Important Days in January and February: Dates and MCQs

The correct answer is C, Swami Vivekananda, who was born on 12 January 1863. The Government of India chose his birth anniversary for National Youth Day because his writings and speeches were addressed above all to the young, and his address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 remains the best known moment of his life.

Option A, Subhas Chandra Bose, was born on 23 January 1897, and that date is observed as Parakram Diwas, so the two January anniversaries are often placed against each other. Option B, Lala Lajpat Rai, was born on 28 January 1865 and is remembered as Punjab Kesari. Option D, Bhagat Singh, is associated with 23 March, the day he was executed in 1931, which is also observed as a Martyrs' Day. Keep the January anniversaries in order: 12th for Vivekananda, 23rd for Bose and 28th for Lajpat Rai.

The correct answer is B, 15 January. On that date in 1949, Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa took over as the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from the last British officer to hold the post, and the day marks the passing of command into Indian hands.

Option A, 4 December, is Indian Navy Day. Option C, 8 October, is Indian Air Force Day, marking the raising of the force in 1932. Option D, 26 January, is Republic Day, on which the armed forces take part in the parade, which is why students sometimes attach the army to that date. The Coast Guard completes the set with 1 February. Examiners frequently place all the service days in one question, so learn them together: Army 15 January, Coast Guard 1 February, Air Force 8 October and Navy 4 December.

The correct answer is D, the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on Wetlands signed in the Iranian town of Ramsar on 2 February 1971. Wetlands listed for protection under the treaty are called Ramsar sites, and the name of the town has become the name of the agreement.

Option A, the Basel Convention, deals with the movement of hazardous wastes across national borders. Option B, CITES, is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates trade in threatened plants and animals. Option C, the Montreal Protocol, controls substances that deplete the ozone layer and is paired in papers with 16 September, the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. All four are genuine environmental treaties, so the safest method is to attach each one to its own subject and date.

The correct answer is B, the announcement of the Raman Effect. C. V. Raman announced his discovery of the scattering of light that carries his name on 28 February 1928, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for it in 1930. The Government of India designated the date as National Science Day in 1986 and the first observance was held in 1987.

Option A, the discovery of the neutron by James Chadwick, also belongs to the early 1930s but has no connection with any Indian observance. Option C, the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, is a landmark in medicine and is placed here only as a plausible science event. Option D, the launch of Aryabhata, India's first satellite, took place in 1975 and is associated with the Indian space programme rather than with Science Day. Hold the three elements together: Raman, 1928 and 28 February.

The correct answer is C, 21 February. The day was declared by UNESCO to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and to protect languages that are dying out, and the date recalls the language movement in Dhaka in 1952, in which students were killed while demanding recognition for Bengali.

Option A, 10 January, is World Hindi Day, which marks the first World Hindi Conference held in 1975, and it is the commonest wrong answer because both days are about language. Option B, 13 February, is World Radio Day, and in India the same date is National Women's Day for the birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu. Option D, 26 January, is Republic Day. A related date worth carrying is 14 September, observed in India as Hindi Diwas, which is different again from World Hindi Day.

The correct answer is D, the Election Commission of India, which was constituted on 25 January 1950, one day before the Constitution came into force. National Voters' Day has been observed on that date since 2011, and it is used mainly to enrol young citizens who have just become eligible to vote.

Option A, the Supreme Court of India, began functioning on 28 January 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force, so the date is close enough to be a genuine trap. Option B, the Comptroller and Auditor General, is a constitutional authority whose office does not carry this observance. Option C, the Reserve Bank of India, began operations on 1 April 1935. The cluster of dates around the birth of the Republic is a favourite area, so keep 25, 26 and 28 January apart in your mind.

The correct answer is B, Subhas Chandra Bose, who was born on 23 January 1897. The Government of India gave the day the name Parakram Diwas, meaning the day of valour, in recognition of his leadership of the Indian National Army and his call for complete independence.

Option A, Chandra Shekhar Azad, died on 27 February 1931 at Allahabad, and that date rather than a birth anniversary is the one observed for him. Option C, Bhagat Singh, is remembered on 23 March, the day of his execution in 1931, and the closeness of the two numbers, 23 January and 23 March, is exactly what the question plays on. Option D, Lala Lajpat Rai, was born on 28 January 1865. The safe method is to keep birth anniversaries and death anniversaries in separate lists while revising.

The correct answer is A, Louis Braille, who was born in France on 4 January 1809. Blinded in an accident as a child, he devised the system of raised dots that allows blind and partially sighted people to read and write by touch, and the system carries his name.

Option B, Helen Keller, was a deaf and blind American writer and campaigner whose life is closely associated with the education of people with these disabilities, which makes her a convincing distractor here. Option C, Alexander Graham Bell, worked with the deaf and invented the telephone, so he belongs to a different field of communication. Option D, Thomas Edison, is remembered for the electric lamp and the phonograph. The United Nations recognised 4 January as World Braille Day to draw attention to braille as a means of full participation in society.

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 D, Sarojini Naidu, who was born on 13 February 1879. She was called the Nightingale of India for her poetry, presided over the Indian National Congress and became the first woman to hold the office of Governor of an Indian province after independence, so her birthday is observed as National Women's Day.

Option A, Indira Gandhi, was born on 19 November 1917, a date observed in India as National Integration Day. Option B, Kasturba Gandhi, was born in April 1869 and is not linked with this observance. Option C, Annie Besant, was a leader of the Home Rule movement and the first woman president of the Indian National Congress, which makes her a plausible option here. Note also that International Women's Day is 8 March, a different day from the national one asked about in this question.

The correct answer is A, 9 January. The date was chosen because Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to India from South Africa on 9 January 1915, and his return is treated as the most significant homecoming of an Indian from abroad. The day honours the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the country's development.

Option B, 12 January, is National Youth Day for Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary. Option C, 26 January, is Republic Day, when the Constitution came into force in 1950. Option D, 30 January, is Martyrs' Day, marking Gandhi's assassination in 1948, and it is a strong distractor because it too is connected with Gandhi. This is a good reminder that January carries two Gandhi dates for different reasons, the return from South Africa on the 9th and the assassination on the 30th.

The correct answer is A, the Central Excise and Salt Act of 1944, which was enacted on 24 February of that year. The day is observed by the indirect tax administration to mark the occasion and to encourage honest collection of duty, and it is a standard question in papers that include a section on the economy and administration.

Option B, the Customs Act of 1962, governs duties on goods entering and leaving the country and has no observance attached to it. Option C, the Income Tax Act of 1961, is the principal law on direct taxation, which is a different branch of taxation altogether. Option D, the Finance Act of 1994, is the law under which service tax was introduced in India. The examinable pairing here is simple but easily forgotten: 24 February with excise, and the word salt in the name of the 1944 Act.