NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 143 of 150

Correct — C, the International Day of Yoga. The proposal was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2014, and the Assembly adopted the Day of Yoga resolution on 11 December 2014 without a vote. It drew 177 co-sponsoring nations, the largest number ever recorded for a General Assembly resolution of its kind. The date was chosen because 21 June is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice, which in the Indian calendars marks the turn into Dakshinayana. The first observance followed on 21 June 2015, when 35,985 people, with dignitaries from 84 countries, performed 21 asanas together at Rajpath in New Delhi.

• (a)International Mother Language Day — Observed on 21 February, not 21 June. It commemorates the language movement in what was then East Pakistan, and was proclaimed by UNESCO in 1999. The shared day of the month is the whole of the trap.
• (b)International Widows’ Day — Falls on 23 June, only two days away, which is why it is offered here. It was recognised by the General Assembly in 2010 to draw attention to the position of widows worldwide.
• (d)International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking — Observed on 26 June, again in the same month. It was designated by the General Assembly in 1987 and is the day on which the annual World Drug Report is usually launched.

The General Assembly designates international days to focus attention on a theme, and each is fixed to a date by resolution. Once designated, the day is observed every year with a theme that changes annually. The Day of Yoga is unusual in two ways — it was proposed by a single member state and adopted with an exceptional breadth of co-sponsorship, and its date carries an astronomical rather than a commemorative logic, being tied to the northern summer solstice.

Anchor this to the September 2016 exam, when the observance was only in its second year and was very much in the news; that recency is exactly why it appeared. Since then it has been observed every June, with a new theme announced each year, and the Ministry of Ayush has become the nodal ministry for it in India. Three of the four options here fall in June, so the item is testing precise recall rather than general awareness. Building a short calendar of United Nations days is the efficient response, since the same set is recycled across services examinations.

• The General Assembly adopted the Day of Yoga resolution on 11 December 2014, without a vote.
• It attracted 177 co-sponsoring nations, the highest number ever for a General Assembly resolution of that type.
• The proposal was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his General Assembly address in September 2014.
• 21 June is the summer solstice, the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere, and marks the transition to Dakshinayana in the Indian calendars.
• The first observance was on 21 June 2015 at Rajpath in New Delhi, with 35,985 participants and dignitaries from 84 nations.

• Confusing 21 June with 21 February, which is International Mother Language Day.
• Mixing up the three June days offered here — Widows' Day on 23 June and the drug-abuse day on 26 June are both close neighbours.
• Assuming the day was created by UNESCO; it was a General Assembly resolution.

NDA reliably asks one 'which day is observed on this date' item, and it usually clusters the wrong options in the same month, so learn the dates rather than the months.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The International Day of Yoga was first observed in the year

  • (a)2013
  • (b)2014
  • (c)2015
  • (d)2016

  Answer(c) 2015 — the resolution was adopted in December 2014 and the first observance followed on 21 June 2015.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  21 June was chosen for the International Day of Yoga because it is

  • (a)the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere
  • (b)the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere
  • (c)the spring equinox
  • (d)the date of the United Nations' founding

  Answer(b) the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere — the summer solstice, which in the Indian calendars marks the turn into Dakshinayana.