Which three states came into existence on 21 January 1972 under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971?

The correct answer is B, Haryana. The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 divided the then state of Punjab on a linguistic basis with effect from the first of November 1966: the Hindi speaking southern districts became the new state of Haryana, the hill areas were transferred to Himachal Pradesh, and the city of Chandigarh was made a union territory to serve as the shared capital of both Punjab and Haryana. Haryana Day and Punjab Day therefore fall on the same date. Option A is wrong because Himachal Pradesh, although it gained territory by this Act, became a full state only on the twenty-fifth of January 1971, under the State of Himachal Pradesh Act of 1970. Option C is wrong because Uttarakhand was created on the ninth of November 2000 from Uttar Pradesh. Option D is wrong because Chhattisgarh was created on the first of November 2000 from Madhya Pradesh; sharing the day of the month with Haryana is exactly the trap here.

The correct answer is A, the second of June 2014. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 carved Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh and named the second of June 2014 as the appointed day; Hyderabad was to serve as the common capital of both states for a period fixed by the Act. Telangana thus became the twenty-ninth state at the time of its creation, and it remains the most recent state to be formed. Option B is wrong because the first of November 2000 is the foundation day of Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh. Option C is wrong because the ninth of November 2000 is the foundation day of Uttarakhand, then named Uttaranchal, carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Option D is wrong because the thirty-first of October 2019 is the date on which the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into two union territories, a change that created no new state at all. Note the distinction between a new state and a new union territory.

The correct answer is A, Birsa Munda. Jharkhand was created by the Bihar Reorganisation Act of 2000, and the fifteenth of November was deliberately named as the appointed day because it is the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, the tribal leader of the Munda community who led the Ulgulan, or great tumult, against colonial land policy and missionary pressure at the end of the nineteenth century, and who died in Ranchi jail while still a young man. Option B is wrong because Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, was born on the third of December and came from Bihar, not from the Jharkhand region. Option C is wrong because Sidhu Murmu, who with his brother Kanhu led the Santhal rebellion of 1855, is remembered on a different date, Hul Diwas in June. Option D is wrong because Tantia Bhil was a rebel of the Nimar region of central India. Learn this pair together with the state's Act of creation.

The correct answer is A, Bombay State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 had left Bombay as a large bilingual state containing both Marathi and Gujarati speaking areas, and the demand for separate linguistic states continued in both. The Bombay Reorganisation Act of 1960 therefore divided it with effect from the first of May 1960 into Gujarat, with its capital first at Ahmedabad and later at Gandhinagar, and Maharashtra, with Bombay as its capital. The first of May is kept in one state as Gujarat Day and in the other as Maharashtra Day. Option B is wrong because Madras State kept its boundaries and simply took the name Tamil Nadu in January 1969. Option C is wrong because Mysore State similarly took the name Karnataka in November 1973 without being divided. Option D is wrong because Saurashtra was itself merged into Bombay State in 1956 and had ceased to exist as a separate state by 1960.

The correct answer is B, 1975, by the Thirty-sixth Amendment. Sikkim's entry into the Union came in two steps. The Thirty-fifth Amendment of 1974 first made it an associate state, a status created for it alone. The Thirty-sixth Amendment then made it a full state of the Union, and the sixteenth of May 1975 is kept as the day of that accession; the amendment also inserted Article 371F, which carries special provisions for Sikkim. Option A is wrong because the Thirty-first Amendment of 1972 dealt with the strength of the Lok Sabha, not with Sikkim. Option C is wrong because 1963 is the year Nagaland became a state, by an ordinary Act of Parliament and Article 371A. Option D is wrong because the Fifty-third Amendment relates to Mizoram, whose statehood came in 1987 along with that of Arunachal Pradesh. Remember Article 371A for Nagaland and Article 371F for Sikkim.