Awards & Honours Mixed Quiz: Set 29

The correct answer is B, President's Police Medal for Gallantry. In each of the two columns of police awards the medal carrying the President's name is the senior one, so the President's Police Medal for Gallantry, given for a rare and conspicuous act of gallantry, stands above the Police Medal for Gallantry. Option A is wrong for that reason, being the junior gallantry medal. Options C and D are wrong because they belong to the other column altogether: the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service are service awards, given for a record of service rather than for a single brave act, and within that column too the President's medal is the higher. Learning the two columns, gallantry and service, with the President's name marking the senior award in each, answers the whole group.

The correct answer is A, the Black Lady. The Filmfare statuette, designed by the sculptor N. G. Pansare, shows a female figure and the dark finish gave it its popular name, which the magazine itself uses. Option B, the Golden Lotus or Swarna Kamal, is wrong because that is the trophy of the National Film Awards, given by the Government of India for the Best Feature Film. Option C, the Golden Peacock or Swarna Mayur, belongs to the International Film Festival of India and goes to the best film of its international competition. Option D, the Silver Lion, is not an Indian award at all; the Golden Lion is the top prize of the Venice Film Festival. Fixing one trophy to one giver removes most of the confusion in this topic.

The correct answer is C, the International Film Festival of India. The Golden Peacock, or Swarna Mayur, goes to the best film of the international competition at IFFI, and the cash prize is shared between the director and the producer; Silver Peacock awards go to the best director, the best actor and the best actress. Option A, the Filmfare Awards, is wrong because that trophy is the Black Lady. Option B, the National Film Awards, is wrong because the Best Feature Film there receives the Golden Lotus, the Swarna Kamal. Option D, Cannes, is wrong; its highest prize is the Palme d'Or, while Berlin gives the Golden Bear and Venice the Golden Lion. Learn the four trophies as a single row, because one question can be built from any of them.

The correct answer is C, Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, given for conspicuous courage where the danger to the rescuer's own life was very great. Option A is wrong because the plain Jeevan Raksha Padak is the third and lowest class, given where the rescuer risked grave bodily injury. Option B is wrong because the Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak is the middle class, for a rescue where the danger to life was great but not of the highest degree. Option D is wrong because no award called Param Jeevan Raksha Padak exists; the word Param belongs to the Param Vir Chakra, the highest wartime gallantry award, and it is placed here precisely to tempt a candidate who remembers that series instead. The order to memorise is Sarvottam, then Uttam, then the plain Padak.

The correct answer is B, 1861. The Order of the Star of India was created in 1861, four years after the Revolt of 1857, to tie the princely rulers and senior officials of India to the British Crown, and its motto was Heaven's light our guide; it was given three classes in 1866, the Knight Grand Commander, the Knight Commander and the Companion. Option A is wrong because 1857 is the year of the Revolt itself, which was the reason for the order rather than its date. Option C is wrong because 1877 is the year of the Delhi Durbar at which Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. Option D is wrong because 1878 is the year of the other two orders, the Order of the Indian Empire and the Order of the Crown of India.

The correct answer is C, 2021. The Government of Assam created a three-step set of state honours in 2021: Assam Baibhav at the top for exceptional service to the state, Assam Saurav next, and Assam Gaurav for distinguished work in specific fields. The first Assam Baibhav was conferred on the industrialist Ratan Tata for the Tata group's work on cancer care in the state. Option A, 2016, and option B, 2019, come before the awards existed. Option D, 2022, is the year in which a later round of these honours was given, not the year of institution, and this is the distractor most students fall for. Note the internal order carefully, because a question very often asks which of the three stands highest; the answer is Assam Baibhav, with Gaurav at the bottom of the three.

The correct answer is C, music, dance and drama. The Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national academy for the performing arts, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture with its office at Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi, and it has given its annual Akademi Puraskar since 1952. Option A is wrong because literature belongs to the Sahitya Akademi, which gives the Sahitya Akademi Award in the recognised Indian languages. Option B is wrong because painting, sculpture and graphic art belong to the Lalit Kala Akademi, whose National Akademi Awards are announced with the National Exhibition of Art. Option D is wrong because cinema is handled by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which announces the National Film Awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award; none of the three academies deals with film. Learning the three academies by field settles most questions in this chapter.

