Jawaharlal Nehru facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947

1st Prime Minister of India
In office 15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964
Monarch	George VI (until 26 January 1950)
President	Rajendra Prasad Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Governor General	The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (until 26 January 1950)
Deputy	Vallabhbhai Patel
Preceded by	Position established Himself as Vice President of Executive Council
Succeeded by	Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
Minister of Defence
In office 31 October 1962 – 14 November 1962
Preceded by	V. K. Krishna Menon
Succeeded by	Yashwantrao Chavan
In office 30 January 1957 – 17 April 1957
Preceded by	Kailash Nath Katju
Succeeded by	V. K. Krishna Menon
In office 10 February 1953 – 10 January 1955
Preceded by	N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
Succeeded by	Kailash Nath Katju
Minister of Finance
In office 13 February 1958 – 13 March 1958
Preceded by	Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar
Succeeded by	Morarji Desai
In office 24 July 1956 – 30 August 1956
Preceded by	Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh
Succeeded by	Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar
Minister of External Affairs
In office 2 September 1946 – 27 May 1964
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Gulzarilal Nanda
Vice President of Executive Council
In office 2 September 1946 – 15 August 1947

Personal details
Born	(1889-11-14)14 November 1889 Allahabad, United Provinces, British Raj (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Died	27 May 1964(1964-05-27) (aged 74) New Delhi, Delhi, India
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Shantivan
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Kamala Nehru (m. 1916; died 1936)
Relations	See Nehru–Gandhi family
Children	Indira Gandhi
Parents	Motilal Nehru Swaruprani Thussu
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge Inns of Court
Occupation	Barrister writer politician
Awards	Bharat Ratna (1955)
Signature

Jawaharlal Nehru (born 14 November 1889 – died 27 May 1964) was the first Prime Minister of India. He was a very important person in Indian politics both before and after India became independent.

Nehru became a top leader in the Indian independence movement. He learned a lot from Mahatma Gandhi. He led India as its Prime Minister from 1947 until he passed away in 1964. Many people see him as the person who helped build modern India. He made India a country that is free, fair, and democratic. People also called him Pandit Nehru. Many Indian children affectionately knew him as Chacha Nehru, which means "Uncle Nehru".

Early Life and Political Journey
Leading Independent India
Passing Away
Nehru's Impact and Legacy
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Political Journey

Jawaharlal Nehru plaque

Jawaharlal Nehru was the son of Motilal Nehru, a well-known lawyer and leader. His mother was Swaroop Rani. Nehru studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and became a barrister in England. When he came back to India, he started working at the Allahabad High Court. Soon, he became very interested in politics, which took over from his law career.

Nehru was a strong supporter of Indian independence from a young age. He became a rising star in Indian politics in the 1910s. In the 1920s, he led the younger, more progressive groups within the Indian National Congress. With the support of his mentor, Mahatma Gandhi, he eventually became the leader of the entire Congress party.

Jawaharlal Nehru Museum, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

In 1929, as the leader of the Congress, Nehru asked for complete independence from the British Raj. This was a big step for the Congress party, moving them towards a more direct fight for freedom. Nehru and the Congress party were very powerful in Indian politics during the 1930s as India moved closer to independence.

Leading Independent India

Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress party was very strong. They won many elections in a row, including in 1951, 1957, and 1962. Even with some challenges later in his life, like the Sino-Indian War in 1962, he remained popular with the people of India. His birthday, 14 November, is celebrated as Bal Diwas (Children's Day) in India.

Nehru faced four known attempts on his life. The first was in 1947 during the partition of India, while he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province. Another attempt happened in 1955 in Maharashtra. A third was in Bombay in 1956. The fourth was a failed bomb attack on train tracks in Maharashtra in 1961. Despite these dangers, Nehru did not like having too much security around him. He also disliked causing traffic jams because of his movements.

Passing Away

Nehru bust - Jawaharlal Nehru museum

Nehru's health started to get worse after 1962. He spent several months resting in Kashmir in 1963. On 26 May 1964, after returning from Dehradun, he felt comfortable and went to bed. The next morning, around 6:30 AM, he felt a pain in his back. He spoke briefly with doctors and then collapsed. He remained unconscious and passed away.

His death was announced to the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) at 2:00 PM on 27 May 1964. The cause of death was believed to be a heart attack. Nehru's body was covered in the Indian national flag for public viewing. Many people chanted "Raghupati Raghava Rajaram" as his body was placed on a platform. On 28 May, Nehru was cremated according to Hindu traditions at Shantivan, by the Yamuna river. About 1.5 million people came to Delhi's streets and the cremation grounds to mourn him.

