Important Days & Dates Mixed Quiz: Set 9

The correct answer is A, 1 December. World AIDS Day has been observed on the first of December since 1988 and was the first global health day of its kind, its symbol being the red ribbon; the theme changes every year and the day is used to press for testing, treatment and an end to stigma. Option B is wrong because 3 December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Option C is wrong because 10 December is Human Rights Day, marking the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Option D is wrong because 14 November is World Diabetes Day, placed on the birth anniversary of Frederick Banting, one of the discoverers of insulin, and in India the same date is observed as Children's Day.

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 A, Sir M Visvesvaraya. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15 September 1861 in Mysore state, and he is remembered for the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, the block system of irrigation gates and his years as Diwan of Mysore. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955. Option B is wrong because E Sreedharan, known as the Metro Man for his work on the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro, has no day named after him. Option C is wrong because A P J Abdul Kalam, the aerospace scientist and President, is remembered through his birthday on 15 October, observed as World Students' Day. Option D is wrong because Satish Dhawan led the Indian space programme and gave his name to the launch centre at Sriharikota rather than to a national day.

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, 21 June. India proposed the day at the United Nations General Assembly, which adopted the resolution in December 2014, and the first observance was held in 2015; the date was chosen because 21 June is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Option A is wrong because 21 March is the International Day of Forests, and it is also World Poetry Day. Option C is wrong because 1 July is National Doctors' Day in India, kept on the birth and death anniversary of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, who was a physician and Chief Minister of West Bengal. Option D is wrong because 12 May is International Nurses Day, observed on the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.

The correct answer is D, 5 June. The General Assembly established the day after the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment of 1972, and it has been observed since 1974 under the lead of the UN Environment Programme, with a different country hosting the main event each year. Option A, 22 April, is International Mother Earth Day, declared in 2009. Option B, 22 March, is World Water Day, which grew out of the Rio Conference of 1992 and has been observed since 1993. Option C, 5 December, is World Soil Day, which the Assembly declared in 2013. The two June dates worth holding together are 5 June for the environment and 21 June for yoga, and the Stockholm Conference of 1972 is the event behind the first of them.

The correct answer is B, the announcement of the Raman effect. On 28 February 1928 the physicist C V Raman announced his discovery that light changes its wavelength when it is scattered by molecules, an effect that carries his name, and for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, the first Nobel Prize in science won by an Indian. The day has been observed since 1987. Option A is wrong because Aryabhata, India's first satellite, was launched in April 1975. Option C is wrong because the first nuclear test at Pokhran took place in May 1974 and the later tests in May 1998, marked by National Technology Day on 11 May. Option D is wrong because the founding of the space agency is not tied to this date. Note that this day marks a discovery, not a birthday.

The correct answer is B, the discovery of the Raman effect. Sir C. V. Raman announced his discovery of the scattering of light, now called the Raman effect, on 28 February 1928, and it won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, the first for an Indian in the sciences. The day has been observed since 1987.

Option A is wrong because the Indian Science Congress held its first session in January 1914 and is not the reason for this day. Option C is wrong because Aryabhata, India's first satellite, was launched on 19 April 1975, a date kept by the space community and not as National Science Day. Option D is wrong because the Pokhran tests of 11 May 1998 are marked as National Technology Day, which is the commonest confusion in this question. Keep the pair apart: 28 February is science, 11 May is technology.

The correct answer is A, 22 March. World Water Day was recommended by the Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and has been observed since 1993 to draw attention to fresh water, its scarcity and the target of water and sanitation for all. Option B is wrong because 23 March is World Meteorological Day, the anniversary of the coming into force of the convention that created the World Meteorological Organization in 1950. Option C is wrong because 2 February is World Wetlands Day, which takes its date from the signing of the Ramsar Convention in 1971. Option D is wrong because 8 June is World Oceans Day, which concerns the seas rather than fresh water; note that three days fall together on 22, 23 and 24 March.

The correct answer is B, Operation Trident. On the night of 4 December 1971 Indian missile boats attacked Karachi harbour, sank Pakistani vessels and set the fuel installations ashore on fire, without losing a ship. The Navy observes 4 December as Navy Day in memory of that action.

Option A, Operation Vijay, is the name used for the liberation of Goa in December 1961 and again for the Kargil conflict of 1999, and the Goa action gives Goa Liberation Day on 19 December. Option C, Operation Cactus, was the Indian intervention in the Maldives in 1988 that put down a coup attempt. Option D, Operation Meghdoot, was the occupation of the Siachen Glacier in April 1984. All four are genuine Indian military operations, which is what makes the question testing; the one tied to 4 December is Trident, and the same war gives Vijay Diwas on 16 December.

The correct answer is B, Srinivasa Ramanujan. The mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22 December 1887 at Erode in Tamil Nadu and grew up in Kumbakonam, and although he had almost no formal training in the subject, his results on infinite series, partitions and continued fractions astonished mathematicians in England. The Government of India declared his birthday National Mathematics Day in 2012, his hundred and twenty fifth birth anniversary. Option A is wrong because Aryabhata, author of the Aryabhatiya, lived in the fifth century and no day is fixed for him. Option C is wrong because Brahmagupta, who first set out rules for calculating with zero, is not connected with this date. Option D is wrong because the statistician C R Rao is honoured in his field but has no national day.

