Awards & Honours Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers

The correct answer is C, M.S. Subbulakshmi. Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, the Carnatic vocalist, received the Bharat Ratna in 1998 and was the first singer and the first musician of any kind to be given the award. She was also the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, in 1974, and she sang at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. Her rendering of the Venkateswara Suprabhatam and of Vaishnava Jana To is still heard every morning in temples and homes. The Bharat Ratna, instituted in 1954, is India's highest civilian honour and is given for exceptional service in any field. Option A is wrong because Zakir Hussain is a tabla player who was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, not the Bharat Ratna. Option B is wrong because A.R. Rahman, a composer, holds the Padma Bhushan. Option D is wrong because R.D. Burman, a music director, never received the Bharat Ratna. Exam tip: M.S. Subbulakshmi in 1998 was the first musician, and Lata Mangeshkar in 2001 the second singer to receive it.

The correct answer is D, Bharat Ratna. Lata Mangeshkar received the Bharat Ratna in 2001, becoming the second singer after M.S. Subbulakshmi to be given the country's highest civilian honour. She had recorded songs for more than a thousand Hindi films and sung in over thirty languages, and was widely called the Nightingale of India. The Bharat Ratna is awarded for exceptional service in any field of human endeavour and carries no title and no cash grant, only a sanad signed by the President and a peepal-leaf medallion. Option A is wrong because her Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award came in 1993. Option B is wrong because she had already received the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. Option C is wrong because the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest honour in cinema, was given to her in 1989. Exam tip: fix her order of honours — Padma Shri 1969, Dadasaheb Phalke 1989, Padma Vibhushan 1999, Bharat Ratna 2001.

The correct answer is D, Overcoming social exclusion through Bharatanatyam dance performances. Narthaki Nataraj is a Bharatanatyam dancer from Madurai in Tamil Nadu and, in 2019, became the first transgender person to receive the Padma Shri, which she got in the field of art. Thrown out of her home as a teenager, she trained for years under Guru K. P. Kittappa Pillai, a descendant of the Thanjavur Quartet, and mastered the Nayaki bhava style of the Thanjavur tradition; she also runs the Velliyambalam School of Dance in Chennai. She had earlier received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2011 and Tamil Nadu's Kalaimamani title. The Padma citation therefore links her name to dance, not to any other field. A, cuisine, C, agriculture, and B, Nyayashastra, describe fields of other Padma awardees and have nothing to do with her. Exam tip: Narthaki Nataraj = Bharatanatyam, Tamil Nadu, first transgender Padma Shri, 2019.

The correct answer is A, 1998. Amartya Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 for his contributions to welfare economics. His work spans social choice theory and the measurement of poverty and inequality, and his book 'Poverty and Famines' argued that famines come not only from a fall in food output but from a collapse in people's ability to buy food. With Mahbub ul Haq he helped shape the Human Development Index, and his other books include 'Development as Freedom' and 'The Argumentative Indian'. Option B is wrong because 2004 has no link with his prize. Option C is wrong because the economics prize of 1997 went to Robert Merton and Myron Scholes for their work on valuing options. Option D is wrong because 1999 is the year Amartya Sen was given the Bharat Ratna, which students often mix up with the Nobel. Exam tip: remember Nobel 1998 and Bharat Ratna 1999 for Amartya Sen, and note that Abhijit Banerjee won the economics Nobel in 2019.

The correct answer is A, Wildlife protection. The Amrita Devi Bishnoi National Award is given for outstanding courage and devotion in protecting wildlife. It was instituted by the Union environment ministry in 1994 and carries a cash prize with a citation. It is named after Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who in 1730 at Khejarli near Jodhpur clung to a khejri tree to stop the Maharaja's men from felling it; she and more than 360 other Bishnois died in that protest. The Bishnoi community, which follows the 29 rules laid down by Guru Jambheshwar, still guards the blackbuck, the chinkara and the khejri tree of the Thar desert, and the Khejarli sacrifice is remembered as an inspiration for the later Chipko movement. Option B is wrong because energy saving is rewarded by the National Energy Conservation Awards. Option C is wrong because broader environmental work is honoured by the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar. Option D is wrong because biodiversity effort is recognised by the India Biodiversity Awards. Exam tip: tie Amrita Devi to Khejarli 1730, the khejri tree and the blackbuck of Rajasthan.

The correct answer is C, 1957. The Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York, with the agreement of the Philippine government, in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the third President of the Philippines, who had died in an air crash in March that year. The first awards were presented in 1958. The prize honours greatness of spirit and service to the peoples of Asia and is often called Asia's Nobel Prize; the foundation that gives it is based in Manila. Vinoba Bhave was the first Indian to receive it, in 1958. Option A is wrong because by 1965 the award had already been given for seven years. Option B is wrong because 1962 is the year Mother Teresa won it for peace and international understanding, not the year it began. Option D is wrong because 1982 is far later than the founding. Exam tip: Magsaysay Award — set up 1957, first given 1958, first Indian Vinoba Bhave, foundation at Manila.