The correct answer is A, the Stree Shakti Puraskar. The honour was instituted in 1999 as the Stree Shakti Puraskar and given in six categories named after women of Indian history, among them Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Kannagi, Mata Jijabai, Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang, Rani Lakshmibai and Rani Rudramma Devi; in 2016 those categories were merged and the award was renamed the Nari Shakti Puraskar. Options B and C name two of those old categories rather than the award itself, which is exactly the confusion the question is built on, since the names Rani Lakshmibai and Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar really do belong to the scheme's history. Option D is an invented title. Remember the two dates: 1999 for the institution and 2016 for the renaming.

The correct answer is B, Independence Day. The Ministry of Home Affairs announces the Jeevan Raksha Padak series on 15 August each year, and the medal with its certificate is then presented to the recipient by the state government, union territory administration or ministry concerned rather than at a single investiture in Delhi. Option A is wrong for this series, although Republic Day is the day on which the Padma awards are announced and on which gallantry awards are presented, which is the source of the confusion. Option C is wrong because Gandhi Jayanti, 2 October, carries no award announcement of this kind. Option D is wrong because Constitution Day, 26 November, marks the adoption of the Constitution in 1949 and is an observance rather than an award occasion. Police gallantry medals, by contrast, are announced on both Independence Day and Republic Day.

The correct answer is A, Swarna Kamal, the Golden Lotus. The recipient is given the Swarna Kamal or Golden Lotus medallion, along with a shawl and a cash prize, at the National Film Awards ceremony. Option B is wrong because the Rajat Kamal, the Silver Lotus, is given for several of the other categories of the National Film Awards, such as the best actor and the best director, so the two lotuses must be kept apart. Option C is wrong because the Ashoka Chakra is a gallantry award of an entirely different kind, given for bravery in peacetime. Option D is wrong because the Golden Peacock is the top prize of the International Film Festival of India, an award for a film rather than a lifetime honour for a person.

The correct answer is A, the International Film Festival of India. The medal is given at IFFI by the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication, based in Paris and associated with UNESCO, to a film that reflects the ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence that Mahatma Gandhi stood for. Option B, the National Film Awards, is wrong; those are decided by juries appointed by the Government of India and carry Golden and Silver Lotus awards. Option C, the Filmfare Awards South, is a magazine's regional ceremony for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. Option D, the Mumbai Film Festival, is a separate festival run by a private film academy. The words UNESCO and Gandhi together always point to IFFI in these questions. A further detail helps: the council is an international non-governmental body associated with UNESCO, and the medal it gives at IFFI is a separate honour from the festival's own Golden and Silver Peacock awards.

The correct answer is B, Article 18. 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. The Supreme Court upheld the awards on this reasoning in the Balaji Raghavan case decided in 1995, after they had been suspended from 1992. Option A is wrong because Article 14 guarantees equality before the law. Option C is wrong because Article 21 protects life and personal liberty. Option D is wrong because Article 51A lists the Fundamental Duties, which were inserted by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976 and have nothing to do with titles.

The correct answer is C, 1900. Queen Victoria instituted the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal in 1900 for distinguished public service in India, and unlike the orders of chivalry it was open to any person of any rank, Indian or European, man or woman, in gold, silver and bronze classes. Option A is wrong because 1878 is the year of the Order of the Indian Empire and the Order of the Crown of India. Option B is wrong because 1911 is the year of the Delhi Durbar at which Indian soldiers were made eligible for the Victoria Cross. Option D is wrong but is the closest trap: 1920 is the year Mahatma Gandhi returned the medal he had received in 1915, so a candidate who remembers only the renunciation may give the date of that act instead of the institution.

The correct answer is A, Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon. 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 receive it, while no member of the Navy has received it so far. Option B names Arjan Singh, who rose to be Marshal of the Indian Air Force and led the service in 1965, but his recognition came in other forms. Option C, Rakesh Sharma, was the first Indian in space, for which he received the Ashoka Chakra, a peacetime decoration, which makes him a well-placed distractor. Option D names a pilot of a much later episode who received a different gallantry award. The exception to memorise is Sekhon for the Air Force and Salaria for the one United Nations mission.

