UPPSC 2022 Prelims Q88: On which date 'Uttar Pradesh Day' is celebrated

Q: What is the answer to UPPSC 2022 Prelims Q88?

D. Correct — D, 24th January. Uttar Pradesh Day, or UP Diwas, is observed on 24 January because that is the date in 1950 on which the province then called the United Provinces was formally renamed Uttar Pradesh. Note what the day marks — a RENAMING, not the creation of a new State. The territory had been reorganised as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1902, was shortened to simply 'United Provinces' in 1937, and took the name Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force. The observance itself is recent: it was proposed by the then Governor, Ram Naik, the State government announced it in May 2017, and it has been formally celebrated since 24 January 2018 with cultural programmes, awards and displays of the State's One District One Product crafts. That recency is the point of the question — it is a State-specific current-affairs item that entered the calendar only a few years before this examination.

UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 88 of 150

Verified against the official question paper. Answer as per the official UPPSC answer key.

On which date 'Uttar Pradesh Day' is celebrated ?

(a)25th January
(b)23rd January
(c)26th January
(d)24th January

Answer

Why

Correct — D, 24th January. Uttar Pradesh Day, or UP Diwas, is observed on 24 January because that is the date in 1950 on which the province then called the United Provinces was formally renamed Uttar Pradesh. Note what the day marks — a RENAMING, not the creation of a new State. The territory had been reorganised as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1902, was shortened to simply 'United Provinces' in 1937, and took the name Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force. The observance itself is recent: it was proposed by the then Governor, Ram Naik, the State government announced it in May 2017, and it has been formally celebrated since 24 January 2018 with cultural programmes, awards and displays of the State's One District One Product crafts. That recency is the point of the question — it is a State-specific current-affairs item that entered the calendar only a few years before this examination.

Why the others are wrong

(a)25th January — One day off, and familiar for an entirely different reason: 25 January is National Voters' Day, observed since 2011 to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India. It has no connection with the naming of Uttar Pradesh.
(b)23rd January — 23 January is the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, observed as Parakram Diwas since 2021. A national commemoration, but not a State one, and unconnected with the renaming of the United Provinces.
(c)26th January — The strongest pull in the set, because 26 January is Republic Day and sits only two days after the correct answer. The proximity is not a coincidence — the United Provinces was renamed on 24 January 1950 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950 — but the two events are distinct, and UP Diwas commemorates the renaming.

Concept

Most Indian States observe a foundation or statehood day, and the dates fall into two families. Some mark the creation of a new State — Uttarakhand on 9 November 2000, Jharkhand on 15 November 2000, Chhattisgarh on 1 November 2000, Telangana on 2 June 2014. Others, like Uttar Pradesh, mark the renaming or reconstitution of a unit that already existed, which is why the UP date sits in January 1950 rather than in the States Reorganisation year of 1956. Uttar Pradesh's own boundaries changed once more after that, when the thirteen Himalayan districts were separated in November 2000 to form Uttaranchal, later renamed Uttarakhand — a fact worth holding alongside the UP Diwas date, because several UPPSC questions turn on whether a place was in Uttar Pradesh before or after 2000.

Two-day-apart date options are a standard UPPSC device, and they are answered by anchoring rather than by guessing. The anchor here is that the renaming happened two days BEFORE the Constitution came into force — so if 26 January 1950 is fixed, 24 January follows. The alternative anchor is the observance itself: UP Diwas was instituted in 2017 and first celebrated in January 2018, so a candidate who remembers the news cycle around the first celebration will remember the date. Do not look for a link to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956; Uttar Pradesh took its present name six years before that Act, and the 1956 reorganisation is what a candidate is likely to reach for by mistake.

Key facts

Uttar Pradesh Day (UP Diwas) is observed on 24 January, marking 24 January 1950, when the United Provinces was renamed Uttar Pradesh.
The sequence of names: United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (1902), then simply United Provinces (1937), then Uttar Pradesh (24 January 1950).
The renaming came two days before the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950.
The observance was proposed by the then Governor Ram Naik, announced by the State government in May 2017, and first formally celebrated on 24 January 2018.
25 January is National Voters' Day, observed since 2011 for the Election Commission's foundation day, and 23 January is Parakram Diwas for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary, observed since 2021.

The long sandstone facade of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Bhavan in Lucknow, its central dome and pillared portico seen from the road in daylight — Uttar Pradesh Day is observed on 24 January, the date in 1950 on which the United Provinces was renamed Uttar Pradesh; the State's legislature sits in the Vidhan Bhavan at Lucknow, and the day is marked with official functions across the State.Image: Shoonyea · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Study next

Statehood and foundation days of Indian States, and which of them mark creation as against renamingThe administrative history of Uttar Pradesh: North-Western Provinces, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces, Uttar PradeshThe creation of Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand) in November 2000 and its effect on questions about places 'in Uttar Pradesh'The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the linguistic reorganisation of StatesNational and State observance days that fall in January — Republic Day, National Voters' Day, Parakram Diwas

Common traps

Marking 26 January because it is the famous date in that week; UP Diwas is two days earlier
Assuming Uttar Pradesh was named in 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act — the renaming was in January 1950
Treating UP Diwas as an old observance; it was instituted in 2017 and first celebrated in 2018

UPPSC asks State-specific observances, symbols and schemes as direct one-line recall, usually with adjacent dates as distractors, and it favours items introduced by the current State administration. UPSC does not ask State observance days at all, so treat this as a UPPSC-only area and prepare it from the State's own announcements.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Uttar Pradesh Day is observed on 24 January to commemorate which event?
- (a)The creation of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1902
- (b)The renaming of the United Provinces as Uttar Pradesh in 1950
- (c)The formation of Uttarakhand out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000
- (d)The reorganisation of the State under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956
Answer(b) The renaming of the United Provinces as Uttar Pradesh in 1950 — the change took effect on 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force.
practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about Uttar Pradesh Day: 1. It has been formally celebrated by the State government since 2018. 2. It marks the date on which the State was created under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)Both 1 and 2
- (b)Only 1
- (c)Neither 1 nor 2
- (d)Only 2
Answer(b) Only 1 — the first formal celebration was on 24 January 2018, but the day marks the 1950 renaming of the United Provinces, not any action under the 1956 Act.