Important Days in News Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The UN declared 2023 The International Year of Millets.

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution in March 2021 on a proposal sponsored by India, to raise awareness of millets such as jowar, bajra and ragi as nutritious, climate-resilient crops. India used the year to promote millets at home and abroad.

The International Year of Rice was 2004. No international year of wheat or of oil-seeds was declared for 2023, so the other options are wrong.

Answer: A

Vimukta Jati Day is celebrated on 31 August.

Under the colonial Criminal Tribes Act, many communities were labelled 'criminal tribes'. The Act was repealed on 31 August 1952, and the communities were 'denotified', which is why they are called Vimukta Jatis (denotified tribes). Madhya Pradesh observes 31 August each year as Vimukta Jati Divas to mark that day.

15 July, 15 September and 21 March have no connection with the repeal, so they are wrong.

Answer: A

The year 2024 was declared International Year of Camelids by the UN.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) led the observance. The aim was to highlight the role of camels, llamas, alpacas and their relatives in the livelihoods and food security of people in arid and mountain regions.

UNESCO deals with education, science and culture, and WHO with health; neither declares international years on its own in this way. The USA is a member state, not the body that proclaims UN international years.

Answer: A

World Health Day is observed on 7th April.

The date marks the founding of the World Health Organization, whose constitution came into force on 7 April 1948. Each year the WHO chooses a theme for the day to draw attention to a priority area of global health.

8, 9 and 10 April have no connection with the WHO's founding; the observance is fixed on 7 April every year.

Answer: D

Minorities Rights Day is observed on 18th December.

It marks the adoption by the United Nations, on 18 December 1992, of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. In India the National Commission for Minorities observes the day.

23 December is Kisan Diwas (National Farmers' Day), 5 September is Teachers' Day, and 1 December is World AIDS Day.

Answer: D

The National Civil Service Day is observed on 21 April, option D, the day on which Sardar Patel addressed the first batch of administrative officers in 1947.

8 March, 7 January and 11 May are other commemorative days.

In India, 21 April is celebrated as Civil Services Day, since on that day in 1947 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed the probationers of the Administrative Service at Metcalfe House in Delhi, calling them the steel frame of India. The other dates are not tied to the civil service.

Answer: A

Pairs (2) and (3) are incorrect: World Environment Day is 5 June, not 22 April, and Earth Day is 22 April, not 5 June.

World Water Day (22 March) and World Energy Conservation Day (14 December) are correct, so option A.

The dates to remember are World Water Day 22 March, Earth Day 22 April, World Environment Day 5 June and National Energy Conservation Day 14 December. The printed pairs (2) and (3) have the dates for World Environment Day and Earth Day exchanged, so they are the incorrect ones.

Answer: D

Statements (i), (ii) and (iii) are correct: Gandhi died on 30 January, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23 January (1897) and Dr Ambedkar was born on 14 April (1891).

Statement (iv) is wrong because Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31 October, not 13 October. Hence the options containing (iv) are rejected, and option D is correct.

Because Patel was born at Nadiad on 31 October 1875 and is honoured on 31 October as National Unity Day, the October date printed in (iv) cannot be right.

Answer: D

The theme of World Environment Day 2025 was Beat Plastic Pollution.

World Environment Day, observed on 5 June and led by the UN Environment Programme, was hosted in 2025 by the Republic of Korea, with the theme of ending plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution.

The other themes belong to earlier years: Solutions to Plastic Pollution was 2023 (hosted by Cote d'Ivoire), Time for Nature was 2020 and Beat Air Pollution was 2019 (hosted by China).

Answer: D

Statements (i) and (iv) are correct, so the answer is (i) and (iv).

Earth's Rotation Day is marked on 8 January every year (i). It commemorates the day in 1851 when the French physicist Leon Foucault demonstrated with his pendulum that the Earth rotates on its axis, so it honours the discovery of our planet's movement (iv).

Statement (ii) is wrong because the day is about the Earth's rotation, not its shape. Statement (iii) describes the spirit of Earth Day (22 April), not Earth's Rotation Day, so any option including (ii) or (iii) is wrong.