The United Nations has declared the year 2025 as the international year of what?

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Correct — D, the International Year of Cooperatives. The UN General Assembly, by resolution A/RES/78/289 adopted on 19 June 2024, proclaimed 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives, under the theme 'Cooperatives Build a Better World'. It is the second such year — the first was 2012 — and the global campaign is led by the International Cooperative Alliance with the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs as focal point. The purpose is to spotlight the cooperative business model as a route to the Sustainable Development Goals, and member states were invited to set up national committees for the observance. Note that 2025 also carries other UN designations (Quantum Science and Technology, Glaciers' Preservation, Peace and Trust), but Cooperatives is the only one of them on offer here.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) That was 2011, not 2025. (2020 was separately the International Year of Plant Health, another forestry-adjacent trap.)  (b) 2023 was the International Year of Millets — proposed by India and led by the FAO. High-recall and therefore the strongest distractor in this set, but two years too early.  (c) 2012 was the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Interestingly, 2012 was also the first International Year of Cooperatives — the same year carried both designations, which is what makes this option feel plausible.

Concept: The UN General Assembly proclaims 'International Years' by resolution to focus global attention on a theme for a calendar year, usually naming a lead agency or partner network to coordinate it. More than one designation can run in the same year. The 2025 International Year of Cooperatives revisits the 2012 observance and argues that member-owned, member-governed enterprises — dairy and credit cooperatives, producer societies, mutuals — deliver employment and services where investor-owned firms and the state both fall short. India is central to that story, holding one of the world's largest cooperative networks.

State PCS 2026 Q50 — Current Affairs & Sports PYQ with Answer

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