The correct answer is C, the soft landing of Chandrayaan 3 near the lunar south pole. The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan 3 touched down near the south pole of the Moon on 23 August 2023, making India the first country to land in that region, and the date was declared National Space Day in memory of the achievement.

Option A, the launch of Aryabhata, India's first satellite, took place in April 1975 and is remembered but has no day of observance. Option B, the Mars Orbiter Mission, entered Martian orbit in September 2014 at the first attempt, a major achievement on a different date. Option D, the first flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, took place in 1993, and the vehicle became the workhorse of the Indian space programme thereafter.

The correct answer is A, 31 May. The World Health Organization began this observance in 1988 to draw attention to the health harm caused by tobacco in every form and to the industry's marketing, and each year it carries a theme, often aimed at young people. Option B is wrong because 31 March carries no such observance and is put there only as a near miss. Option C is wrong because 26 June is the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which covers narcotic drugs rather than tobacco. Option D is wrong because 10 October is World Mental Health Day, begun by the World Federation for Mental Health in 1992. Two other tobacco-related facts sometimes asked are that India observes Anti-Leprosy Day on 30 January and National Cancer Awareness Day on 7 November.

The correct answer is C, Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated on 30 January 1948. The day is observed across the country with two minutes of silence, and it is the best known of the several dates called Martyrs' Day in India.

Option A, Bhagat Singh, along with Rajguru and Sukhdev, was executed on 23 March 1931, and that date is also observed as a Martyrs' Day, which is why the two are so often interchanged in options. Option B, Chandra Shekhar Azad, died on 27 February 1931. Option D, Lal Bahadur Shastri, died at Tashkent on 11 January 1966, and his death anniversary falls in the same month as the day in the question. India also observes an anti-leprosy day on 30 January, because Gandhi worked among people affected by leprosy, while the international day falls on the last Sunday of January.

The correct answer is B, Dhyan Chand. Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey player born on 29 August 1905, won Olympic gold with India in 1928, 1932 and 1936 and was so skilful with the ball that he was called the Wizard. His birthday is National Sports Day, when the national sports awards are presented, and the highest of them is now named the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna. Option A is wrong because the sprinter Milkha Singh, though one of India's greatest athletes, has no national day on his birthday. Option C is wrong because K D Jadhav, the wrestler who won India's first individual Olympic medal in 1952, is not linked to this date. Option D is wrong because Dhanraj Pillay was a later hockey captain and not the player the day honours.

The correct answer is B, 18 April. The day was proposed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and later approved by UNESCO, and it is used to draw attention to the protection of monuments, historic places and cultural landscapes.

Option A, 17 April, is World Haemophilia Day, kept on the birth anniversary of the founder of the world federation for that disorder. Option C, 23 April, is World Book and Copyright Day, another UNESCO observance and therefore an easy date to confuse with this one. Option D, 26 April, is World Intellectual Property Day, marking the coming into force in 1970 of the convention that established the world organisation for intellectual property. The last third of April carries three UNESCO linked days in a row, so learn 18, 23 and 26 as a set.

The correct answer is B, Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 and became famous for organising nursing care for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, where her rounds at night earned her the name the Lady with the Lamp; she later founded the first professional school of nursing, and the highest international honour for nurses carries her name. Option A is wrong because Mother Teresa was born on 26 August and her work was with the destitute and dying at Kolkata. Option C is wrong because Marie Curie, born on 7 November, is remembered for radioactivity, and India keeps National Cancer Awareness Day on her birthday. Option D is wrong because Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and no international day is kept for her.

The correct answer is A, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. Dr B C Roy was a physician who became Chief Minister of West Bengal and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1961. The date is unusual, because 1 July was both the day he was born, in 1882, and the day he died, in 1962, so a single date carries his birth and his death. The observance began in 1991. Option B is wrong because Dr Zakir Husain was an educationist and President of India, not a physician. Option C is wrong because Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President, held a doctorate in law. Option D is wrong because Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, the pioneering woman doctor and legislator who founded the Adyar Cancer Institute, is honoured on her own birthday as National Hospital Day.

The correct answer is B, the ABO blood groups. The day falls on the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, born on 14 June 1868, who classified human blood into the groups A, B and O and thus made safe transfusion possible; he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work. Option A is wrong because insulin was discovered by Frederick Banting with Charles Best, and Banting's birthday of 14 November is kept as World Diabetes Day. Option C is wrong because penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and no international day marks his birth. Option D is wrong because the hepatitis B virus was discovered by Baruch Blumberg, whose birthday of 28 July is observed as World Hepatitis Day, a day easily confused with this one.

The correct answer is B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, born on 31 October 1875 at Nadiad in Gujarat, was independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and is remembered as the Iron Man of India for merging more than five hundred princely states into the Union. The day has been observed since 2014, and the Statue of Unity at Kevadia in Gujarat honours him. Option A is wrong because Indira Gandhi died on 31 October 1984 but was born on 19 November, and this coincidence of dates is exactly the trap in the question. Option C is wrong because Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on 2 October. Option D is wrong because Govind Ballabh Pant, a Bharat Ratna and Home Minister, is not linked with this observance.