Important Days & Dates Mixed Quiz: Set 21

The correct answer is A, 57 years. Vikram Samvat began in 57 BCE, so the Vikrami year is obtained by adding 57 to the Christian year; this is the era printed on wedding invitations and traditional almanacs in northern India and is the official calendar of Nepal. Option B, 78 years, is the difference for the Saka era, which runs behind the Christian year rather than ahead of it, and the examiner counts on candidates confusing the direction as well as the number. Option C, 135 years, is the sum of 57 and 78 and is offered to catch a candidate who adds the two figures by mistake. Option D, 622 years, is the starting year of the Hijri era, not a difference at all; note also that Hijri years cannot be converted by simple subtraction because that calendar is lunar.

The correct answer is B, the Saka era. The national calendar counts its years in the Saka reckoning, which began in 78 CE, so a Saka year is found roughly by subtracting 78 from the Christian year; it is printed in the Gazette of India and read out in the news bulletins of All India Radio. Option A, Vikram Samvat, began in 57 BCE and is the era of most traditional almanacs of northern India and the official calendar of Nepal, but it was not chosen for the national calendar. Option C, the Hijri era, began in 622 CE and is purely lunar, which makes it unsuitable for civil use in which dates must keep step with the seasons. Option D, the Gupta era, began about 319 CE and is of interest only to historians dating inscriptions.

The correct answer is C, 11 October. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 2011 declaring 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, and the first observance was held in 2012. The day focuses on child marriage, education for girls and their health and safety. Option A is wrong because 24 January is National Girl Child Day in India, a national and not an international observance. Option B is wrong because 15 October is the International Day of Rural Women, which is also sometimes confused with this date because the two fall in the same month. Option D is wrong because 20 November is World Children's Day, which covers all children and is tied to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Keeping the national and international girl child days apart is the main requirement here.

The correct answer is B, 10 December. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris on 10 December 1948, and the day has been observed on that anniversary ever since. Option A is wrong because 2 December is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, which recalls the convention against the traffic in persons adopted in 1949. Option C is wrong because 18 December carries two other observances, Minority Rights Day in India and International Migrants Day. Option D is wrong because 24 October is United Nations Day, the anniversary of the Charter coming into force in 1945. Note also that the sixteen days of activism against gender-based violence run from 25 November to Human Rights Day, which is why the two dates are often set together in a single question.

The correct answer is B, the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina. That journey of 622 CE is called the Hijrat, and the era takes its name from it; the first month of the Hijri year is Muharram. Option A is wrong because the birth of the Prophet, kept as Id-e-Milad, is an occasion of the calendar and not its starting point. Option C is wrong because the first revelation, remembered in the month of Ramzan on Shab-e-Qadr, again falls inside the calendar rather than beginning it. Option D is wrong because the conquest of Mecca came later, in the eighth year of the Hijri reckoning, and so cannot be its own starting point. Keep two further facts with this one: the Hijri year has twelve lunar months and about 354 days, so it is roughly eleven days shorter than the solar year.

The correct answer is A, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. The chief architect of the Indian Constitution died on 6 December 1956, and the day is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas, a Buddhist term for the final release, since he had embraced Buddhism shortly before his death. He was cremated at Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar, Mumbai, where huge crowds gather every year on this date. B is wrong because Sardar Patel died on 15 December 1950, and his birth anniversary of 31 October is observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. C is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai died on 17 November 1928 after a police lathi charge at Lahore. D is wrong because Maulana Azad died on 22 February 1958, and his birthday of 11 November is National Education Day.

The correct answer is B, International Labour Organization. The International Labour Organization launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 and fixed it on 12 June to focus attention on the extent of child labour and on the action needed to end it. The ILO, founded in 1919 and with its headquarters at Geneva, is the United Nations agency for labour standards. Option A is wrong because UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, works on children's welfare but is linked with World Children's Day on 20 November rather than with this observance. Option C is wrong because UNESCO deals with education, science and culture and is associated with World Heritage Day and International Literacy Day on 8 September. Option D is wrong because the World Health Organization is tied to World Health Day on 7 April, the anniversary of its founding in 1948.

