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Lesson 3 of 8 · Static General Knowledge: Symbols, Firsts, Awards, Sports and Organisations

Important Days: National and International Days Month by Month

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How to learn days

Most important days are tied to a birth anniversary, a historic event or the founding of an organisation, and examiners often ask the reason rather than the date. Learn each date with its why: if you know that 28 February marks the discovery of the Raman Effect in 1928, you will not confuse National Science Day with National Technology Day (11 May, the Pokhran-II tests of 1998). The days below are grouped quarter by quarter.

January to March

9 January is Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, recalling Mahatma Gandhi's return from South Africa on 9 January 1915. 10 January is World Hindi Day, marking the first World Hindi Conference held at Nagpur in 1975. 12 January is National Youth Day, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda (born 1863). 15 January is Army Day (K.M. Cariappa took over as Commander-in-Chief in 1949), 25 January National Voters' Day (the Election Commission was set up on 25 January 1950), 26 January Republic Day and 30 January Martyrs' Day (Gandhi's assassination, 1948). 21 February is International Mother Language Day, recalling the language movement of 1952 in Dhaka. 8 March is International Women's Day, 15 March World Consumer Rights Day, 22 March World Water Day, 23 March World Meteorological Day (the WMO Convention came into force in 1950) and also the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev (1931), and 24 March World TB Day, the day Robert Koch announced the discovery of the TB bacterium in 1882.

April to June

7 April is World Health Day, the founding day of the WHO in 1948. 14 April is Ambedkar Jayanti (born 1891). 21 April is Civil Services Day, recalling Sardar Patel's address to the officer trainees at Metcalfe House, Delhi, in 1947, and 24 April is National Panchayati Raj Day, the day the 73rd Amendment came into force in 1993. 22 April is Earth Day (first held in 1970) and 23 April World Book and Copyright Day. 1 May is International Labour Day and also Maharashtra and Gujarat Day (1960). 8 May is World Red Cross Day, the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, 11 May National Technology Day, and 21 May Anti-Terrorism Day, the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi (1991). 31 May is World No Tobacco Day. 5 June is World Environment Day, the opening day of the Stockholm Conference of 1972, and 21 June, the summer solstice, is the International Day of Yoga, first observed in 2015.

July to September

1 July is National Doctors' Day, the birth and death anniversary of Dr B.C. Roy. 11 July is World Population Day, chosen because the world's population reached about 5 billion around 11 July 1987. 26 July is Kargil Vijay Diwas (1999) and 29 July International Tiger Day. 6 August and 9 August recall the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945); 9 August is also Quit India Day (1942). 29 August is National Sports Day, the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand (born 1905). 5 September is Teachers' Day, the birth anniversary of S. Radhakrishnan (born 1888), and 8 September International Literacy Day. 14 September is Hindi Diwas: on 14 September 1949 the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Union. 15 September is Engineers' Day (M. Visvesvaraya, born 1861), 16 September World Ozone Day (the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987) and 27 September World Tourism Day.

October to December

2 October is Gandhi Jayanti and, by a UN resolution of 2007, the International Day of Non-Violence. 8 October is Air Force Day (the IAF was set up in 1932), 9 October World Post Day (the Universal Postal Union was founded at Bern in 1874), 16 October World Food Day (the FAO was founded in 1945), 24 October UN Day and 31 October Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel (born 1875). 11 November is National Education Day (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, born 1888) and 14 November Children's Day (Nehru, born 1889). 26 November is Constitution Day, the day the Constitution was adopted in 1949. 1 December is World AIDS Day, 2 December National Pollution Control Day (the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984), 4 December Navy Day (Operation Trident against Karachi, 1971), 7 December Armed Forces Flag Day and 10 December Human Rights Day (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). 16 December is Vijay Diwas (Pakistan's surrender at Dhaka in 1971), 22 December National Mathematics Day (Srinivasa Ramanujan, born 1887), 23 December Kisan Diwas (Chaudhary Charan Singh) and 24 December National Consumer Day (the Consumer Protection Act, 1986).

Common traps

National Science Day (28 February) honours a discovery, while National Technology Day (11 May) honours Pokhran-II. Teachers' Day in India is 5 September, but World Teachers' Day is 5 October. Constitution Day (26 November) marks the adoption of the Constitution, while Republic Day (26 January) marks its coming into force, a date chosen because the Congress had celebrated 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Day. Kargil Vijay Diwas (26 July) and Vijay Diwas (16 December) mark two different wars, of 1999 and 1971.

Key facts

January: 9 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Gandhi's return, 1915); 12 National Youth Day (Vivekananda); 15 Army Day; 25 National Voters' Day; 30 Martyrs' Day.
Science pair: 28 February National Science Day (Raman Effect, 1928); 11 May National Technology Day (Pokhran-II, 1998).
Health days: 24 March World TB Day (Koch, 1882); 7 April World Health Day (WHO, 1948); 31 May World No Tobacco Day; 1 July National Doctors' Day (B.C. Roy); 1 December World AIDS Day.
Environment days: 22 March World Water Day; 22 April Earth Day; 5 June World Environment Day (Stockholm, 1972); 29 July International Tiger Day; 16 September World Ozone Day (Montreal Protocol, 1987).
Armed forces: Army Day 15 January; Kargil Vijay Diwas 26 July; Air Force Day 8 October; Navy Day 4 December; Armed Forces Flag Day 7 December; Vijay Diwas 16 December.
Birth anniversaries: Vivekananda 12 January; Ambedkar 14 April; Dhyan Chand 29 August; Radhakrishnan 5 September; Visvesvaraya 15 September; Patel 31 October; Azad 11 November; Nehru 14 November; Ramanujan 22 December.
Language days: 10 January World Hindi Day (Nagpur conference, 1975); 21 February International Mother Language Day; 14 September Hindi Diwas (Constituent Assembly decision, 1949).
Governance days: 21 April Civil Services Day; 24 April National Panchayati Raj Day (73rd Amendment in force, 1993); 26 November Constitution Day; 10 December Human Rights Day.

Quick revision

9 Jan Pravasi Bharatiya Divas; 12 Jan Youth Day; 15 Jan Army Day; 25 Jan Voters' Day; 28 Feb Science Day (Raman Effect); 24 Mar TB Day; 7 Apr Health Day; 24 Apr Panchayati Raj Day; 11 May Technology Day (Pokhran-II); 5 Jun Environment Day; 21 Jun Yoga Day; 11 Jul Population Day; 26 Jul Kargil Vijay Diwas; 29 Aug Sports Day; 5 Sep Teachers' Day; 14 Sep Hindi Diwas; 15 Sep Engineers' Day; 8 Oct Air Force Day; 31 Oct Ekta Diwas; 26 Nov Constitution Day; 4 Dec Navy Day; 16 Dec Vijay Diwas.

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