Who received the first Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in 1969?

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.