The correct answer is B, 24 July. Income tax was introduced in India on 24 July 1860 by Sir James Wilson, the first finance member of the Viceroy council, to repair the finances of the government after the revolt of 1857, and the Income Tax Department has observed the day since 2010, the hundred and fiftieth year of the tax. Option A is wrong because 1 April is the first day of the financial year and the day the Reserve Bank of India began operations in 1935, which makes it a tempting distractor. Option C is wrong because 31 July is only the usual last date for filing a return, not the day of the tax. Option D is wrong because 1 July is GST Day, the day the goods and services tax came into force in 2017.

The correct answer is B, purely lunar. Its months follow the phases of the moon and no month is ever added to bring the year back into line with the seasons, so twelve lunar months give about 354 days and the Hijri year slips about eleven days earlier against the Gregorian year; that is why Ramzan can fall in winter in one part of a lifetime and in summer in another. Option A is wrong because a purely solar calendar, such as the Gregorian, is tied to the earth's journey round the sun. Option C is wrong because a lunisolar calendar, which is what the Hindu calendars are, counts months by the moon but inserts an extra month, the Adhik Maas, about every thirty-two and a half months. Option D names a reckoning by the fixed stars, which is used in astronomy, not for this calendar.

The correct answer is B, the first of November. The date carries a double significance for Karnataka. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 brought the Kannada speaking areas together as an enlarged state on the first of November 1956, though it was then called Mysore State; and it was again on the first of November, in 1973, that the state was renamed Karnataka. The day is celebrated as Rajyotsava, the festival of the state, with the state flag and the state anthem. Option A is wrong because the first of May is Gujarat Day and Maharashtra Day, from the division of Bombay State in 1960, and also Labour Day. Option C is wrong because the fifteenth of November is the foundation day of Jharkhand. Option D is wrong because the thirtieth of May is the statehood day of Goa, which became a state in 1987. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh keep the same first of November as Karnataka.

The correct answer is A, 8 March. International Women's Day grew out of the women's labour movements of the early twentieth century, was observed by the United Nations during International Women's Year in 1975 and became a regular United Nations observance soon afterwards. Option B is wrong because 13 February is National Women's Day in India, kept on the birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu, the first Indian woman to preside over a Congress session. Option C is wrong because 21 March is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which recalls the Sharpeville shootings in South Africa in 1960; the same date also carries World Forest Day and World Poetry Day. Option D is wrong because 15 October is the International Day of Rural Women, a narrower observance within the same family of days.

The correct answer is B, Subhas Chandra Bose, born at Cuttack on 23 January 1897. The day was declared in 2021, the year of his 125th birth anniversary, and is named Parakram Diwas, the day of valour, after the Azad Hind Fauj he led. Option A is wrong because Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September and was executed on 23 March 1931, a date observed as Shaheed Diwas along with Sukhdev and Rajguru. Option C is wrong because Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July and died at Alfred Park in Allahabad in February 1931. Option D is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28 January and died in November 1928 after the lathi charge during the Simon Commission protest. Bose gave the slogan Jai Hind and set up the Provisional Government of Free India at Singapore in 1943.

The correct answer is C, 319 CE. The Gupta era, dated to 319 or 320 CE, is taken to begin with the accession of Chandragupta I, the first great ruler of the dynasty, and most Gupta inscriptions are dated in it. Option A, 78 CE, is the Saka era, which is linked with Kanishka and is the basis of the Indian National Calendar. Option B, 248 CE, is the Kalachuri or Chedi era, used in western and central India and found in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris; it is the least known of the four and therefore a useful distractor. Option D, 606 CE, is the Harsha era, counted from the accession of Harshavardhana of Kannauj, whose court the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang visited. Learning these four together with their rulers clears most era questions in history papers.

