Important Days & Dates Mixed Quiz: Set 8

The correct answer is C, 21 February. UNESCO proclaimed the day in 1999 and it has been observed since 2000, to promote linguistic diversity and mother-tongue education; the date recalls the language movement of 1952 in what is now Bangladesh. Option A, 21 March, is the International Day of Forests, declared by the General Assembly in 2012, and it is also the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Option B, 21 May, is the World Day for Cultural Diversity, again a UNESCO observance, which makes it a close distractor. Option D, 21 June, is the International Day of Yoga. Four days in this chapter fall on the twenty-first of a month, so the month, not the day number, is the fact to fix in memory.

The correct answer is C, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. National Unity Day, or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, is observed on 31 October, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, who was born in 1875 at Nadiad, Gujarat. The day was started in 2014 to honour his role as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister who brought more than 560 princely states into the Indian Union, earning him the title Iron Man of India. It is marked with a Run for Unity and a unity pledge, and on 31 October 2018 the 182-metre Statue of Unity was unveiled in his memory at Kevadia on the Narmada. A is wrong because Dr Ambedkar's birth anniversary, 14 April, is Ambedkar Jayanti. B is wrong because Indira Gandhi's birthday, 19 November, is observed as National Integration Day. D is wrong because Mother Teresa was born on 26 August, which is not a national day. Exam tip: 31 October means Sardar Patel, National Unity Day and the Statue of Unity.

The correct answer is B, Operation Trident. On the night of 4 December 1971 the Indian Navy attacked Karachi harbour with missile boats, sinking enemy vessels and setting the oil tanks ablaze without losing a ship. Navy Day is observed on that date in memory of the action.

Option A, Operation Vijay, is the name used for the liberation of Goa in 1961 and again for the Kargil operations of 1999, neither of which is a naval action of 1971. Option C, Operation Meghdoot, was the army and air force move to secure the Siachen glacier in 1984. Option D, Operation Cactus, was the Indian intervention in the Maldives in 1988, in which the navy and air force helped put down a coup. Only Trident belongs to 4 December 1971.

The correct answer is B, Swami Vivekananda. He was born on 12 January 1863, and the Government of India declared his birthday National Youth Day so that his call to the young would be placed before students each year. It has been observed since 1985.

Option A, Bhagat Singh, was born in September and is remembered on 23 March, the day he was hanged in 1931 along with Sukhdev and Rajguru, which is kept as Shaheed Diwas. Option C, Subhas Chandra Bose, was born on 23 January 1897, and that date is observed as Parakram Diwas. Option D, Jawaharlal Nehru, was born on 14 November 1889, which is kept as Children's Day. All four dates fall in the list of national days, so the question is really about matching the man to his own date.

The correct answer is B, 5 June. World Environment Day marks the opening of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972, and it has been observed since 1974 under the lead of the United Nations Environment Programme, with a fresh theme and a host country each year. Option A is wrong because 22 April is Earth Day, which began in the United States in 1970 as a citizens' movement and is a different observance altogether. Option C is wrong because 8 June is World Oceans Day, devoted to the seas and to marine life. Option D is wrong because 16 September is World Ozone Day, which marks the signing of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in 1987.

The correct answer is B, 24 October. On this date in 1945 the Charter of the United Nations came into force, after the required majority of signatory states had ratified it, and the General Assembly called upon members to observe the anniversary from 1948. The week beginning 24 October is marked as Disarmament Week. Option A, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Option C, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace, fixed to that date from 2002. Option D, 16 October, is World Food Day, which marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. All four are genuine United Nations days, so the question is answered by the event each date commemorates rather than by the date alone.

The correct answer is A, Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January 1863 at Kolkata, and the Government of India declared his birthday National Youth Day in 1984, first observed in 1985, because his writings and his address at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893 are held up as a model for young Indians. Option B is wrong because Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the social reformer who worked against sati, is remembered on a different date. Option C is wrong because Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who said that freedom was his birthright, was born on 23 July. Option D is wrong because Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23 January, now observed as Parakram Diwas, a date that is deliberately placed in the options because it falls in the same month.

The correct answer is B, the Bhopal gas tragedy. On the night of 2 and 3 December 1984 methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal and killed thousands of people, in what remains the worst industrial disaster in India. The day is used to remember the victims and to press the case for industrial safety and for the enforcement of the pollution control laws.

Option A, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, happened in April 1986 in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, and is marked by the International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Disaster on 26 April. Option C, the Kyoto Protocol, was adopted in December 1997 and came into force in 2005, and it has no commemorative day of this kind. Option D, the Stockholm Conference of 1972, gave rise to World Environment Day on 5 June, a different observance altogether. Only the Bhopal disaster explains 2 December.

The correct answer is B, the United Nations agency or office that leads that day. The lead body — WHO for the health days, UNESCO for education and language, the FAO for food, UNEP for the environment, or a United Nations office where the General Assembly named no agency — publishes the theme, the campaign material and the programme for the year. Option A is wrong because the country hosting an event follows the theme rather than setting it, although for World Environment Day a host country is indeed announced. Option C is wrong because the Security Council deals with international peace and security, not observances. Option D is wrong because the International Court of Justice settles legal disputes between states. Since the theme changes each year while the date and the lead agency do not, a candidate should memorise the second pair and read the theme only for the current year.

The correct answer is A, 6 August. Hiroshima Day is observed on 6 August, the date in 1945 on which the first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The day is marked worldwide with appeals for nuclear disarmament and for peace.

Option B, 9 August, is Nagasaki Day, when the second bomb was dropped three days later, and swapping these two dates is the mistake the question is built to catch. Option C, 15 August, is the Independence Day of India and also the date on which Japan announced its surrender in 1945, which adds to the confusion. Option D, 2 September, is the date on which the formal instrument of Japanese surrender was signed, ending the Second World War.

