Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) 2020 recruitment test, advertisement 421. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, NMJX-U-GTA); answer as per the official UPSC final answer key. This question is in Part B. Answer last reviewed 24 August 2026.

Which day has been declared by the Government of India to be celebrated every year as “Parakram Diwas” ?

(a)23 January
(b)14 April
(c)28 May
(d)25 December

Answer

Why

Correct — A, (a) 23 January. On 19 January 2021 the Government of India announced that 23 January, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, would be observed every year as Parakram Diwas, the Day of Valour, and the first observance under the new name followed four days later on 23 January 2021. Bose was born on 23 January 1897 at Cuttack in Odisha, and the date already carried a name in several states — Netaji Jayanti — where it is a public holiday, among them West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Assam and Odisha. The naming was not uncontested, and the disagreement is itself worth knowing because it explains why several names circulate for the same day: the Forward Bloc, the party Bose founded, and members of his family had pressed for Deshprem Divas, the Day of Patriotism, while the Chief Minister of West Bengal proposed Deshanayak Divas, the Day of the National Hero. The Government settled on Parakram Diwas, and it is that name and that date the question is keyed to. The word itself carries the reason for the choice: parakram means valour or prowess, and the day is framed around the armed struggle Bose led rather than around the constitutional politics of the national movement — he had resigned from the Indian Civil Service in 1921 to join it, was elected Congress president at Haripura in 1938 and again at Tripuri in 1939, founded the Forward Bloc after resigning that presidency, escaped house arrest in Calcutta in January 1941, and went on to lead the Indian National Army and proclaim the Provisional Government of Free India at Singapore on 21 October 1943. A named day is keyed to a person, and the person here fixes the date beyond argument.

Why the others are wrong

(b)14 April — 14 April is the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, born on that date in 1891 at Mhow in the Central Provinces, and it is observed across India as Ambedkar Jayanti. He chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, served as independent India's first Law Minister, and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. The day is a public holiday in many states and generates its own crop of examination questions, but it has never been named Parakram Diwas. The confusion this option plays on is that both men are commemorated by a birth anniversary that the Union Government has given official weight to; the difference is that Ambedkar Jayanti is named for the man, while 23 January was given a new name in 2021 describing what is being commemorated.
(c)28 May — 28 May is the birth anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, born in 1883 at Bhagur near Nashik. The date is marked by his political inheritors and is a fixture in the annual calendar of commemorations, which is what makes it a workable distractor in a list of birth anniversaries, but no Government of India notification attaches Parakram Diwas to it. The useful habit this option points at is to store each named day with the person and the reason together rather than as a bare date, because a bare date is exactly what a distractor list is built to scramble: four real anniversaries, only one of them carrying the name in the stem.
(d)25 December — 25 December is Christmas Day, and in India it carries two further commemorations that make it a plausible-looking answer. It is the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, born in 1924, which has been observed as Good Governance Day since 2014, and it is also the birth anniversary of Madan Mohan Malaviya, born in 1861. A candidate who remembers only that the Union Government declared a named day on a leader's birth anniversary in the recent past may reach for this date, because Good Governance Day is exactly such a declaration. The name in the stem, however, belongs to 23 January, and Good Governance Day is the answer to a different question about a different leader.

Concept

The idea being tested is the growing set of officially named observance days, and the way to hold them is as a triple: the date, the person or event it commemorates, and the name the Government attached to it. Miss any one leg and the question becomes a guess, because distractor lists in this family are always built from other genuine anniversaries. The Union Government has added a number of such days over the last decade, and they follow a recognisable pattern — a birth anniversary of a national figure is given a thematic name that says what is being celebrated rather than who. So 31 October, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary, became Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, National Unity Day, in 2014; 25 December, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary, became Good Governance Day the same year; and 23 January, Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary, became Parakram Diwas in 2021. Alongside these sit days fixed by an event rather than a birth — National Voters' Day on 25 January, marking the founding of the Election Commission in 1950, and Constitution Day on 26 November, marking the adoption of the Constitution in 1949. The name usually explains the choice, and a candidate who reads the name for its meaning — parakram is valour — recovers the association even when the date has slipped.

Named days are among the most reliably examined pieces of current affairs, for the same reason that annual set-pieces are: they recur, they are announced formally, and the answer cannot be disputed. This one had been announced only weeks before this paper was set, which is the usual window — a declaration made in January is examinable in the papers of that year and the next. The habit that pays is to attach the day to its reason. Parakram means valour, and the valour meant is the armed struggle of the Indian National Army, so the name leads back to Bose and Bose leads back to 23 January. A date memorised bare survives a few weeks; a date attached to a person and a meaning survives the examination hall. It is also worth noticing what this item does not require: nothing about the Azad Hind Government, nothing about the Congress presidency, nothing about 1945. The whole question is the pairing of a name with a date, and everything else is context that makes the pairing stick.

Key facts

The Government of India announced on 19 January 2021 that 23 January would be observed every year as Parakram Diwas, the Day of Valour, and the first observance under that name fell on 23 January 2021.
The date is the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, born on 23 January 1897 at Cuttack in Odisha, and it is already a public holiday as Netaji Jayanti in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Assam and Odisha.
The name was contested before it was settled: the Forward Bloc and Bose's family had proposed Deshprem Divas, the Day of Patriotism, and the Chief Minister of West Bengal had proposed Deshanayak Divas, the Day of the National Hero.
Bose resigned from the Indian Civil Service in 1921, was elected Congress president at Haripura in 1938 and at Tripuri in 1939, and founded the All India Forward Bloc in 1939 after resigning that presidency.
He escaped house arrest in Calcutta in January 1941 and later led the Indian National Army, proclaiming the Provisional Government of Free India, the Azad Hind Government, at Singapore on 21 October 1943.
Other named days built on the same pattern: 31 October, Sardar Patel's birth anniversary, is Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day, and 25 December, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary, is Good Governance Day, both since 2014.

