Days and Years Questions and Answers

Answer: C

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year.

The United Nations General Assembly chose the date in 1972, the year of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, which opened on 5 June. The day has been observed since 1973 and is led by the United Nations Environment Programme, with a different host country and theme each year.

The other dates do not mark it: 5th May, 5th July and 5th August are not associated with World Environment Day. A common confusion is with Earth Day, which falls on 22 April.

Answer: C

The correct statements are (3) and (4) only.

The UN General Assembly declared 20 February the World Day of Social Justice by a resolution of 26 November 2007, first observed in 2009. The day promotes efforts to tackle poverty, unemployment and social exclusion and to promote decent work. So statements 3 and 4 are correct.

Statement 1 is wrong because the day falls on 20 February, not 28 February. Statement 2 is wrong because the 2025 theme was 'Strengthening a Just Transition for a Sustainable Future'.

Answer: A

The correct match is a-iii, b-ii, c-iv, d-i.

• Jan Aushadhi Diwas: 7 March, for the scheme selling affordable generic medicines.
• World Sparrow Day: 20 March.
• Pi Day: 14 March, written 3/14 after the first digits of pi, 3.14.
• World Heritage Day (International Day for Monuments and Sites): 18 April.

Option B gives Jan Aushadhi Diwas the sparrow date, and options C and D misplace Pi Day or World Heritage Day.

Answer: D

A platinum jubilee marks the 70th anniversary, which is option D.

The term entered wide use with Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022, which celebrated 70 years on the throne. Silver is 25, golden 50 and diamond 60 years in the usual British scale.

Some lists, including some Indian usage, place the platinum jubilee at 75 years (as with the 75 years of independence, called the Amrit Mahotsav), which is what option A offers. The Board's key follows the standard 70-year meaning. Options B and C are the golden and diamond jubilees.

Answer: A

National Science Day is celebrated on 28th February.

It marks the date in 1928 when C. V. Raman announced the discovery of the Raman effect, the change in wavelength of light scattered by molecules, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. India has observed the day since 1987.

8 March is International Women's Day, 5 June is World Environment Day, and 1 July is National Doctors' Day in India.

Answer: B

Parakram Divas marks the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The Government of India declared in 2021 that Netaji's birthday, 23 January (he was born in 1897), would be observed every year as Parakram Divas, 'day of valour', to honour his courage and the Indian National Army.

Bhagat Singh's birthday (28 September), Sardar Patel's (31 October, National Unity Day) and Indira Gandhi's (19 November, National Integration Day) are observed under other names.

Answer: D

Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December.

It marks the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

8 March is International Women's Day, and 6 June and 10 November are not Human Rights Day.

The day is marked each year by the United Nations and, in India, by the National Human Rights Commission, which itself was set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

Answer: C

National Sports Day is celebrated on 29th August.

The day marks the birth anniversary of the hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, born on 29 August 1905, who led India to Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936. On this day the President presents the national sports awards, including the Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya awards.

14th November is Children's Day, Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday. 29th September and 29th July are not National Sports Day.

Answer: C

The Bhopal gas disaster occurred in 1984.

On the night of 2-3 December 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, killing thousands of people within days and injuring hundreds of thousands. It is regarded as the world's worst industrial disaster.

1980, 1982 and 1986 are not the year of the leak; 1986 is the year the Environment (Protection) Act was passed in its aftermath, which makes it a trap.

Answer: B

International Yoga Day was first celebrated in 2015.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the idea in his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2014, and the General Assembly adopted the resolution declaring 21 June as International Day of Yoga in December 2014. The first celebration took place on 21 June 2015, with a mass session on Rajpath in New Delhi.

2014 is the year of the proposal and the resolution, not of the first celebration, and 2016 and 2017 were the second and third observances.