The correct answer is B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He was born on 31 October 1875, and as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister he brought the princely states into the Indian Union, which earned him the name Iron Man of India. National Unity Day has been observed on his birthday since 2014, and the Statue of Unity in Gujarat stands in his memory.

Option A, Lal Bahadur Shastri, was born on 2 October, the same date as Gandhi Jayanti, and his birthday is remembered along with it rather than as a separate national day. Option C, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was born in July and is known for the slogan on Swaraj as a birthright. Option D, Govind Ballabh Pant, was a freedom fighter and Home Minister but has no national day named for him. Patel, unity and 31 October belong in one line.

The correct answer is B, the Seventy-third Amendment to the Constitution came into force. The amendment of 1992 gave panchayati raj institutions constitutional standing by adding Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, and it took effect on 24 April 1993, which is why that date was chosen for the observance.

Option A, the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, recommended the three tier panchayat system in 1957, long before the amendment, and no day is named for its report. Option C, the first panchayat elections after the new system, were held in the states at different times and could not give a single national date. Option D, the creation of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, came later and is not the basis of the day. This date is asked in the polity paper as well, so it is worth learning once and using twice.

The correct answer is B, the World Health Organization came into being. The constitution of the World Health Organization took effect on 7 April 1948, and the anniversary of that day has been kept as World Health Day since 1950, with a theme chosen by the organisation; its headquarters are at Geneva in Switzerland. Option A is wrong because the Red Cross was founded in the eighteen sixties by Henry Dunant, and the day linked to it is 8 May, his birthday. Option C is wrong because penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, well before the World Health Organization existed, and no international day marks it. Option D is wrong because Edward Jenner gave the first vaccination against smallpox in 1796, which is not the reason for this date either.

The correct answer is B, the ABO blood groups. The day falls on the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, whose discovery of the blood groups made safe transfusion possible and won him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The observance thanks voluntary donors and encourages regular donation.

Option A refers to William Harvey, who described the circulation of blood in the seventeenth century; no day in June marks him. Option C refers to Alexander Fleming and penicillin, a discovery of 1928 that has no observance in this month. Option D refers to the work of Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins in the 1950s, again with no day attached in May or June. Questions of this type join a date to a person, so keep a short list of those links for the whole year.

The correct answer is B, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Dr Radhakrishnan, philosopher, professor and the second President of India, was born on 5 September 1888. When students wished to celebrate his birthday in 1962, he suggested that the day be kept for teachers instead, and it has been Teachers' Day ever since. Option A is wrong because Dr Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India and his birthday is not linked to this observance. Option C is wrong because Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India's first Education Minister, is honoured on 11 November as National Education Day, a closely related fact that is often set as the distractor. Option D is wrong because Dr Zakir Husain, an educationist who became President, is not the person behind this day. Note also that World Teachers' Day falls on 5 October.

The correct answer is B, 16 September. The day, formally the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, marks the signing of the Montreal Protocol on 16 September 1987, the agreement under which countries agreed to stop using chlorofluorocarbons and other substances that thin the ozone layer.

Option A, 5 September, is Teachers' Day in India. Option C, 16 October, is World Food Day, which marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945, and the matching day of the month makes it the strongest distractor here. Option D, 5 June, is World Environment Day, which is about the environment as a whole and is set by the United Nations Environment Programme, not by the Montreal Protocol. Learning each of these four dates with the reason behind it is the only safe way to keep them apart in the examination hall.

The correct answer is B, Chaudhary Charan Singh. He was born on 23 December 1902, served as Prime Minister of India, and worked all his life on the problems of land holdings and of the peasantry, which is why his birthday is kept as Kisan Diwas.

Option A, Lal Bahadur Shastri, is remembered for the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan and for the Green Revolution begun in his time, which makes him the most tempting wrong answer here; his birthday, however, is 2 October. Option C, Morarji Desai, was Prime Minister before Charan Singh and is remembered for his long career in Gujarat and in finance. Option D, V. P. Singh, was Prime Minister at the end of the nineteen eighties and is tied to the Mandal Commission report. The farmers' day belongs to Charan Singh alone.

The correct answer is B, Ramsar Convention. The Convention on Wetlands was signed on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and the wetlands listed under it are still called Ramsar sites; the day has been observed on this date since 1997. Option A is wrong because the Basel Convention deals with the movement of hazardous wastes across borders and was adopted in 1989. Option C is wrong because CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, was adopted on 3 March 1973 and gives World Wildlife Day its date. Option D is wrong because the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted on 22 May 1992, which is why the International Day for Biological Diversity falls on that date.

The correct answer is B, Jawaharlal Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was born on 14 November 1889, and because of his affection for children, who called him Chacha Nehru, the date was adopted as Children's Day or Bal Diwas. Option A is wrong because Mahatma Gandhi was born on 2 October, observed as Gandhi Jayanti and as the International Day of Non-Violence. Option C is wrong because Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime Minister of India, was born on 19 November, a date close enough to be used as a trap in the options. Option D is wrong because Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31 October, now observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day. Keep the November pair separate: 14 November for Nehru, 19 November for Indira Gandhi.

The correct answer is A, 16 September. The day marks the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 16 September 1987, an agreement to phase out chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone destroying chemicals, and it is often called the most successful environmental treaty. Option B is wrong because 5 June is World Environment Day, tied to the Stockholm Conference of 1972. Option C is wrong because 23 March is World Meteorological Day, which marks the day in 1950 on which the convention setting up the World Meteorological Organization came into force. Option D is wrong because 22 May is the International Day for Biological Diversity, tied to the adoption of the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992.