Important Days in September and October: List and MCQs

The correct answer is B, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, born on 5 September 1888. He was a philosopher and a teacher who became the first Vice President and the second President of India, and when his students wished to celebrate his birthday he asked that the day be kept for teachers instead. It has been observed as Teachers' Day ever since.

Option A, Dr Rajendra Prasad, was the first President of India, born on 3 December, and no national day is tied to his birth. Option C, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was born on 15 October, which is observed as World Students' Day. Option D, Jawaharlal Nehru, was born on 14 November, which is observed in India as Children's Day. All three are Presidents or Prime Ministers, which is what makes the options look alike.

The correct answer is B. On 14 September 1949 the Constituent Assembly decided that Hindi written in the Devanagari script would be an official language of the Union, a decision that later became Article 343 of the Constitution, and that date is kept every year as Hindi Diwas.

Option A is the commonest mistake in the whole of general awareness. India has no national language; the Constitution speaks of official languages, and the Eighth Schedule lists the languages of the Union. Option C is wrong because the first Hindi newspaper, Udant Martand, appeared on 30 May 1826, a date observed as Hindi Journalism Day. Option D is wrong because Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July, which is marked as his own anniversary and not as Hindi Diwas.

The correct answer is A, Sir M. Visvesvaraya, born on 15 September 1861. He was the engineer behind the Krishna Raja Sagara dam and the flood protection works of Hyderabad, served as Diwan of Mysore and was given the Bharat Ratna in 1955. Engineers' Day is observed on his birth anniversary every year.

Option B, Homi J. Bhabha, was the physicist who founded India's atomic energy programme and is remembered as the father of the Indian nuclear programme. Option C, Vikram Sarabhai, was the physicist who founded the Indian space programme and after whom the space centre at Thiruvananthapuram is named. Option D, Satish Dhawan, headed ISRO after Sarabhai and gave his name to the launch centre at Sriharikota. All three are scientists rather than the engineer honoured on this day.

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 A, 8 September. International Literacy Day was declared by UNESCO in 1966 and has been observed every year since to remind governments of the work left in teaching people to read and write. Each year the day is kept with a theme chosen by UNESCO.

Option B, 8 October, is Indian Air Force Day, which marks the raising of the force in 1932. Option C, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace, observed by the United Nations. Option D, 11 October, is the International Day of the Girl Child. The literacy day and the air force day share the date of the month, which is the confusion this question is built on. The reason behind the date is worth noting as well: the observance came from a UNESCO resolution and not from any single country's decision, which is why it is called international.

The correct answer is C, 27 September. World Tourism Day has been observed on this date since 1980 by the World Tourism Organization, the United Nations body for tourism, and each year a member country hosts the main celebration with a chosen theme.

Option A, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace and also World Alzheimer's Day. Option B, 25 September, is observed in India as Antyodaya Diwas, the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. Option D, 29 September, is World Heart Day, kept by the World Heart Federation to spread awareness about heart disease. All four dates fall in the same fortnight, so they are often placed together in the options. The safest way to hold this date is to remember that the World Tourism Organization chose the anniversary of the adoption of its own statutes for the observance.

The correct answer is B, Mahatma Gandhi, born on 2 October 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. India observes the day as Gandhi Jayanti, and the United Nations adopted the same date in 2007 as the International Day of Non-Violence in recognition of the method of non-violent struggle that Gandhi used.

Option A, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was born on 31 October 1875, a date observed as National Unity Day. Option C, Lal Bahadur Shastri, was born on 2 October 1904, and his birthday is indeed marked on the same day, but the United Nations observance is tied to Gandhi and not to him. Option D, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was born on 23 July 1856. Only Gandhi's birth is the reason for the international observance. The date is therefore asked in two different forms, as Gandhi Jayanti in an Indian list of days and as the International Day of Non-Violence in a United Nations list, and the answer to both is 2 October.

The correct answer is A. The Indian Air Force was raised on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary force, and that date is kept every year as Air Force Day, usually with a parade and a fly past at an air force station. The motto of the force, Nabha Sparsham Deeptam, is taken from the Bhagavad Gita.

Option B is wrong because no such event fixes this date; India's first jet squadrons came years after independence. Option C is wrong because Hindustan Aeronautics Limited began as Hindustan Aircraft at Bengaluru in 1940 and its founding is not the reason for this day. Option D is wrong because the 1971 victory is remembered on 16 December as Vijay Diwas, which is a separate observance of the armed forces.

The correct answer is B, the Food and Agriculture Organization, which was founded on 16 October 1945 and has its headquarters at Rome in Italy. World Food Day is kept on the anniversary of that founding, and it draws attention to hunger, nutrition and the security of the world's food supply.

Option A, the World Health Organization, was founded on 7 April 1948, a date observed as World Health Day, and it works from Geneva. Option C, the World Trade Organization, came into being on 1 January 1995 in place of the GATT and is also based at Geneva. Option D, the United Nations Development Programme, was set up in 1965 and publishes the Human Development Report. None of these three is connected with 16 October.

The correct answer is A. The Charter of the United Nations, signed at San Francisco in June 1945, came into force on 24 October 1945 after it had been ratified by the required number of states, and the United Nations counts that day as the day it came into being. The week from 24 to 30 October is also observed as Disarmament Week.

Option B is wrong because the Second World War ended earlier in 1945, in Europe in May and in Asia in September. Option C is wrong because the first session of the General Assembly met in London in January 1946, a few months after the Charter took effect. Option D is wrong because India was among the original signatories of the Charter in 1945 and its membership is not the reason for the day.

The correct answer is B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, born on 31 October 1875. As the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister he brought the princely states into the Indian Union, which is why his birthday is kept as National Unity Day, with the Run for Unity held across the country. The Statue of Unity at Kevadia in Gujarat was raised in his memory.

Option A, Indira Gandhi, died on 31 October 1984, and it is her death and not her birth that falls on this date; she was born on 19 November. Option C, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, was born on 14 April 1891, observed as Ambedkar Jayanti. Option D, Subhas Chandra Bose, was born on 23 January 1897, a day observed as Parakram Diwas. The Indira Gandhi date is the trap in this question.

The correct answer is A, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, born on 15 October 1931 at Rameswaram. He led the missile programme, was a key figure in the nuclear tests of 1998, served as the eleventh President of India and was given the Bharat Ratna in 1997. The United Nations recognised his work as a teacher by marking his birthday as World Students' Day.

Option B, Dr Radhakrishnan, was born on 5 September, which is Teachers' Day in India. Option C, Sir M. Visvesvaraya, was born on 15 September, which is Engineers' Day, and the same date in a different month makes it the sharpest distractor here. Option D, Dr C. V. Raman, was born on 7 November; the day linked with him is National Science Day on 28 February, the date of his discovery.