Awards & Honours Mixed Quiz: Set 17

The correct answer is C, Sachin Tendulkar. Until December 2011 the Bharat Ratna could be given only for exceptional service in art, literature and science or for public service of the highest order, and sport was outside its scope. The criteria were then widened to any field of human endeavour, and in 2014 Sachin Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to receive the honour; he was also the youngest recipient. Option A, Major Dhyan Chand, is the hockey player after whom the highest award for lifetime achievement in sport is named, and his name is repeatedly proposed for the Bharat Ratna, which is why it is the strongest distractor here. Option B, Milkha Singh, the athlete of the 1960 Rome Olympics, received the Padma Shri and not the Bharat Ratna. Option D, Vishwanathan Anand, the chess grandmaster, received the Padma Vibhushan, which is the second highest civilian honour but not the first.

The correct answer is B, the Indian Express Group. The awards were instituted in 2006 in memory of Ramnath Goenka, the founder of the Indian Express newspapers, and are administered by the group through an independent jury that has usually been chaired by a former judge of the Supreme Court. Option A is wrong because the Times Group is associated with the Times of India and does not run these awards. Option C is wrong because the Hindu Group publishes The Hindu and Frontline but has no award of this name. Option D is wrong because the ABP Group is a Bengali and Hindi media house best known for Anandabazar Patrika and its television channels. Remember the pairing as founder to newspaper: Ramnath Goenka belongs to the Indian Express, and the group's own award therefore carries his name.

The correct answer is B, P. Sainath. Palagummi Sainath received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2007 for journalism that placed the agrarian crisis, farmer suicides and rural poverty at the centre of national reporting, work also known through his book Everybody Loves a Good Drought. Option A is wrong because Arun Shourie won the Magsaysay Award earlier, in 1982, for investigative journalism in the Indian Express. Option C is wrong because the television journalist Ravish Kumar received the award in 2019. Option D is wrong because B. G. Verghese was honoured in 1975. All four names are genuine Indian winners in the journalism category, which is exactly why the question works: the year, not the name, is what is being tested. The award itself was instituted in 1957 and is administered from Manila, and the citation for Sainath praised his insistence that the rural poor be written about as people rather than as statistics in a table.

The correct answer is A, distinguished service during war or an operation. The three medals were instituted in 1980 and follow the same three steps as the Vishisht Seva medals, but the word Yudh in the name shows that they belong to wartime service rather than peacetime service. Option B is wrong because gallantry in the face of the enemy brings the Param Vir Chakra, the Maha Vir Chakra or the Vir Chakra. Option C is wrong because saving a life brings a Jeevan Raksha Padak, which is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs and is open to civilians as well. Option D is wrong because long service is recognised by long service and good conduct medals, not by the Yudh Seva series. The three grades are also distinguished by the words Sarvottam, Uttam and the plain name, exactly as in the peacetime series.

The correct answer is B, Japan. The Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum is the senior order of Japan, and the chrysanthemum is the emblem of the imperial house, which is why the flower gives the order its name and why the Japanese throne is called the Chrysanthemum Throne. The order is conferred on Japanese of the highest distinction and on foreign heads of state. Option A, China, does not use this order; its senior state honours carry names such as the Order of the Republic and the Friendship Medal for foreigners. Option C, South Korea, confers the Order of Merit for National Foundation and the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, the last named after the rose of Sharon, its national flower, which makes it an attractive wrong answer for a flower named order. Option D, Thailand, has the Order of the Nine Gems and the Order of Chula Chom Klao among its highest decorations.

The correct answer is B, Julius Nyerere. The first Gandhi Peace Prize, for 1995, went to Julius Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania, who was known for his belief in self reliance and non violent nation building. Option A is wrong because Nelson Mandela of South Africa received the prize for 2000, sharing it with Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Option C is wrong because Baba Amte, the founder of Anandwan who worked among leprosy patients, received the prize for 1999. Option D is wrong because Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa received it for 2005. All four names are genuine recipients, so the question turns purely on the order, and the safe way to hold it is the pair Nyerere and 1995, the first year of the award itself.

The correct answer is B, journalism. The Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist was instituted in 1980 by the Media Foundation in New Delhi and is named after Chameli Devi Jain, a freedom fighter who was jailed during the national movement. It is the best known Indian award reserved for a woman in the profession. Option A is wrong because awards for classical music come from bodies such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Option C is wrong because social service is recognised by honours such as the Jamnalal Bajaj Awards. Option D is wrong because sports honours are the Arjuna, Khel Ratna and Dronacharya Awards. The examinable pair here is the award with the year 1980 and the giver, the Media Foundation.

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 A, Sri Lanka. Sri Lankabhimanya, which means the pride of Sri Lanka, is the highest national honour of that country and is awarded for exceptional and outstanding service to the nation; the name itself carries the clue, since the country is named in the award. Option B, Nepal, maintains its own series of orders and decorations conferred by the head of state, none of which carries this name. Option C, Myanmar, has state honours of its own, again with no award of this name. Option D, Bhutan, confers the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, the order of the dragon king, as its highest civilian decoration, and it is the strongest distractor here because it is also a South Asian neighbour whose highest honour is commonly asked in the same set of questions. When an award carries a country name within it, read the option list for that name first.

