Q 01/05

Mountbatten picked 15 August 1947 for the handover because it was the second anniversary of which wartime event?

A) Germany's surrender

B) The D-Day landings

C) Japan's surrender

D) The Yalta Conference

Answer · why

C) Japan's surrender

Japan's surrender of 15 August 1945 was personal for Mountbatten, who as Supreme Allied Commander in South East Asia took the formal Japanese capitula...

Q 02/05

Which other country holds a liberation day on 15 August, marking the 1945 end of 35 years of colonial rule?

A) Indonesia

B) South Korea

C) Vietnam

D) The Philippines

Answer · why

B) South Korea

South Korea calls the day Gwangbokjeol, 'restoration of light', and its government traditionally issues special pardons on it; the North marks the sam...

Q 03/05

How did Gandhi mark 15 August 1947, having stayed away from Delhi's celebrations to calm communal violence?

A) Spinning at Sevagram ashram

B) Touring the refugee camps

C) Leading prayers at Noakhali

D) Fasting for 24 hours

Answer · why

D) Fasting for 24 hours

Fasting for 24 hours, Gandhi spoke to a Calcutta crowd urging peace between Hindus and Muslims while Delhi celebrated, and his presence there is credi...

Q 04/05

Which Booker-winning novel's narrator, Saleem Sinai, is born at the exact moment India becomes a free country?

A) A Suitable Boy

B) Midnight's Children

C) The God of Small Things

D) A Fine Balance

Answer · why

B) Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel, went on to win the Booker of Bookers in 1993 and the Best of the Booker in 2008, the prize's two ann...

Q 05/05

Which territory stayed under European rule until a 36-hour Indian military operation in December 1961?

A) Goa

B) Puducherry

C) Sikkim

D) Chandernagore

Answer · why

A) Goa

Goa fell to Operation Vijay, which ended 451 years of Portuguese rule, fourteen years after the rest of India had become free.