Days Named After Personalities: Dates and Reasons

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, 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, 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, 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 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, 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 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 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, 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.

The correct answer is A, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, born on 11 November 1888, was a scholar and freedom fighter who became independent India's first Minister of Education and set up the University Grants Commission and the early Indian Institutes of Technology. The day has been observed since 2008 and he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna. Option B is wrong because Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday, 5 September, is Teachers' Day, a related observance that is always placed among the options. Option C is wrong because Jyotirao Phule, who opened schools for girls and for the depressed classes, is remembered on his own anniversaries rather than on this day. Option D is wrong because Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the reformer and educationist of Bengal, is not linked to this date.

The correct answer is A, Louis Braille. Louis Braille, born in France on 4 January 1809, lost his sight in childhood and devised the system of raised dots that allows blind and partially sighted people to read and write by touch. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the day in 2018 and it has been observed since 2019. Option B is wrong because Helen Keller, the deaf and blind American author and campaigner, is honoured on other occasions but not on this date. Option C is wrong because Thomas Edison, the inventor of the practical electric lamp and the phonograph, has no day named after him in this list. Option D is wrong because Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone and worked with the deaf, is not the person this day honours.

The correct answer is B, Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 and became famous for organising nursing care during the Crimean War, where her rounds at night earned her the name the Lady with the Lamp. She founded the first modern school of nursing and introduced record keeping and sanitation into hospital practice, and the day named after her honours nurses everywhere. Option A is wrong because Mother Teresa, who worked among the poor of Kolkata and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, is remembered on other dates. Option C is wrong because Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross, which is a separate story. Option D is wrong because Sister Nivedita, the Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda who worked in education in Bengal, is not linked to this observance.