Hold each named day as a triple — date, person, and the name attached

23 January — PARAKRAM DIWAS→Announced by the Government of India on 19 January 2021, with the first observance under the new name four days later. The date is the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, born on 23 January 1897 at Cuttack in Odisha, and it was already a public holiday as Netaji Jayanti in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Assam and Odisha.

Why that name, and what else was proposed→Parakram means valour or prowess, and the day is framed around the armed struggle Bose led rather than around the constitutional politics of the national movement. The naming was contested, which is why several names circulate for the same day: the Forward Bloc, the party Bose founded, and members of his family had pressed for Deshprem Divas, the Day of Patriotism, while the Chief Minister of West Bengal proposed Deshanayak Divas, the Day of the National Hero. The Government settled on Parakram Diwas.

Bose, in the sequence the name points at→He resigned from the Indian Civil Service in 1921 to join the national movement, was elected Congress president at Haripura in 1938 and again at Tripuri in 1939, founded the All India Forward Bloc after resigning that presidency, escaped house arrest in Calcutta in January 1941, went on to lead the Indian National Army, and proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India — the Azad Hind Government — at Singapore on 21 October 1943.

14 April and 28 May→14 April is Ambedkar Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Dr B. R. Ambedkar, born in 1891 at Mhow in the Central Provinces, who chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, served as independent India’s first Law Minister and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. 28 May is the birth anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, born in 1883 at Bhagur near Nashik. Both are real anniversaries, and neither carries this name.

25 December — a date that carries three things→Christmas Day; the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, born in 1924, observed as GOOD GOVERNANCE DAY since 2014; and the birth anniversary of Madan Mohan Malaviya, born in 1861. A candidate who remembers only that the Union Government declared a named day on a leader’s birth anniversary can land here.

The pattern the Union Government has followed→A birth anniversary of a national figure is given a THEMATIC name saying what is celebrated rather than who. 31 October, Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary, became Rashtriya Ekta Diwas in 2014; 25 December, Vajpayee’s, became Good Governance Day the same year; 23 January became Parakram Diwas in 2021. Alongside these sit days fixed by an event rather than a birth — National Voters’ Day on 25 January and Constitution Day on 26 November. Read the name for its meaning and the association comes back even when the date has slipped.

Study next

The full list of officially named national days and the year each name was adopted, stored as date, person or event, and name togetherSubhas Chandra Bose's career in the national movement — the Haripura and Tripuri Congress sessions, the founding of the Forward Bloc, the escape of 1941 and the Azad Hind GovernmentThe Indian National Army trials at the Red Fort in 1945 and their effect on the last phase of the freedom struggle, a strand this paper's history blocks return to repeatedlyInternational days observed in India under United Nations or UNESCO designation, such as International Mother Language Day on 21 February and International Yoga Day on 21 JuneAnniversaries and centenaries that the Union Government commemorates through committees and commemorative issues, a recurring source of current-affairs items

Common traps

Storing a named day as a bare date. Every distractor in a question of this shape is itself a real anniversary, so a candidate who remembers only 'a January date' or 'a leader's birthday' has nothing left to discriminate with.
Confusing Parakram Diwas with Good Governance Day. Both are thematic names given by the Union Government to a leader's birth anniversary, and both were announced in the recent past; only the person and the date separate them.
Assuming the name of a day was uncontroversial. Several names were proposed for 23 January, including Deshprem Divas and Deshanayak Divas, and an item can be built on which name was actually adopted rather than on the date.
Mixing up Netaji Jayanti with Parakram Diwas as though they were different days. They are the same 23 January, the first being the older and state-level name and the second the name the Union Government gave it in 2021.

EPFO EO/AO current-affairs blocks carry named-day items regularly, and they take one of two forms: the day is named and the date asked for, as here, or a date is given and the observance asked for. The options are always four genuine anniversaries, so the item cannot be narrowed by plausibility. The examinable window is short — a day named in January is most likely to appear in the papers of that year and the next — which means the preparation is a list kept current rather than a stock of general knowledge. Expect companion items on National Unity Day, Constitution Day, National Voters' Day and the United Nations designated days, and on the freedom-fighter whose anniversary the day marks.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q98Open & attempt →

UNESCO has been observing February 21 as the International Mother Language Day since 2000. The idea to celebrate the International Mother Language Day was the initiative of which of the following nations ?

(a) Sri Lanka
(b) Bangladesh
(c) India
(d) Nepal

Answer(b) Bangladesh

The paper's other named-day item, on the observance UNESCO fixed to 21 February and the country whose proposal led to it. The two together show the shape this family takes: a day, a name, and the person or event that explains both.

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q57Open & attempt →

Tri-service contingent of which one of the following countries participated in India's Republic Day parade in 2021 ?

(a) Myanmar
(b) Nepal
(c) Bhutan
(d) Bangladesh

Answer(d) Bangladesh

The Republic Day parade item from the earlier current-affairs block. Both are annual set-pieces on fixed dates, which is precisely why an examiner can key them without dispute and why they repay being tracked year by year.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
31 October, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, has been observed by the Government of India since 2014 as which one of the following ?
- (a)Good Governance Day
- (b)Rashtriya Ekta Diwas
- (c)Parakram Diwas
- (d)National Voters' Day
Answer(b) Rashtriya Ekta Diwas
practice — not a real PYQ
The Provisional Government of Free India, the Azad Hind Government, was proclaimed by Subhas Chandra Bose in October 1943 at which one of the following places ?
- (a)Tokyo
- (b)Rangoon
- (c)Singapore
- (d)Berlin
Answer(c) Singapore

Why