The correct answer is B, Madhya Pradesh. The Tansen Samman was instituted by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1980 for Hindustani classical music and is presented at the Tansen Samaroh held every year at Behat near Gwalior, where the memorial of Tansen stands. Madhya Pradesh also gives the Kalidas Samman, the Tulsi Samman for folk and tribal art, the Lata Mangeshkar Award for light music and the Kabir Samman for poetry, so the state is the single most productive source of questions in this chapter. Option A is wrong because Uttar Pradesh gives the Yash Bharati and Bharat Bharati honours instead. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan's cultural awards are administered through its own akademis and do not include this samman. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra's state honours do not include the Tansen Samman, although Gwalior gharana musicians have long worked in Maharashtra.

The correct answer is A, Major Somnath Sharma. He commanded a company of the 4th Battalion of the Kumaon Regiment at Badgam near Srinagar in November 1947 and held off a far larger force of raiders until he was killed; the Param Vir Chakra, instituted on 26 January 1950 with effect from 15 August 1947, was conferred on him posthumously as the first award of the decoration. Option B, Captain Vikram Batra, received the Param Vir Chakra for the Kargil conflict of 1999, more than fifty years later. Option C, Subedar Joginder Singh, was honoured for the war with China in 1962 at Tongpen La. Option D, Major Shaitan Singh, was honoured for the stand at Rezang La in the same war of 1962. All four are genuine recipients, so only the first matters here.

The correct answer is A, Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, administered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in which bravery is one of the categories of the Bal Shakti Puraskar, alongside innovation, scholastic achievement, social service, art and culture, and sport; the Bal Kalyan Puraskar in the same scheme honours adults and institutions working for children. Option B is wrong because the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar recognises organisations that promote sport. Option C is wrong as the scheme for children specifically, because although a child may receive a Jeevan Raksha Padak for saving a life, that series is open to any person and is not a children's award. Option D is wrong because the National Communal Harmony Award recognises work for harmony between communities rather than an act of bravery by a child.

The correct answer is A, Devika Rani. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in 1969 to mark the birth centenary of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, who made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, and the actress Devika Rani received it first. Option B, Prithviraj Kapoor, received the award soon afterwards, which makes him the usual wrong answer. Option C, Pankaj Mullick, the composer and singer, also received it in the early years but not first. Option D, Ruby Myers, who acted under the name Sulochana, received it as well, and she is placed here because her career belongs to the silent era like Phalke's own. The award is India's highest honour in cinema and is presented along with the National Film Awards, not with the Filmfare Awards. One more fact completes the set: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is called the father of Indian cinema, and Raja Harishchandra of 1913 is counted as the first full-length Indian feature film.

The correct answer is B, the Non-Cooperation Movement. Gandhi had been awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind in 1915 for raising an ambulance corps in South Africa, and in 1920 he returned it in a letter to the Viceroy, giving up two South African war medals at the same time, as part of the surrender of titles and honours that the Non-Cooperation Movement called for. Option A is wrong because the Civil Disobedience Movement began in 1930 with the Dandi March, ten years later. Option C is wrong because the Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942. Option D is wrong because the Home Rule Movement, led by Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, belonged to the years 1916 and 1917 and did not involve giving back honours at all; it worked instead for self-government within the Empire.

The correct answer is A, Hindustani classical music. The samman is named after Tansen, the singer of Akbar's court who is counted among the nine jewels of that court, and the Government of Madhya Pradesh gives it for Hindustani classical music at the Tansen Samaroh at Behat near Gwalior. Option B is wrong because the highest recognition in Carnatic music is the Sangita Kalanidhi, conferred by the Music Academy in Madras, and no Madhya Pradesh samman is reserved for that tradition. Option C is wrong because dance in Madhya Pradesh is honoured through the Kalidas Samman in the years when that award's rotation falls on classical dance, not through the Tansen Samman. Option D is wrong for the same reason: theatre is one of the rotating fields of the Kalidas Samman. Remember the pairing as Tansen for Hindustani music and Kalidas for the rotating national award.