Awards & Honours GK Questions with Answers – Page 7

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was introduced in 1969 by the Government of India, as part of the celebration of the birth centenary of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, and it has been conferred each year since on one person for a lifetime's contribution to Indian cinema.

Savitri Khanolkar, who designed the decoration, placed the state emblem of India at the centre of the circular bronze medal and set four replicas of the Vajra, the thunderbolt of Indra, around it, so that the medal carries a sense of irresistible force; the reverse bears the words Param Vir…

Fighting with 17 Poona Horse in the Shakargarh sector in December 1971, Khetarpal refused to abandon his burning tank and continued to engage advancing armour until he was killed, holding the bridgehead across the Basantar river; the award was posthumous, and Major Hoshiar Singh of 3 Grenadiers received the Param…

Batra, of 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, led the recapture of heights in the Dras sector during the Kargil operations of 1999 and was killed while rescuing an injured soldier; the award was posthumous.

In June 1987 Naib Subedar Bana Singh of the 8th battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry led a small party up a sheer ice wall to take the highest post on the Siachen Glacier, held by the enemy and known as Quaid Post, and the position was renamed…

In November 1962 Major Shaitan Singh commanded a company of 13 Kumaon at Rezang La in the Chushul sector of Ladakh, which fought on against overwhelming numbers until almost the whole company had fallen; he moved from post to post under fire to steady his men and was killed, and…

In the Khem Karan sector in September 1965, Abdul Hamid of 4 Grenadiers used a recoilless gun mounted on a jeep to destroy Pakistani Patton tanks at close range in the fields of Asal Uttar, and he was killed while engaging another; the battle ruined so much armour that the…

Salaria, of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Gorkha Rifles, was serving with the United Nations force in the Congo in 1961 when he led a small party against a much larger armed group blocking a vital road near Elisabethville; he was killed in the action, and his is the…

During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 he took off alone from Srinagar airfield while it was under attack by a formation of enemy aircraft, engaged them in the air over the airfield and was killed; the award was posthumous, and he remains the only member of the Air Force to…

India maintains two parallel chains of gallantry awards. For bravery in the presence of the enemy, that is in war, the order runs Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra.

Born in Switzerland, she married an officer of the Indian Army, settled in India and studied its languages, art and traditions closely, and when the new republic needed its own decorations she was asked to design them.

The decoration was instituted on 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came into force, but it was given effect from 15 August 1947 so that acts of gallantry performed from the day of independence onwards could be recognised.

On 3 November 1947 Major Sharma of the 4th battalion of the Kumaon Regiment held the village of Badgam near Srinagar with one company against a far larger raiding force, and by refusing to pull back he kept the Srinagar airfield from falling, on which the whole airlift of Indian…

Nelson Mandela, the leader of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and later its President, received the Bharat Ratna in 1990, the same year in which Dr B. R. Ambedkar was honoured posthumously.

The Bharat Ratna is a medallion shaped like a peepal leaf, about an inch and three-eighths wide, bearing a sun on the front with the words Bharat Ratna below it in Devanagari, and the State Emblem with the motto Satyameva Jayate on the reverse.

The Carnatic vocalist M. S. Subbulakshmi received the Bharat Ratna in 1998 and was the first musician in the list.

Article 18 abolishes titles and forbids the State from conferring any title except a military or academic distinction. The civilian awards survive because they are treated as decorations and not as titles, and for the same reason a recipient may not write Bharat Ratna before or after a name.

Until December 2011 the Bharat Ratna could be given only for art, literature, science and public service. The rules were then widened to cover any field of human endeavour, and in 2014 Sachin Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to receive the award, along with the scientist C. N. R. Rao.

The Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, called the Frontier Gandhi and the founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, received the Bharat Ratna in 1987 and was the first recipient who was not an Indian citizen.

Indira Gandhi received the Bharat Ratna in 1971, while she was Prime Minister, and she is the first woman in the list.