Awards & Honours Mixed Quiz: Set 11

The correct answer is B, the discovery of the Raman effect. C. V. Raman announced his discovery of the scattering effect now named after him on 28 February 1928, and since 1987 India has observed that date as National Science Day, with a theme, lectures and science fairs in schools and laboratories. Option A is wrong because the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research was founded in 1942 and its founding day is not this date. Option C is wrong because India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched in 1975 and the day is not marked as a national observance. Option D is wrong because the nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran in 1998 are marked on 11 May as National Technology Day, a date often exchanged with this one in examination papers.

The correct answer is B, Paris. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has its headquarters at Place de Fontenoy in Paris, France. Its Constitution was signed in London in November 1945 and came into force in November 1946, and India was among the founding members. Option A is wrong because Geneva hosts the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, but not UNESCO. Option C is wrong because New York is the seat of the United Nations headquarters itself, with the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as of UNICEF. Option D is wrong because Vienna houses the International Atomic Energy Agency and the office on drugs and crime. Keep the four cities apart, because papers list them together in a single question.

The correct answer is A, press freedom. The UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was instituted in 1997 and honours a person or an organisation that has defended freedom of the press, often at great personal risk. It is named after a Colombian journalist who was killed for his reporting, and it is presented every year on World Press Freedom Day, which falls on 3 May. Option B is wrong because child welfare is the work of UNICEF, which gives the Maurice Pate Award. Option C is wrong because disaster risk reduction is recognised by the Sasakawa Award of the United Nations disaster risk office. Option D is wrong because conservation work is recognised through Champions of the Earth, the environmental honour of the United Nations Environment Programme. Fix the date 3 May with this prize.

The correct answer is B, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The prize was instituted in 1958 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in memory of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, the chemist who served as its first Director-General and built the chain of national laboratories; it is given to Indian scientists below the age of forty-five in seven branches of science and engineering. Option A is wrong because the Indian Space Research Organisation gives its own medals and fellowships in space science and not this prize. Option C is wrong because the Department of Atomic Energy runs the atomic energy establishments founded by Homi Bhabha and does not award this prize. Option D is wrong because the Indian National Science Academy gives honours of its own, such as the Aryabhata Medal for lifetime contribution to science.

The correct answer is B, 1901. Alfred Nobel signed his will in 1895 and died in 1896, and after his estate was settled the first prizes were given in 1901 in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace; they are presented every year on 10 December, the anniversary of his death. Option A is wrong because 1895 is the year of the will itself, not of the first award, and this is the commonest confusion in the question. Option C is wrong because 1913 is the year Rabindranath Tagore won the Prize in Literature. Option D is wrong because 1930 is the year of C. V. Raman's Prize in Physics. Note also that the prize in economic sciences was not part of Nobel's will and was added much later by the central bank of Sweden.

The correct answer is D, Ricky Kej. Ricky Kej won the Grammy for Best New Age Album at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 for Winds of Samsara, made with the South African flautist Wouter Kellerman. The album drew on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and reached the top of the Billboard New Age chart in the United States, the first Indian album to do so. Kej is a Bengaluru-based composer who works on environmental themes and is a UNICEF and UNESCO goodwill figure; he won a second Grammy in 2022 for Divine Tides, made with Stewart Copeland of The Police. Option A is wrong because Mano Murthy composes for Kannada cinema and has not won a Grammy. Option B is wrong because Raghu Dixit is a Bengaluru folk-rock singer with no Grammy. Option C is wrong because Subhashish Ghosh has no link with this album. Exam tip: Winds of Samsara means Ricky Kej with Wouter Kellerman, Grammy 2015; Divine Tides means Ricky Kej with Stewart Copeland.

The correct answer is A, tolerance and non-violence. The prize was created in 1995, a year that marked both the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and the hundred and twenty fifth birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and it is named after Madanjeet Singh, the Indian artist, writer and diplomat who endowed it. It is awarded every two years on 16 November, the International Day for Tolerance. Option B is wrong because adult literacy is rewarded by the King Sejong and Confucius literacy prizes. Option C is wrong because scientific research as such is not the subject; UNESCO's science prizes reward the popularisation of science and ethics in science. Option D is wrong because freedom of information belongs with the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, given on 3 May.

The correct answer is D, Vinesh Phogat. The wrestler Vinesh Phogat was nominated in 2019 for the Laureus World Sports Award in the Breakthrough of the Year category, the first Indian athlete to be shortlisted in that category. The nomination followed a remarkable 2018, in which she won gold at the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast and then gold at the Asian Games in Jakarta, becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games title. She had already received the Arjuna Award in 2016. The Laureus World Sports Awards, begun in 2000 by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, are often called the Oscars of sport. Option A is wrong because Anirban Chatterji is not a Laureus nominee. Option B is wrong because Pankaj Advani, a world champion in billiards and snooker, was not on the list. Option C is wrong because the sprinter Dutee Chand, known for her legal fight over hyperandrogenism rules, was not nominated that year. Exam tip: Vinesh Phogat - Laureus nomination 2019, Asian Games gold 2018, Arjuna Award 2016.

