UPSC GK Questions 2026

Instituted in 2009, it recognises the organisations that build sport rather than the people who play it, under heads such as identifying and nurturing young talent, providing employment to sportspersons and developing sports infrastructure.

The weightlifter received the Khel Ratna in 1994–95, becoming the first woman to be honoured with it, and she went on to win the bronze at the Sydney Olympics of 2000, India’s first Olympic medal by a woman.

Instituted in 1956–57 and named after independent India’s first education minister, it is the oldest of the national sports honours and the only one given to a university, which makes it a favourite question.

Instituted in 2002, it honours sportspersons for the whole of their contribution to their sport, including what they have done for it after their playing days ended, which sets it apart from the awards given for recent performance.

He was born on 29 August 1905, and India has observed National Sports Day on that date since 2012; the national sports awards are tied to the day and are conferred by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In August 2021 the Government renamed the country’s highest sporting honour the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, after the hockey player whose teams won Olympic gold at Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angeles in 1932 and Berlin in 1936.

The Dronacharya Award began in 1985, twenty-four years after the Arjuna Award, and it was the first national honour meant for coaches rather than players; the Lifetime category was added later so that a long career of coaching could be recognised separately from recent work.

Instituted in 1985, the Dronacharya Award honours coaches whose trainees have won medals at the Olympic, Asian or Commonwealth Games or at a World Championship, and it is given in two categories, Regular and Lifetime.

The Arjuna Award is the oldest of the national sports awards and honours a sportsperson for consistently outstanding performance over the four years before the award; the recipient is given a bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll of honour and a cash prize.

The award was instituted in 1991–92 and the chess grandmaster received it in that very first year, which is the fact papers return to most often.

He received the Dronacharya Award of 2021 in the Regular category for table tennis, the award given to coaches whose trainees reach the podium at the Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth or World Championship level.

The Diwan-i-Arz was the military department of the Delhi Sultanate, headed by the ariz-i-mumalik, who recruited soldiers, held the muster, inspected horses and equipment and arranged pay.

Ibrahim Lodi came to the throne in 1517 and almost at once faced Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khatoli, near the Rajasthan border, where the Lodi army was defeated and the Sultan's forces driven back.

The Futuhat-i-Firozshahi is an autobiographical record in which Firoz Shah Tughlaq, who ruled from 1351 to 1388, set down his own works and orders, including his canals, his charitable department the Diwan-i-Khairat, his hospital and his religious policy.

Bahlul Khan Lodi, an Afghan noble and governor of Sirhind, took the throne of Delhi in 1451 after the last Sayyid ruler Alauddin Alam Shah withdrew to Badaun.

Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveller from Tangier who reached Delhi in the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, was taken into royal service as qazi or judge of the capital and was later sent as an envoy to China.

The Khalji dynasty ended in 1320 when Khusrau Khan, who had seized the throne after Mubarak Shah Khalji, was defeated by Ghazi Malik, the governor of Dipalpur.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq, who ruled from 1325 to 1351, issued bronze and copper coins that were to pass at the value of silver.

Kharaj was the land tax on agricultural produce and the single largest source of revenue for the Delhi Sultanate. Alauddin Khalji raised the demand to half the produce in the doab and had land measured for assessment.

Alauddin Khalji, who ruled from 1296 to 1316, wanted a standing army paid directly by the state and under his own eye.