Nehru had such a strong impact on India that his death left the country without a clear leader for a short time. Lal Bahadur Shastri later became the Prime Minister. The news of his death was announced to the Indian parliament with words similar to what Nehru himself said when Gandhi passed away: "The light is out."

Nehru's Impact and Legacy

Sign below bust of Jawaharlal Nehru at entrance of Jawaharlal Nehru Museum

As India's first Prime Minister and foreign minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a huge role in shaping modern India. He helped create its government, political ideas, and foreign policy. He is praised for starting a system that provided basic education for all children, even in faraway villages. Nehru's education plans also led to the creation of world-class schools. These include the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology, and the Indian Institutes of Management.

Nehru strongly believed in Indian unity. He created programs like the National Book Trust and the National Literary Academy. These programs helped translate books between different Indian languages. They also encouraged sharing cultural materials between regions. Nehru famously warned, "Integrate or perish," meaning India needed to stay united to succeed.

During his life, Jawaharlal Nehru was seen as a hero in India. He was admired worldwide for his ideas and leadership. His birthday, 14 November, is celebrated as Bal Divas ("Children's Day") in India. This is because he cared deeply about the well-being, education, and growth of children and young people. Children across India still remember him as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru).

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, left, wearing a Nehru jacket

Nehru remains an important symbol for the Congress Party. They often celebrate his memory. Leaders and members of the Congress party sometimes dress like him, especially wearing the Gandhi cap and the "Nehru jacket". His ideas and policies still influence the Congress Party today. The strong connection to his legacy also helped his daughter, Indira, become a leader of the Congress Party and the country.

Nehru liked to wear the sherwani, which is why it is still considered formal wear in North India. The Nehru jacket is also named after him because he preferred that style. Many public buildings and memorials across India are dedicated to Nehru's memory.

Images for kids

Anand Bhawan the Nehru family home in Allahabad
Jawaharlal with his parents Swarup Rani Nehru (left) and Motilal Nehru in the 1890s
A young Nehru dressed in a cadet's uniform at Harrow School in England
Swarup Rani and Motilal Nehru in England with their children from l. to r. Krishna (b. November 1907), Vijaya Lakshmi (b. August 1900) and Jawaharlal
Jawaharlal Nehru, Barrister-at-Law
Nehru and Kamala Kaul at their wedding in Delhi, 1916
Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira
Nehru, President-elect of the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in 1929, with the outgoing President, his father Motilal
Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi in 1929
Nehru in Karachi after returning from Lausanne, Switzerland with the ashes of his wife Kamla Nehru in March 1936
Nehru with Indian Nobel-prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1936
Nehru in a procession at Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, 14 October 1937
Nehru on a visit to Egypt in June 1938
Gandhi, Nehru, and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Wardha in September 1939
Nehru with the Seva Dal volunteer corps in Allahabad, 1940
Gandhi and Nehru during the drafting of Quit India Resolution in Bombay, August 1942,
Nehru's room at Ahmednagar fort where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1945, and where he wrote The Discovery of India
Nehru and the Congress party members of his interim government after being sworn in by the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, 2 September 1946
Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's official residence as prime minister, is now a museum.
Lord Mountbatten swears in Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India on 15 August 1947
Nehru visiting an Indian soldier recovering from injuries at the Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir
Indira Gandhi, Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi in June 1949
Nehru signing the Indian Constitution c.1950
Nehru as the main campaigner of the Indian National Congress, 1951–52 elections
Nehru with Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, 1949
Nehru with Indonesian president Sukarno in Jakarta in 1950
Nehru playing with a tiger cub at his home in 1955
Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant. Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai were three integrated steel plants set up under India's Second Five-Year Plan in the late 1950s.
Nehru meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956.
Nehru during the construction of the Bhakra Dam in the Punjab, 1953
Nehru at an antibiotics manufacturing facility, Poona, 1956
Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders, taken at the 1960 Commonwealth Conference, Windsor Castle
Nehru with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961
Nehru inspecting the troops on a visit to the Srinagar Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital, April 1948
Nehru and Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, October 1954
Nehru receiving US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, 1959
Nehru with John F. Kennedy at the White House, 7 November 1961
Prime Minister Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten in 1951
Bust of Nehru at Aldwych, London
Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp