Google Doodle gives Children’s Day a miss this year

Google India traditionally posts a doodle dedicated to Children's Day on November 14 — a celebration to mark the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. But this year it skipped the doodle for India and instead posted a doodle to celebrate 131 years of the hole puncher.

"We had a delightful time running the Doodle4Google competition in India for the last eight years, and we continue to engage with children to explore their creativity, passion and imagination through various formats. This children's day, we're inviting teenagers aged 10 to 17 across India to participate in Web Rangers contest to spread the message of internet safety and digital citizenship," a Google spokesperson told Hindustan Times.

Launched in India in 2015, Web Ranger is a platform for students to spread the message of internet safety and digital citizenship beyond close friends and family, Google explains on its website.

The decision to skip doodle for Children's Day amused social media users in India.

"#Google #Doodle pays tribute to hole puncher on 131st anniversary ! missed #ChildrensDay? asked one Twitter user, according to news agency IANS.

"Today we celebrate 131 years of the hole puncher, an understated -- but essential -- artifact of German engineering. As modern workplaces trek further into the digital frontier, this centuries-old tool remains largely, wonderfully, the same," Google earlier said. The hole punch was invented by German entrepreneur and inventor Friedrich Soennecken.

Google Doodle recently honoured Urdu author Abdul Qavi Desnavi and Himalayan explorer Nain Singh Rawat.

Google used to run a contest called 'Doodle 4 India'. Winners would get their doodle posted on Children's Day. Last year, Anvita Prashant Telang of Vibgyor High School in Balewadi, Pune won the competition.

(With inputs from IANS)