RAS question
What day of the week was 15th August 1947 (India's Independence Day)?
Correct answer: (C) Friday.
15 August 1947, India's Independence Day, fell on a Friday.
Explanation
The official Constituent Assembly Debates volume for this sitting identifies the date as Friday, 15th August 1947. The odd-day method reaches the same result: 1600 years contribute 0 odd days; the next 300 years, from 1601 to 1900, contribute 1 odd day; and 1901 to 1946 contributes 46 normal-year days plus 11 leap-year days, which leaves 1 odd day. From 1 January to 15 August 1947, the month totals are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 and 15, making 227 days, or 32 weeks plus 3 odd days. The total is therefore 5 odd days, which corresponds to Friday.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Saturday would require 6 odd days, but the calculation gives 5 odd days for 15 August 1947.
- (B) Thursday would require 4 odd days, while the completed odd-day count is 5.
- (D) Wednesday would require 3 odd days, which stops before adding all the odd days from the century block, 1901-1946 and the 1947 date span.
Concept
This tests the calendar and odd-day method in Reasoning and Mental Ability. RAS repeats it because it checks precise arithmetic, leap-year handling and weekday mapping without needing any specialised factual memory.