Awards & Honours Mixed Quiz: Set 4

The correct answer is B, Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Prize in Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali, becoming the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any category. He also wrote the national anthems sung in India and in Bangladesh.

Option A, C. V. Raman, won the Physics Prize in 1930 for the scattering of light named after him, which makes him the first Asian to win in a science but not the first Asian laureate overall; this is the distinction the question is built on. Option C, Mother Teresa, received the Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in Kolkata. Option D, Har Gobind Khorana, shared the Medicine Prize in 1968, by which time he was a citizen of the United States. Keep the two firsts apart: Tagore 1913 for any prize, Raman 1930 for a science.

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 B, Swarna Kamal. The Swarna Kamal, or Golden Lotus, is the medallion awarded for the highest honours of the National Film Awards, and the Best Feature Film is the chief among them. The award carries a certificate and a cash component along with the medallion.

Option A, Rajat Kamal, or Silver Lotus, is given for the other categories, such as Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and the best film in each language, so it is the correct medallion but for a different set of awards. Option C, Tamra Patra, a copper plate, was given to freedom fighters as a token of recognition and has nothing to do with cinema. Option D, Kirti Chakra, is a gallantry award of the armed forces, given for conspicuous courage away from the battlefield.

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, Physics. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman received the Prize in 1930 for his work on the scattering of light, in which a part of the scattered light changes wavelength, an effect that carries his name and gave chemists a powerful method of studying molecules.

Option A, Chemistry, is the category in which Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won in 2009 for work on the structure of the ribosome, and the similarity of the names makes this the most common error in the question. Option C, Medicine, was Har Gobind Khorana's category in 1968. Option D, Economic Sciences, was Amartya Sen's in 1998 and Abhijit Banerjee's in 2019. Fix each Indian laureate with a category and a year, because the paper asks for the pairing far more often than for the achievement.

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 B, Raja Harishchandra. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, and it is recognised as the first full length Indian feature film. Its success established film making as an Indian enterprise and earned Phalke the title of father of Indian cinema.

Option A, Alam Ara, released in 1931 and directed by Ardeshir Irani, was the first Indian sound film, or talkie, so it marks a different milestone. Option C, Shyamchi Aai, the Marathi film directed by P. K. Atre, won the first Best Feature Film award at the National Film Awards for 1953. Option D, Kisan Kanya, made in 1937, was the first Indian film shot in colour processed in India, again a separate landmark that is often mixed with the others.

The correct answer is C, 1969. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in 1969, which was the birth centenary year of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the father of Indian cinema. It is the highest recognition in Indian cinema for a lifetime of outstanding contribution and is given to one person each year.

Option A, 1954, is the year in which the National Film Awards themselves were instituted, and mixing the two years is the commonest error on this topic. Option B, 1961, is not connected with either award. Option D, 1913, is the year in which Phalke released Raja Harishchandra, the first full length Indian feature film, so it is an important date but belongs to the history of the film and not to the founding of the award.

The correct answer is B, Amartya Sen, honoured in 1998 for his contributions to welfare economics, including work on social choice and on the causes of famine, which showed that famines occur even when food is available if people lack the means to obtain it.

Option A, Abhijit Banerjee, shared the prize in 2019 with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty; he is of Indian origin and holds citizenship abroad, and the two Indian names in economics are regularly swapped in options. Option C, Manmohan Singh, was an economist and Prime Minister but never a Nobel laureate. Option D, Raghuram Rajan, served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and has not received the prize. Attach the years firmly: Sen in 1998, Banerjee in 2019.

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 B, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The National Film Awards are conferred by the Government of India through the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which appoints the juries for feature films, non feature films and writing on cinema and announces the results each year.

Option A, the Ministry of Culture, administers the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Sahitya Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi, whose awards cover music, dance, drama, literature and the fine arts rather than cinema. Option C, the Ministry of Education, is concerned with schools, higher education and literacy programmes. Option D, the Ministry of Tourism, promotes travel and hospitality and confers its own awards on states and operators, none of which relate to films. An option naming a private film association or an industry federation is wrong for the same reason, because these are state honours.