The correct answer is B, the Royal Society of London. The Royal Society has awarded the Copley Medal since 1731 for outstanding achievement in any branch of science, which makes it older than the Nobel Prizes by well over a century and a half; it is given every year and is open to researchers of any nationality, so it covers physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics alike. Option A is wrong because the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry and the prize in economic sciences, and it awards no Copley Medal. Option C is wrong because UNESCO gives the Kalinga Prize, which is for the popularisation of science rather than for research. Option D is wrong because the National Academy of Sciences of the United States has medals of its own and elects foreign associates, but the Copley Medal has never been among its honours; the Royal Society also gives the Rumford and Davy Medals.

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.

The correct answer is C, five years. The prize was instituted by the General Assembly in 1966 and first awarded in 1968, which was observed as the International Year for Human Rights and marked twenty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since then it has been given once every five years, and the ceremony is held on 10 December, which is Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the Declaration. Option A is wrong because a two-year cycle belongs to the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for tolerance. Option B is wrong because no United Nations human rights prize follows a three-year cycle. Option D is wrong because ten years is twice the correct interval, and it is included because candidates who know the prize is rare often over-estimate the gap.

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 B, the structure of the ribosome. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, born at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu and later a citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for showing how the ribosome, the machinery inside a cell that reads the genetic message and builds proteins, is put together. Option A is wrong because the structure of DNA was the work of Watson, Crick and Wilkins, honoured in 1962. Option C is wrong because the genetic code was the subject of the 1968 Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Har Gobind Khorana, who was also of Indian origin. Option D is wrong because stellar structure was the work for which Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the Prize in Physics in 1983.

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, the United Nations Environment Programme. Champions of the Earth was launched in 2005 by the United Nations Environment Programme, whose headquarters are at Nairobi in Kenya, and it recognises leaders from government, civil society and business whose work protects the environment, in categories such as policy leadership, entrepreneurial vision and science and innovation. Option A is wrong because UNESCO's work on nature runs through biosphere reserves and natural World Heritage Sites rather than this award. Option C is wrong because the World Health Organization, based at Geneva, gives awards in public health. Option D is wrong because the Food and Agriculture Organization, based at Rome, works on food security and hunger. A related honour for young people is the Young Champions of the Earth award.

The correct answer is B, Oslo. Alfred Nobel's will directed that the Peace Prize be decided by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament, while the other prizes were left to Swedish institutions, and the Peace Prize is therefore announced and presented in the Norwegian capital.

Option A, Stockholm, is where every other prize is presented, including Economic Sciences, so it is the answer for five of the six categories and the natural wrong choice here. Option C, Geneva, is the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross and of many United Nations bodies, which makes it sound plausible in a question about peace. Option D, Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has no connection with the prize at all. Remember the split in one sentence: Peace in Oslo, everything else in Stockholm.

The correct answer is C, Mathematics. Instituted in 2005 by SASTRA University at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, the prize is given every year to a mathematician aged thirty-two or below for work in areas influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan, and the age limit was set at thirty-two because that was the age at which Ramanujan died. Option A is wrong because physics has no Indian prize of this name; work in physics is recognised by the Bhatnagar Prize in physical sciences. Option B is wrong because chemistry too is covered by a separate branch of the Bhatnagar Prize. Option D is wrong because biotechnology has its own national awards from the Department of Biotechnology. Remember also that India observes National Mathematics Day on 22 December, Ramanujan's birthday.

The correct answer is C, Indira Gandhi. The United Nations Population Award was instituted by the General Assembly in 1981 and first presented in 1983, when Indira Gandhi of India was one of the two individual laureates, honoured for India's early work on population policy. The Indian industrialist J R D Tata received the same award in 1992. Option A is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964, long before the award existed. Option B is wrong because Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966, also died before the award was created. Option D is wrong because Morarji Desai, Prime Minister from 1977 to 1979, is remembered for receiving Pakistan's highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, rather than this award. Keep the two Indian names of this award together, Indira Gandhi in 1983 and J R D Tata in 1992, because a paper may ask for either.

The correct answer is A, Norway. The Abel Prize was created by the government of Norway and first awarded in 2003, and it is presented every year by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in memory of Niels Henrik Abel, the Norwegian mathematician who died young; unlike the Fields Medal it carries no age limit, which is why it is treated as the closest parallel to a Nobel Prize in mathematics. Option B is wrong because Sweden is the country of the Nobel Prizes, which include no award for mathematics. Option C is wrong because Denmark gives no prize of this name. Option D is wrong because Finland, though it hosted an International Congress of Mathematicians, does not award the Abel Prize; the Indian-origin mathematician S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan received it in 2007.

The correct answer is A, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The award has been given since 1954 by the refugee agency of the United Nations to a person, group or organisation that has served refugees, displaced people or those without a state. It is named after Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer and scientist who became the first High Commissioner for Refugees under the League of Nations and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. Option B is wrong because the Development Programme publishes the Human Development Report rather than this award. Option C is wrong because UNICEF works for children and gives the Maurice Pate Award. Option D is wrong because the International Labour Organization, based at Geneva, deals with working conditions and labour standards.