Honours and Awards Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The wrestler given the Khel Ratna for 2019 was Bajrang Punia.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2019 went jointly to wrestler Bajrang Punia and para-athlete Deepa Malik. Bajrang won it on the strength of gold at the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Deepa Malik shared the award but is a para-athlete, not a wrestler. Sushil Kumar received the award in 2009, and Sardara Singh, a hockey player, in 2017.

Answer: C

Winston Churchill received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Swedish Academy awarded him the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his mastery of historical and biographical description, notably his history of the Second World War, and for his brilliant oratory.

He was never awarded the Peace Prize, and there is no Nobel connection between him and physics. The economics prize was only created in 1968.

Answer: A

Gopaldas Neeraj received the National Kavi Pradeep Samman.

The Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep Samman is a national honour of the Madhya Pradesh government named after Kavi Pradeep, the lyricist of Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon. It recognises poetry and film lyrics, which fits Neeraj, the Hindi poet and film lyricist whose songs include Kaarvaan Guzar Gaya.

The other three are not real award titles of this kind. 'National Literature Award' and 'National Hindi Award' are generic phrases, and a 'Best bookseller award' has nothing to do with a poet's work.

Answer: D

Nobel Prizes are awarded for All of the above.

Alfred Nobel's will set up prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace, first awarded in 1901. The prize in Economic Sciences was created in 1968 by Sweden's central bank in his memory and is awarded alongside them, so it is counted among the Nobel Prizes in this question.

Each of the first three options names some of the disciplines, so only the option covering all of them is complete.

Answer: C

The answer is Dr. Zakir Hussian (Zakir Husain).

Zakir Husain received the Bharat Ratna in 1963 and became President of India in 1967, so he was honoured before taking office.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad received the award in 1962, after serving as President from 1950. V. V. Giri received it in 1975, after his term as President ended. R. Venkataraman has not been awarded the Bharat Ratna.

Answer: A

All four statements are incorrect.

1. The first non-Indian to receive the Bharat Ratna was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987); the Dalai Lama has not received it.
2. The Nobel Peace Prize 2023 went to Narges Mohammadi of Iran; Nadia Murad shared the 2018 prize.
3. China won its first Olympic medal only in 1984. Asian medals were won long before that, for example by Norman Pritchard for India in 1900.
4. Arjan Singh was the only Marshal of the Indian Air Force. The Army's Field Marshals were Sam Manekshaw and K.M. Cariappa.

Since every statement is wrong, the options listing only some of them are incomplete.

Answer: C

The correct statement is the one about the Sahitya Akademi award.

The Sahitya Akademi gives its annual awards in 24 languages: the 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule plus English and Rajasthani.

The others are wrong. The first Jnanpith Award (1965) went to G. Sankara Kurup for Malayalam poetry; Amrita Pritam received it in 1981. The first Sahitya Akademi award in Punjabi (1955) went to Bhai Vir Singh for Mere Saiyan Jiyo; Nanak Singh won it later for Ik Mian Do Talwaran. The Jnanpith is given for Eighth Schedule languages and English; Haryanvi has no place in it.

Answer: C

The 1986 Murtidevi Award went to Kanhaiya Lal Sethia.

The Moortidevi Award of the Bharatiya Jnanpith was given in 1986 to the Rajasthani and Hindi poet Kanhaiyalal Sethia, known for his patriotic and Rajasthani poetry such as Dharti Dhoran Ri.

Vijaydan Detha was a celebrated Rajasthani storyteller, Kaviraj Shyamal Das wrote the history Vir Vinod in the 19th century, and Birbal Singh was not the 1986 recipient.

Answer: C

The award is the Amrita devi memorial award.

The Rajasthan government gives the Amrita Devi Bishnoi Smriti Paryavaran Puraskar for work in protecting forests, wildlife and the environment. It honours Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who in 1730 gave her life at Khejarli near Jodhpur with 363 Bishnois to protect khejri trees from being cut.

The other names are invented variations, and no state environmental award carries them.

Answer: C

The answer is Param Vishistha Seva Medal, the only one of the four decorations that Lieutenant General Padam Singh Shekhawat holds.

He appears in the Republic Day 2025 list of defence decorations, as Lieutenant General Padam Singh Shekhawat, AVSM, SM, Mechanised Infantry, under the Param Vishisht Seva Medal. The question calls it a gallantry award, but the PVSM is strictly a distinguished-service decoration for exceptional service of the highest order in peace time, so the word 'gallantry' is loose. It is the only option that fits him.

The Param Vir Chakra, the Veer Chakra and the Kirti Chakra are real gallantry awards, but he has not received any of them. The Kirti Chakras in that list went to other personnel, so none of these three is correct. The post-nominals AVSM and SM that follow his name are his earlier decorations, a distinguished-service medal and a Sena Medal for gallantry.