Science, Technology and Education Days: Dates and Reasons

The correct answer is A, 28 February. On this day in 1928 C. V. Raman announced the discovery of the Raman Effect, the scattering of light with a changed wavelength when it passes through a transparent medium, and the discovery brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. The day has been kept every year since 1987 on a fresh theme decided by the Government. Option B is wrong because 11 May is National Technology Day, kept for the Pokhran-II tests of 1998. Option C is wrong because 22 December is National Mathematics Day, the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Option D is wrong because 15 September is Engineers' Day, the birth anniversary of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. Papers put all four national days in one question, so read which field is named before choosing.

The correct answer is B, the announcement of the Raman Effect. C. V. Raman made the announcement on 28 February 1928 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics for it in 1930, the first Nobel in the sciences for an Indian. Option A is wrong because Aryabhata, India's first satellite, was launched on 19 April 1975 with Soviet help, and that date carries no national day. Option C is wrong because the founding of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is not the reason for this observance, although the Council takes part in the celebrations. Option D is wrong because the first test flight of the Hansa-3 trainer aircraft belongs to 11 May 1998 and is one of the three achievements behind National Technology Day.

The correct answer is B, the nuclear tests carried out at Pokhran. On 11 May 1998 India tested nuclear devices at Pokhran in Rajasthan under Operation Shakti; the same day the indigenous Hansa-3 trainer aircraft made its first test flight and the Trishul missile was successfully test-fired, and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee named the date National Technology Day. It was observed for the first time in 1999. Option A is wrong because the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas made its maiden flight in January 2001. Option C is wrong because the first Indian remote sensing satellite, IRS-1A, was launched in 1988 and is not connected with this day. Option D is wrong because the PARAM series of supercomputers was developed by C-DAC through the 1990s, again with no link to this date.

The correct answer is B, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was born on 22 December 1887 at Erode in the Madras Presidency, worked on number theory, infinite series and continued fractions, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at a very young age. The day was declared in 2012, on the hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of his birth. Option A is wrong because Aryabhata was an astronomer and mathematician of the fifth century, honoured instead in the name of India's first satellite. Option C is wrong because Brahmagupta belongs to the seventh century and is remembered for treating zero as a number. Option D is wrong because Bhaskara II, the author of Lilavati, belongs to the twelfth century. No national day is kept for these three.

The correct answer is B, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Radhakrishnan, a philosopher and teacher who became the first Vice-President and the second President of India, was born on 5 September 1888; when his students wished to celebrate his birthday he asked that the day be kept for teachers instead. Option A is wrong because Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on 11 November, which is National Education Day. Option C is wrong because Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January, observed as National Youth Day. Option D is wrong because Dr Zakir Husain, the third President of India and an educationist, has no national day in his name. Remember also that World Teachers' Day, a UNESCO observance, falls a month later on 5 October. Examiners also like to ask who requested that the day be kept for teachers, and the answer is Radhakrishnan himself.

The correct answer is B, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Azad was born on 11 November 1888 and became independent India's first Minister of Education; the first Indian Institutes of Technology, the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education belong to his term, and the Ministry declared his birthday National Education Day in 2008. Option A is wrong because Radhakrishnan's birthday, 5 September, is Teachers' Day. Option C is wrong because Jyotirao Phule, who with Savitribai Phule opened schools for girls and for the depressed classes, is remembered on his own birth anniversary in April but not by a national education day. Option D is wrong because Madan Mohan Malaviya founded Banaras Hindu University and is remembered on 25 December, kept as Good Governance Day.

The correct answer is A, 8 September. UNESCO proclaimed the day in 1966 and it has been observed since 1967 to remind governments that literacy is the base of every other right, with a theme announced each year and the UNESCO literacy prizes awarded. Option B is wrong because 5 October is World Teachers' Day, kept since 1994 to mark the recommendation on the status of teachers adopted in 1966. Option C is wrong because 24 January is the International Day of Education, proclaimed by the United Nations and observed since 2019. Option D is wrong because 10 November is the World Science Day for Peace and Development. The September date is easy to fix in memory because Teachers' Day on the fifth and Engineers' Day on the fifteenth stand on either side of it.

The correct answer is A, Sir M. Visvesvaraya. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15 September 1861, built the Krishna Raja Sagara dam across the Kaveri, designed the automatic flood gates used at Khadakwasla, served as Diwan of Mysore and received the Bharat Ratna in 1955. Option B is wrong because Homi J. Bhabha, the architect of India's nuclear programme, was born on 30 October and has no national day. Option C is wrong because Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme, was born on 12 August. Option D is wrong because A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October, which is observed as World Students' Day. The trap lies in the two October dates being offered against a September one. A further point worth remembering is that Visvesvaraya served as Diwan of Mysore and died in 1962 at the age of a hundred and one.

The correct answer is B, the International Telecommunication Union. The Union was founded on 17 May 1865, when the first International Telegraph Convention was signed at Paris, and it is today the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies with its headquarters at Geneva. Option A is wrong because the Universal Postal Union was founded in 1874 and is remembered on World Post Day, 9 October. Option C is wrong because the World Intellectual Property Organization is marked on World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April. Option D is wrong because the International Civil Aviation Organization is remembered on International Civil Aviation Day, 7 December. Each of these agencies has a day of its own, so the question turns on matching the agency to the correct date.

The correct answer is B, the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the lunar south pole. The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 touched down on 23 August 2023, making India the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon and the first to land in the region of the south pole, and the Government named the date National Space Day. Option A is wrong because the Mars Orbiter Mission entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014. Option C is wrong because the launch of one hundred and four satellites by a single PSLV flight took place on 15 February 2017. Option D is wrong because Rakesh Sharma flew to space in April 1984 aboard a Soviet mission, and no national day marks that flight. Chandrayaan-3 carried the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, and its launch had taken place on 14 July 2023 from Sriharikota, which is the detail asked next.