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 B, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, who died on 10 December 1896. The ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo are held on that date every year, and the prizes themselves are announced in October, some weeks earlier.

Option A is wrong because Nobel was born in October 1833, and no ceremony is tied to his birthday. Option C refers to the establishment of the Nobel Foundation in 1900, which made the first awards possible the following year but is not the date of the ceremony. Option D confuses the announcement, made each October by the awarding bodies, with the presentation in December. Note the coincidence worth remembering: 10 December is also Human Rights Day, adopted in 1948, so one date can serve two different questions.

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 A, father of Indian cinema. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is called the father of Indian cinema because he made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, the first full length Indian feature film, and went on to make many more, building the craft of film making in the country almost from nothing.

Option B, father of Indian theatre, is not a title attached to Phalke; the modern Indian stage traces its growth to a number of regional figures and companies rather than to him. Option C, father of Indian photography, is not his title either, although he did train in printing and photography before turning to films. Option D, father of Indian television, is unrelated, as television broadcasting in India began in 1959, long after Phalke's time.

The correct answer is A, Alfred Nobel. The Swedish chemist who invented dynamite signed his last will in 1895 and left most of his fortune to endow prizes for those who had conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. He died on 10 December 1896 and the first prizes were awarded in 1901.

Option B, Andrew Carnegie, endowed libraries and a peace foundation but no prize of this name. Option C, Joseph Pulitzer, left money for the Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, letters and music, awarded in the United States, and his name is the one most often substituted here. Option D, Cecil Rhodes, endowed the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford, not a prize. Keep the founder with the two dates that always follow him in a paper: the will of 1895 and the first awards in 1901.

The correct answer is B, Marie Curie. She shared the Physics Prize in 1903 for work on radioactivity, becoming the first woman laureate, and won the Chemistry Prize alone in 1911 for the discovery of radium and polonium. No one else has won in two separate scientific categories.

Option A, Linus Pauling, won twice as well, in Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962, but Peace is not a science, so his distinction is different: he is the only person with two unshared prizes. Option C, Albert Einstein, won a single Physics Prize, awarded for the photoelectric effect rather than for relativity. Option D, Frederick Sanger, won the Chemistry Prize twice, in 1958 and 1980, which is two prizes in the same science. Read such questions carefully, because each of these names is a record of its own kind.

The correct answer is B, Shyamchi Aai. The Marathi film Shyamchi Aai, directed by P. K. Atre and based on the writing of Sane Guruji, won the first Best Feature Film award at the National Film Awards for the year 1953. The choice of a Marathi film for the first honour reflected the intention that the awards would cover every Indian language.

Option A, Do Bigha Zamin, directed by Bimal Roy, belongs to the same period and is a landmark of Indian realist cinema, but it did not take the first Best Feature Film award. Option C, Pather Panchali, directed by Satyajit Ray, was released in 1955 and is celebrated worldwide, which makes it a tempting answer. Option D, Mother India, directed by Mehboob Khan, came in 1957, four years after the year named in the question.

The correct answer is A, Malala Yousafzai, who was seventeen when she shared the Peace Prize in 2014 for her campaign for the right of girls to go to school. That makes her the youngest laureate in any category in the history of the prize.

Option B, Kailash Satyarthi, shared the same Peace Prize with her for his work against the exploitation of children in India, so the pairing of the two names in one year is itself an examinable fact. Option C, Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay, was forty-one when he won the Literature Prize in 1907 and remains the youngest winner in that category, not overall. Option D, Lawrence Bragg, was twenty-five when he shared the Physics Prize in 1915 with his father, which is the youngest in the sciences. Note which record each name holds before answering.

The correct answer is A, one. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given to a single person each year for a lifetime of outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema, and it is presented along with the National Film Awards. Its exclusivity is the reason it is regarded as the highest honour in Indian cinema.

Option B, two, is wrong because the award has never been designed as a shared annual honour of that kind. Option C, three, corresponds to no rule of this award and is placed only as a plausible number. Option D, five, is far from the practice; the Padma awards and the sporting awards are conferred on many people each year, and it is from those lists that the habit of expecting multiple recipients comes, which is the confusion the question sets out to test.