide in October, 1953, under the sponsorship of International Union for Child Welfare, Geneva. The idea of Universal Children’s Day was mooted by late Shri V.K. Krishna Menon and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954.

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