The correct answer is B, 10 December. The Nobel ceremonies are held on 10 December every year, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel in 1896; the prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and economic sciences are presented at Stockholm, while the peace prize is presented at Oslo. Option A is wrong because 21 October is the birth anniversary of Alfred Nobel and no ceremony falls on it. Option C is wrong because 1 January has no connection with the prizes; the winners are announced in the first half of October. Option D is wrong because 24 October is United Nations Day, which is often confused with the Nobel calendar because of the peace prize. Remember that the economics prize was not in Nobel's will and was added in 1968 by the central bank of Sweden.

The correct answer is B, 16 November. National Press Day marks the day in 1966 on which the Press Council of India began its work as a moral watchdog of the press, and the Council itself organises the observance and presents its National Awards for Excellence in Journalism around it. Option A is wrong because 3 May is World Press Freedom Day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 after the Windhoek Declaration of 1991. Option C is wrong because 2 October is Gandhi Jayanti and the International Day of Non-Violence. Option D is wrong because 21 June is International Yoga Day. The pair to remember is National Press Day on 16 November and World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. A second detail worth carrying into the hall is that the Press Council of India functions today under the Press Council Act, 1978, and that the highest of its journalism awards is named after Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the pioneer of the Indian press.

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, Param Vir Chakra. The Param Vir Chakra is the highest wartime gallantry decoration of the Indian armed forces, given for the most conspicuous bravery in the presence of the enemy, and its peacetime equivalent is the Ashoka Chakra; neither belongs to the civilian order of precedence. Option A, Padma Shri, is the fourth in the civilian order and is given for distinguished service in any field. Option C, Padma Vibhushan, is the second in that order, for exceptional and distinguished service. Option D, Bharat Ratna, is the highest civilian honour of the country. All three of these were instituted in January 1954 and are announced or conferred as civilian decorations, while the gallantry awards were instituted separately in 1950 with effect from the fifteenth of August 1947. Questions of this kind are testing whether a candidate can separate the two chains of honours.

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, 3 May. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day in 1993, acting on a recommendation of the UNESCO General Conference that followed the Windhoek Declaration of African journalists in 1991; UNESCO presents the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on this day. Option B is wrong because 8 March is International Women's Day. Option C is wrong because 16 November is India's own National Press Day, tied to the Press Council of India. Option D is wrong because 10 December is Human Rights Day, the day the Nobel Prizes are also presented. Papers frequently place 3 May and 16 November in the same set of options, so keep the international date and the Indian date apart.

The correct answer is B, 1979. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work among the destitute and the dying in Kolkata through the Missionaries of Charity, which she had founded in 1950. Option A is wrong because 1973 is the year she became the first recipient of the Templeton Prize, a different award. Option C is wrong because 1980 is the year she was given the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, which came a year after the Nobel. Option D is wrong because 1962 is the year of her Ramon Magsaysay Award. All four years belong to her, which is what makes the question difficult, so learn the sequence: Magsaysay 1962, Templeton 1973, Nobel 1979, Bharat Ratna 1980. Note also that the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded, has its headquarters in Kolkata.

The correct answer is B, Guillermo Cano Isaza. UNESCO instituted the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 1997 in memory of the Colombian editor of El Espectador, who was murdered outside his office in 1986 for writing against drug cartels; the prize is presented each year on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May. Option A is wrong because Joseph Pulitzer's name belongs to the prizes administered by Columbia University. Option C is wrong because Ramon Magsaysay was a President of the Philippines and the award in his name is given in Manila. Option D is wrong because Ramnath Goenka founded the Indian Express and his name is on an Indian journalism award. A useful memory hook is that the murdered editor's prize is the one UNESCO gives.

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, UNESCO. The Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science was created in 1951 with a donation from Biju Patnaik, the founder of the Kalinga Foundation Trust of Odisha, and UNESCO awards it to writers, editors and broadcasters who explain science to ordinary readers; the first prize went to the French physicist Louis de Broglie. Option A is wrong because the World Health Organization gives health honours and not a science writing prize. Option C is wrong because the United Nations Environment Programme gives the Champions of the Earth award. Option D is wrong because the International Atomic Energy Agency is a nuclear watchdog with no such prize. The Indian link through Biju Patnaik makes this a favourite question. Note finally that the Kalinga Prize rewards the popularisation of science rather than original research, which separates it from the Nobel Prizes and from India’s own Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for laboratory work.

The correct answer is B, a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament. The Press Council of India first began working in 1966 and functions today under the Press Council Act, 1978; it is a self-regulatory watchdog whose chairman is chosen by a committee of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a member of the Council itself, and by convention the chairman has been a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Option A is wrong because the Council is created by law, not by owners. Option C is wrong because it is not a departmental wing of the Home Ministry. Option D is wrong because Article 324 creates the Election Commission, and the Press Council finds no mention in the Constitution.