In how many languages does the Sahitya Akademi give its annual awards?
- A.18
- B.22
- C.24
- D.28
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 24. The Sahitya Akademi recognises twenty-four languages and gives one award in each of them every year for the most outstanding book of literary merit, so roughly two dozen names are announced together. The twenty-four are the twenty-two languages of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution together with English and Rajasthani.
Option A, 18, was the number of languages in the Eighth Schedule before the 92nd Constitutional Amendment of 2003 added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali, and it survives in older books. Option B, 22, is the present number of Eighth Schedule languages and so is the most tempting wrong answer; the Akademi's list is wider because it adds English and Rajasthani to it. Option D, 28, matches no list of languages in this context. For work in languages outside the twenty-four, the Akademi gives the Bhasha Samman, instituted in 1996.
Read the full article: Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi: Awards and Winners
Practice Questions
View allWho among the following was awarded the 55th Jnanpith Award?
- A.Amitav Ghosh
- B.Raghuveer Chaudhari
- C.Chandrashekhara Kambara
- D.Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
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The Malayalam poet, known simply as Akkitham, received the 55th Jnanpith Award, given for the year 2019. He was the sixth Malayalam writer to be honoured, the language whose G. Sankara Kurup had won the very first Jnanpith for 1965.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the Jnanpith Award instituted?
- A.1944
- B.1954
- C.1961
- D.1965
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The Jnanpith Award was instituted in 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith, and it is regarded as the highest literary honour given in India.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first recipient of the Jnanpith Award?
- A.G. Sankara Kurup
- B.Sumitranandan Pant
- C.Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
- D.Kuvempu
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The Malayalam poet received the first Jnanpith Award, for the year 1965, for his collection of poems Odakkuzhal, meaning the reed flute.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first woman writer to receive the Jnanpith Award?
- A.Mahadevi Verma
- B.Ashapurna Devi
- C.Amrita Pritam
- D.Mahashweta Devi
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The Bengali novelist received the Jnanpith for the year 1976 for Pratham Pratishruti, the first book of a trilogy about three generations of women in a Bengali household, and she was the first woman to be honoured with the award.
Read the full explanation →A recipient of the Jnanpith Award is presented with a bronze statue of which figure?
- A.Vagdevi, the goddess Saraswati
- B.Nataraja
- C.Goddess Lakshmi
- D.Gautama Buddha
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Along with a citation and a cash prize, every Jnanpith laureate receives a bronze replica of Vagdevi, Saraswati as the goddess of speech and learning, which is a fitting emblem for a literary honour and a detail asked directly in objective papers.
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