Nari Shakti Puraskar and Other National Awards of India

The correct answer is B, 8 March. The Nari Shakti Puraskar, the highest civilian honour for women in India, is presented at Rashtrapati Bhavan on International Women's Day, which is observed on 8 March every year. Option A, 24 January, is National Girl Child Day, around which the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar is given to children. Option C, 5 September, is Teachers' Day, the day of the National Award to Teachers. Option D, 1 October, is the International Day of Older Persons, the day of the Vayoshreshtha Samman for work relating to senior citizens. Each of these honours is deliberately tied to a day that matches its subject, so the quickest way to answer a whole set of such questions is to learn the award together with the observance it belongs to.

The correct answer is C, the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This ministry frames the scheme, invites and screens the nominations and arranges the ceremony at which the President confers the award on 8 March; the same ministry also administers the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for children. Option A, the Ministry of Home Affairs, handles the Padma awards and the gallantry decorations, so it is the commonest wrong choice in award questions generally. Option B, the Ministry of Culture, administers the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony. Option D, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, administers the Vayoshreshtha Samman for senior citizens and the national awards for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. Matching each award to its ministry answers a whole family of questions.

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, 5 September. The President confers the National Award to Teachers on Teachers' Day, which falls on 5 September, the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Option A, 14 November, is Children's Day in India, the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, and it carries no teachers' award. Option C, 11 November, is National Education Day, observed on the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first education minister, which makes it a very close distractor in this topic. Option D, 28 February, is National Science Day, marking the announcement of the Raman effect. Keeping the four education and science related days apart, 5 September, 11 November, 14 November and 28 February, settles a cluster of questions that recur every year. Note also that separate national awards exist for teachers in higher education and for teachers of children with disabilities.

The correct answer is B, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Born on 5 September 1888, Radhakrishnan was a philosopher and teacher who became the first Vice President and the second President of India, and the day is observed in his honour at his own suggestion that his birthday be marked as Teachers' Day. Option A, Dr Rajendra Prasad, was the first President of India and his birth anniversary, 3 December, is not a teachers' day. Option C, Dr Zakir Husain, was the third President and an educationist associated with Jamia Millia Islamia, which makes him a plausible wrong answer. Option D, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the eleventh President and a teacher by inclination; his birthday, 15 October, is observed as World Students' Day, so candidates must not swap the two days.

The correct answer is B, 1958. The award has been given since 1958 to school teachers of outstanding merit, with a certificate of merit, a silver medal and a cash prize, and since 2018 teachers have been able to nominate themselves through a three-tier online process. Option A, 1950, is the year the Constitution came into force and the year the Param Vir Chakra and the other wartime gallantry awards were instituted. Option C, 1961, is the year of the Arjuna Award in sport and of the Jnanpith Award in literature. Option D, 1969, is the year of the first Dadasaheb Phalke Award in cinema. All four are real award years, which is why the question is harder than it looks; note also that 1958 is shared with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology.

The correct answer is A, Devika Rani. The actress, remembered for films such as Achhut Kanya and for her part in Bombay Talkies, was the first recipient of the award given for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema, named after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, who made Raja Harishchandra in 1913 and is called the father of Indian cinema. Option B, Prithviraj Kapoor, received the award in 1971, two years later, and is the standard distractor. Option C, Lata Mangeshkar, received it in 1989 and was also awarded the Bharat Ratna. Option D, Satyajit Ray, received it in 1984 and was likewise a Bharat Ratna awardee. The award is administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and announced along with the National Film Awards, and it consists of a Swarna Kamal, a cash prize and a shawl.

The correct answer is B, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The prize was instituted in 1958 in memory of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, the chemist who was the first Director General of the Council and is called the father of research laboratories in India, and it is presented on the Council's foundation day in September. Option A, the Indian National Science Academy, gives its own medals and fellowships but not this prize. Option C, the Department of Science and Technology, funds research and runs schemes such as the national science awards, which makes it a near miss. Option D, the Indian Space Research Organisation, is a space agency and gives no general science prize of this kind. Remember the pair: Bhatnagar Prize with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and 1958 as its year.

The correct answer is B, senior citizens. The Vayoshreshtha Samman is given by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to eminent senior citizens and to institutions working for their welfare, and it is presented on 1 October, the International Day of Older Persons. Option A, children, belongs to the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, given around National Girl Child Day on 24 January. Option C, persons with disabilities, belongs to the national awards for their empowerment, conferred on 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Option D points to the Nari Shakti Puraskar, given on 8 March. The word vayo itself means age, which is the clue the examiner leaves in the name, and the award is given in both individual and institutional categories.

The correct answer is A, Major Somnath Sharma. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously for the action at Badgam near Srinagar in November 1947, during the first conflict in Kashmir, and the award itself was instituted in 1950 with effect from 15 August 1947, which is why the first recipient's action precedes the award's announcement. Option B, Captain Vikram Batra, received it posthumously for the Kargil conflict of 1999. Option C, Subedar Joginder Singh, received it posthumously for the war of 1962. Option D, Abdul Hamid, received it posthumously for destroying enemy tanks at Asal Uttar in the war of 1965. All four are genuine recipients, so the question turns entirely on the date, and 1947 with Badgam points to Somnath Sharma. The peacetime equivalent of this decoration is the Ashoka Chakra, instituted in 1952.

The correct answer is C, 1995. The prize was instituted in 1995, the year of the one hundred and twenty-fifth birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and it is given for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods; it carries one crore rupees, a citation and a piece of traditional handicraft, and it is administered by the Ministry of Culture. Option A, 1969, was Gandhi's birth centenary year and also the year of the first Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which makes it a tempting choice. Option B, 1985, is the year of the Dronacharya Award for coaches. Option D, 2001, has no connection with the prize. The award may be given to individuals as well as institutions, and it is open to people of any nationality.