The correct answer is C, 1757. At Plassey on the bank of the Bhagirathi, Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, after buying over his commander Mir Jafar, and the victory made the Company the real power in the richest province of India. Option A, 1764, is the Battle of Buxar, where the Company defeated the combined forces of Mir Qasim of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam the second, and which completed what Plassey had begun. Option B, 1765, is the year of the Treaty of Allahabad, by which the Company received the diwani, the right to collect the revenues of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Option D, 1761, is the Third Battle of Panipat, fought between Ahmad Shah Abdali and the Marathas in the same decade, which is why it is placed among the options.

The correct answer is C, 25 November. The United Nations observes 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the day opens the sixteen days of activism against gender-based violence that close on Human Rights Day, 10 December. Option A is wrong because 6 February is the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a separate observance in the same family. Option B is wrong because 23 June is International Widows Day, which draws attention to the position of widows in law and in property rights. Option D is wrong because 3 December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The pairing of 25 November with 10 December is the detail examiners like, because it explains why the two dates are exactly sixteen days apart.

The correct answer is B, the International Telecommunication Union. The Union was founded on 17 May 1865, when the first International Telegraph Convention was signed at Paris, and it is today the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies with its headquarters at Geneva. Option A is wrong because the Universal Postal Union was founded in 1874 and is remembered on World Post Day, 9 October. Option C is wrong because the World Intellectual Property Organization is marked on World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April. Option D is wrong because the International Civil Aviation Organization is remembered on International Civil Aviation Day, 7 December. Each of these agencies has a day of its own, so the question turns on matching the agency to the correct date.

The correct answer is A, Meghnad Saha. The astrophysicist, known for the Saha ionisation equation that explains the spectra of stars, headed the committee set up under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1952; it reported in 1955 and the calendar it recommended came into use on 22 March 1957. Option B, C. V. Raman, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for the scattering effect that carries his name, but he had no part in this committee. Option C, Homi Bhabha, is the father of the Indian nuclear programme and the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, a different field altogether. Option D, S. N. Bose, is remembered for Bose-Einstein statistics and for the particles called bosons. All four are famous Indian physicists, which is precisely why the question is set this way.

The correct answer is A, Sarojini Naidu. National Women's Day in India is kept on 13 February, the birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu, the poet called the Nightingale of India, who presided over the Kanpur session of the Congress in 1925 as its first Indian woman president and later became Governor of the United Provinces. Option B is wrong because Kasturba Gandhi's birth anniversary, 11 April, is observed as National Safe Motherhood Day. Option C is wrong because Savitribai Phule, the pioneer of women's education who taught at the first girls' school in Pune, was born on 3 January, which several states observe separately. Option D is wrong because Annie Besant, the first woman president of the Congress, in 1917, was born on 1 October and has no national day of this kind in her name.

The correct answer is B, Pope Gregory XIII. The Julian calendar then in use counted the year slightly too long, and by the sixteenth century the error had grown to ten days; the Pope's reform of 1582 dropped those days and changed the leap year rule, so that a century year is a leap year only when it is also divisible by 400. Option A, Julius Caesar, introduced the earlier Julian calendar in 46 BCE, which is the reform the Gregorian one corrected, and that is why he is the leading distractor. Option C, Augustus Caesar, is remembered in the name of the month August and for adjusting the length of the months, but not for a new calendar. Option D, Pope Urban II, called the First Crusade in 1095 and has no connection with calendars. Britain and its Indian territories adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

The correct answer is C, 1948. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at its session in Paris on 10 December 1948, and the anniversary is observed every year as Human Rights Day. The declaration has thirty articles and is not a treaty, so it is not by itself legally binding, but it is the parent document of the later human rights covenants. Option A is wrong because 1945 is the year the United Nations Charter was signed at San Francisco and came into force on 24 October. Option B is wrong because 1946 is the year the Commission on Human Rights began its work on drafting the declaration. Option D is wrong because 1950 is the year the General Assembly invited states to observe Human Rights Day, two years after the declaration itself.