The correct answer is A, Sudarshan Sahoo. Sudarshan Sahoo, the stone and wood sculptor from Puri in Odisha, was given the Padma Vibhushan in 2021 in the field of art. He had already received the Padma Shri in 1988, and his work carries the Odishan temple-sculpture tradition of Konark and Puri into modern studios. The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of India, after the Bharat Ratna, and the Padma list is announced every year on the eve of Republic Day. Option B is wrong because Tarlochan Singh, a former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, was given the Padma Bhushan in 2021. Option C is wrong because the table tennis player Mouma Das received the Padma Shri that year. Option D is wrong because Sumitra Mahajan, a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, was also a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2021. Exam tip: the civilian honours in order are Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The correct answer is C, 1952. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy of music, dance and drama, was created by a government resolution of 31 May 1952 and formally inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by President Rajendra Prasad. It was the first of the three national academies; the Sahitya Akademi for literature and the Lalit Kala Akademi for fine arts followed in 1954. Its annual awards, the Akademi Puraskar, have been given to performing artists since 1952, which makes it the oldest national honour for the performing arts in India. The higher honour, the Akademi Ratna or Fellowship, was started in 1954. A is wrong because 1961 is the year the Arjuna Award for sports began. B is wrong because 1950 is when the Constitution came into force, not when the Akademi was formed. D is wrong because 1959 is the year the National School of Drama was set up, not the start of the awards. Exam tip: Sangeet Natak Akademi 1952 (awards from 1952); Sahitya Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi 1954.

The correct answer is B, Literature. The Saraswati Samman is a literary award given for an outstanding work of prose or poetry. It was started in 1991 by the K.K. Birla Foundation and is open to writing in any language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, so a book published in the previous ten years in any of those languages may win. The first award went to Harivansh Rai Bachchan for his autobiography, and the prize is counted among the most valuable literary honours in India. The same foundation runs the Vyas Samman for Hindi writing and the Bihari Puraskar for writers of Rajasthan. Option A is wrong because music is honoured by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Tansen Samman. Option C is wrong because journalism has the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. Option D is wrong because dance is recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Kalidas Samman. Exam tip: link the three K.K. Birla Foundation prizes, Saraswati Samman for all Eighth Schedule languages, Vyas Samman for Hindi and Bihari Puraskar for Rajasthan.

The correct answer is D, Dhyan Chand Award. The Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games was instituted in 2002 to honour sportspersons who not only performed well in their playing days but kept serving the sport after retiring. It is named after Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey wizard who won Olympic gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936; his birthday, 29 August, is celebrated as National Sports Day, when all the national sports awards are given. A is wrong because the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, started in 1991-92, is the highest award for the best performance over the previous four years, and in August 2021 it was renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, which is a different award from the lifetime achievement one. B is wrong because the Arjuna Award, started in 1961, is for consistent outstanding performance by active players. C is wrong because the Dronacharya Award, started in 1985, is for coaches. Exam tip: Khel Ratna best performance, Arjuna players, Dronacharya coaches, Dhyan Chand Award lifetime achievement; all given on 29 August.

The correct answer is D, Mamta Kalia. The Vyas Samman for 2017 went to the Hindi writer Mamta Kalia for her novel 'Dukham Sukham'. The Vyas Samman is given every year by the K.K. Birla Foundation for an outstanding Hindi work published in the previous ten years, and it carries a citation and a cash prize. The same foundation gives two other literary awards: the Saraswati Samman, open to a work in any language listed in the Eighth Schedule, and the Bihari Puraskar for writing from Rajasthan. Mamta Kalia is known for her Hindi stories and novels and has headed the Mahadevi Verma Srijan Peeth in Allahabad. Option A is wrong because Namita Gokhale writes in English and co-founded the Jaipur Literature Festival. Option B is wrong because Meena Kandasamy is an English-language poet and translator. Option C is wrong because Jhumpa Lahiri writes in English and won the Pulitzer Prize for 'Interpreter of Maladies'. Exam tip: Vyas Samman is for Hindi alone, while Saraswati Samman covers all Eighth Schedule languages.

The correct answer is D, Afghanistan. The Amir Amanullah Khan Award is Afghanistan's highest civilian honour, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi received it in June 2016 at Herat, on the day he and President Ashraf Ghani opened the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier called the Salma Dam, which India built on the Hari Rud. The honour is named after Amir Amanullah Khan, the ruler who won Afghanistan full control of its foreign affairs from the British in 1919. Option A is wrong, although Saudi Arabia did honour the Prime Minister in April 2016; its top award is the Order of King Abdulaziz Al Saud, a different decoration with a different name. Options B and C are wrong because neither Uzbekistan nor Iran gives an award of this name, and neither conferred its highest civilian honour on him in that year. Exam tip: Amir Amanullah Khan Award means Afghanistan, 2016, Herat and the Afghan-India Friendship Dam.