India treasures its children and every year on 14th November we celebrate the birth anniversary of our first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, by dedicating it to our children. This year Childrens' Day marks 20 years of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, a composite programme for the care of children, mothers and adolescent girds. To provide health and nutrition care and education to the rural areas, anganwadies have been established  under this scheme.

Conceived in 1975, the ICDS Scheme started with 33 blocks and has expanded into a programme covering 3907 projects with 1.78 crores of children and 0.38 crore mothers benefitting from it as on 31.3.95. Anganwadi workers and helpers, who are normally residents of the village, maintain close contacts with individual households and enlist the help of voluntary organisations, social activists, academic institutions and professionals to provide health, nutrition care and childhood education services. There is a special thrust to cover Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other backward communities.

John Locke had said that children should be allowed freedom "suitable to their years". He recommended rewards to encourage children to learn, rather than punishment when they did not. One step in this direction is reflected in our  special postage stamp issued today which is based on a painting done by Master Pintu and first day cover which is a painting by Master Chu-Chu Bhutia, aged 6 years. These children belong to anganwadies and have been awarded for these delightful little paintings which were the outcome of a painting competition conducted by ICDS Scheme under the aegis of the Department of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

The joy reflected in these paintings will make us pause for thought when we look back over the years to the condition of child labour which emerged in a particularly distressing form after the Industrial Revolution. Every country in all succeeding years has made efforts to give childhood back to children. Whether it was Dickens highlighting the conditions of child labour or Robert Raikes, an English publisher, starting Sunday School in 1780 or unknown poets contributing to the Mother Goose Nursery rhymes or the poems of William Blake or William Wordsworth, Aesop's Fables or the stories of the Panchatantra of India, each country has worked towards the same goal of bringing joy and laughter-back into the lives of its children, particularly those who have a deprived  childhood.

As we mould children into adulthood we allow them the freedom to grow naturally and happily. But deprivation in any form whether it is physical, emotional or mental stunts the personal growth of a child, leading these young, inexperienced and vulnerable people perhaps towards a life of want or anti-social activities.

It is in this light that the work of ICDS Scheme merits the gratitude of our country for being able to devote itself to the welfare of the very young children. The logo of the ICDS forms the basis of the cancellation. The Department of Post once again brings out an issue to celebrate Childrens' Day.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India