Who was the first President of the Sahitya Akademi?
- A.Dr. Rajendra Prasad
- B.Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
- C.Jawaharlal Nehru
- D.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Jawaharlal Nehru. The Prime Minister was the first President of the Sahitya Akademi, elected when the academy was set up in 1954, and he held the office until his death in 1964. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was its first Vice President and succeeded him as President.
Option A, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was the first President of India and inaugurated several national institutions of the period, but he did not head the Akademi. Option B, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the philosopher who later became President of India, was the Akademi's first Vice President and its second President, which makes him the strongest distractor in the set. Option D, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was the first Education Minister of India and the moving spirit behind the three national academies, and he was the first Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, so his name belongs to the same story but to a different chair.
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
Show answer
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
Show answer
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
Show answer
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
Show answer
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
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →