Sports, Awards and Institutions · Chapter 3

National and International Awards, Nobel Prizes and Scientific Honours

What to remember

Civilian awards of India rise in order: Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Bharat Ratna. Bharat Ratna is the highest. The Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day; the Bharat Ratna may be announced at any time.
Gallantry awards in peace and war are ordered: Param Vir Chakra (war, highest), Mahavir Chakra, Vir Chakra; Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Shaurya Chakra (peacetime).
The Nobel Prize is given in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace. Economics has a related prize. The Peace Prize is given at Oslo; the others at Stockholm.

Indian civilian honours

Award	Started	Key facts
Bharat Ratna	1954	Highest civilian honour. For exceptional service in any field. Medal in the shape of a peepal leaf. Not more than three in a year
Padma Vibhushan	1954	Second-highest civilian honour. For exceptional and distinguished service
Padma Bhushan	1954	Third-highest. For distinguished service of a high order
Padma Shri	1954	Fourth-highest. For distinguished service in any field

The first Bharat Ratna awards went to C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman. The Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards are not titles. They cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to a name. They carry no cash prize. The awards are given by the President of India, usually in March or April at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Sachin Tendulkar was the first sportsperson to get the Bharat Ratna. Among Telugu people, P. V. Narasimha Rao has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna.

The Government of India also gives the Gandhi Peace Prize (for work in non-violent social change); the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is given by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

Gallantry awards

Type	Highest	Next	Third
In wartime	Param Vir Chakra	Mahavir Chakra	Vir Chakra
In peacetime	Ashoka Chakra	Kirti Chakra	Shaurya Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra was started in 1950. Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient. The Ashoka Chakra is the peacetime equal of the Param Vir Chakra. These awards recognise acts of bravery by members of the armed forces and, in some cases, civilians.

Literature, arts and cinema awards in India

Award	Given by or for	Remark
Jnanpith Award	Bharatiya Jnanpith, for literature in Indian languages	First awarded in 1965 to the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup. Highest literary award of India
Sahitya Akademi Award	Sahitya Akademi, for literature in the 24 languages it recognises	Started in 1954
Saraswati Samman	K. K. Birla Foundation, for outstanding literary work in an Indian language	Given for a book published in the last ten years
Dadasaheb Phalke Award	Government of India, for lifetime contribution to cinema	Started in 1969. First winner was Devika Rani
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award	For music, dance and drama	Given by the national academy for performing arts
National Film Awards	Government of India	Highest film honour is the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus)

Telugu writers who won the Jnanpith Award include Viswanatha Satyanarayana, C. Narayana Reddy and Ravuri Bharadwaja. Viswanatha Satyanarayana was honoured for his epic work "Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu".

The Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes come from the will of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist who invented dynamite. The first prizes were given in 1901. They are given on 10 December, the day Nobel died. The Swedish Academy of Sciences gives the Physics, Chemistry and Economics awards. The Karolinska Institute gives the Medicine award. The Swedish Academy gives the Literature award. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chooses the Peace Prize, which is presented at Oslo. All the others are presented at Stockholm. The Economics prize was added in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in memory of Alfred Nobel. It is not one of the original five.

Indian or Indian-origin laureate	Field	Remark
Rabindranath Tagore	Literature	First Asian Nobel winner, for "Gitanjali"
C. V. Raman	Physics	Raman effect. First Asian to win a science Nobel
Har Gobind Khorana	Medicine	Indian-origin. Work on the genetic code
Mother Teresa	Peace	Founder of Missionaries of Charity
S. Chandrasekhar	Physics	Indian-origin. Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars
Amartya Sen	Economics	Work on welfare economics and famine
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	Chemistry	Indian-origin. Work on the structure of the ribosome
Kailash Satyarthi	Peace	Shared with Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan for child rights
Abhijit Banerjee	Economics	Indian-origin. Shared for work on reducing poverty

Malala Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel laureate. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated several times for the Peace Prize but never won. The International Committee of the Red Cross has won the Peace Prize more than once. A Nobel Prize is not given after death, with only rare exceptions made before the rule was made firm. A prize can be shared by up to three people.

Scientific and other international honours

Honour	Field and note
Fields Medal	Mathematics. Given by the International Mathematical Union. Awarded every four years to people under 40
Abel Prize	Mathematics. Given by Norway
Turing Award	Computer science. Given by the Association for Computing Machinery
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize	Indian science honour from CSIR, named after the first Director of CSIR; since 2023 merged into the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar as the Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award
Kalinga Prize	UNESCO prize for popularising science
Pulitzer Prize	Journalism, letters and music in the United States
Booker Prize	Fiction in English. Winners include Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things)
Magsaysay Award	Asia. Named after a Philippines president. Called the Asian Nobel
Oscar (Academy Award)	Cinema, in the United States. Satyajit Ray received an honorary one
Grammy	Music, in the United States
International Booker Prize (earlier Man Booker International)	Translated fiction
Right Livelihood Award	Called the alternative Nobel, from Sweden

Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Oscar, for costume design on the film "Gandhi". The Indian songs and films that won Oscars in later years show the global reach of Indian cinema.

How the awards are chosen and announced

The Padma awards are decided by a committee that is set up each year by the Prime Minister. The committee recommends names to the Prime Minister and the President. The list is released on the eve of Republic Day. People from any field, including arts, social work, science, trade, medicine, literature, sports and public affairs, can be honoured. The awards are open to Indian citizens. Foreigners and persons of Indian origin may also be honoured under a separate category.

The Nobel Prize committees keep nominations secret. The Nobel Prize gives a medal, a diploma and a cash award. The Prize Ceremony is held on 10 December every year. The Literature Prize is chosen by the Swedish Academy. The Peace Prize committee is appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.

Other well-known prizes

Prize	Field	Note
Ramon Magsaysay Award	Public service in Asia	Several Indians have won, including Vinoba Bhave
Pulitzer	Journalism and letters	USA
Sahitya Akademi Fellowship	Literature	Highest honour of the Sahitya Akademi
Tansen Samman	Music	Given in Madhya Pradesh
Kalidas Samman	Classical music, dance, theatre and plastic arts	Given in Madhya Pradesh
Gandhi Peace Prize	Social change	Given by the Government of India
UNESCO Kalinga Prize	Science writing	Named after an Odisha kingdom
Pritzker Prize	Architecture	Called the Nobel of architecture. Balkrishna Doshi won it
Wolf Prize	Science and arts	Given in Israel

Many of these awards have a medal, a certificate and a cash prize, except the Padma awards which carry no cash prize. A cash prize is a feature of the Nobel, Jnanpith and Saraswati Samman. The Jnanpith Award includes a statue of Saraswati.

Short notes on important laureates

Rabindranath Tagore wrote "Gitanjali" and also wrote the national anthem. C. V. Raman discovered that light changes its wavelength when it passes through a transparent material. National Science Day is celebrated on 28 February to mark this discovery. Mother Teresa worked among the poor at Kolkata. Amartya Sen worked on poverty and welfare. Kailash Satyarthi led the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a movement against child labour. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan studied how the ribosome makes proteins.

Awards for Telugu people include the Jnanpith, the Sahitya Akademi and the Padma awards. Telugu cinema has also won national honours. Students should learn the name of the award together with the field, the first winner, the year it started and the giving body. These four facts are the most common question patterns.

Exam traps

Nobel Economics: It is not one of the original five prizes. It was added in 1968.
Peace Prize location: It is presented at Oslo; all other Nobel prizes are presented at Stockholm.
Tagore versus Raman: Tagore won in Literature; Raman won in Physics.
Khorana and Chandrasekhar: Indian-origin but foreign citizens, not counted as Indian citizens in the strict sense.
Param Vir Chakra versus Ashoka Chakra: Param Vir Chakra is for war; Ashoka Chakra is for peacetime.
Padma awards: They are not titles and carry no cash prize.
Jnanpith versus Sahitya Akademi: Jnanpith is the highest literary prize; the Sahitya Akademi gives awards by language.
Phalke versus National Film Awards: Phalke is a lifetime award; National Film Awards are yearly for films.

One-liners

1. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour of India and was started in 1954.
2. The Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day.
3. Param Vir Chakra is the highest gallantry award in wartime.
4. Major Somnath Sharma was the first Param Vir Chakra recipient.
5. Dadasaheb Phalke Award was started in 1969.
6. The first Jnanpith winner was G. Sankara Kurup.
7. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.
8. Nobel Prizes are presented on 10 December.
9. Tagore was the first Asian Nobel laureate, in Literature.
10. C. V. Raman won the Nobel in Physics for the Raman effect.
11. Amartya Sen won in Economics.
12. The Fields Medal is for Mathematics.

Practice questions

Which is the highest civilian honour of India?
1. Padma Bhushan
2. Bharat Ratna
3. Padma Vibhushan
4. Padma Shri
Answer
B. Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour.
The Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards were started in
1. 1950
2. 1947
3. 1969
4. 1954
Answer
D. 1954
They were instituted in 1954.
The Padma awards are announced on the eve of
1. Gandhi Jayanti
2. Teachers' Day
3. Independence Day
4. Republic Day
Answer
D. Republic Day
The list is released on the eve of Republic Day.
Padma Vibhushan ranks as the
1. third-highest civilian honour
2. fourth-highest civilian honour
3. second-highest civilian honour
4. highest civilian honour
Answer
C. second-highest civilian honour
The order is Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.
Which is the highest gallantry award in wartime?
1. Ashoka Chakra
2. Param Vir Chakra
3. Kirti Chakra
4. Shaurya Chakra
Answer
B. Param Vir Chakra
Param Vir Chakra is the highest wartime gallantry award.
Who was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra?
1. Major Somnath Sharma
2. Havildar Abdul Hamid
3. Captain Vikram Batra
4. Lt Arun Khetarpal
Answer
A. Major Somnath Sharma
Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient.
Which is the highest gallantry award in peacetime?
1. Mahavir Chakra
2. Vir Chakra
3. Param Vir Chakra
4. Ashoka Chakra
Answer
D. Ashoka Chakra
Ashoka Chakra is the peacetime equal of the Param Vir Chakra.
Who was the first winner of the Jnanpith Award?
1. Harivansh Rai Bachchan
2. Rabindranath Tagore
3. G. Sankara Kurup
4. Premchand
Answer
C. G. Sankara Kurup
The Malayalam poet won it in 1965.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given for
1. lifetime contribution to Indian cinema
2. best scientist
3. best sportsperson
4. best film of the year
Answer
A. lifetime contribution to Indian cinema
It is the highest honour in Indian cinema.
Who was the first winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award?
1. Raj Kapoor
2. Devika Rani
3. Lata Mangeshkar
4. Satyajit Ray
Answer
B. Devika Rani
Devika Rani was the first recipient.
In which year were the first Nobel Prizes given?
1. 1920
2. 1895
3. 1901
4. 1913
Answer
C. 1901
The first prizes were given in 1901.
Nobel Prizes are presented every year on
1. 24 October
2. 10 October
3. 1 January
4. 10 December
Answer
D. 10 December
This is the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel Peace Prize is presented at
1. Oslo
2. Geneva
3. Paris
4. Stockholm
Answer
A. Oslo
Other prizes are presented at Stockholm.
Alfred Nobel, who founded the Nobel Prizes, invented
1. penicillin
2. dynamite
3. the telephone
4. the radio
Answer
B. dynamite
Nobel was a Swedish chemist who invented dynamite.
Who was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize?
1. Mother Teresa
2. C. V. Raman
3. Rabindranath Tagore
4. Amartya Sen
Answer
C. Rabindranath Tagore
Tagore won the Literature prize for Gitanjali.
C. V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in
1. Physics
2. Medicine
3. Chemistry
4. Literature
Answer
A. Physics
He was honoured for the Raman effect.
Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in
1. Physics
2. Economics
3. Peace
4. Literature
Answer
B. Economics
He won it for work on welfare economics.
Mother Teresa received the Nobel Prize for
1. Medicine
2. Literature
3. Economics
4. Peace
Answer
D. Peace
She founded the Missionaries of Charity.
Kailash Satyarthi shared the Nobel Peace Prize with
1. Malala Yousafzai
2. Wangari Maathai
3. Mother Teresa
4. Barack Obama
Answer
A. Malala Yousafzai
Both were honoured for children's rights.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in
1. Economics
2. Chemistry
3. Medicine
4. Physics
Answer
B. Chemistry
His work was on the structure of the ribosome.
The Nobel Prize in Economics was added in
1. 1925
2. 1990
3. 1901
4. 1968
Answer
D. 1968
It was added by the Swedish central bank in 1968.
The Fields Medal is given in the field of
1. Medicine
2. Physics
3. Mathematics
4. Chemistry
Answer
C. Mathematics
It is the top honour in mathematics.
The Turing Award is given for
1. computer science
2. architecture
3. poetry
4. public service
Answer
A. computer science
It is given by the Association for Computing Machinery.
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is associated with which body?
1. ISRO
2. ICMR
3. DRDO
4. CSIR
Answer
D. CSIR
It is named after the first Director of CSIR.
Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for
1. Midnight's Children
2. The God of Small Things
3. Gitanjali
4. The White Tiger
Answer
B. The God of Small Things
She won it for her novel.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award is given in honour of a former president of
1. Indonesia
2. Malaysia
3. the Philippines
4. Japan
Answer
C. the Philippines
It is called the Asian Nobel.
Bhanu Athaiya won India's first Oscar for
1. music
2. costume design
3. direction
4. editing
Answer
B. costume design
She won for the film Gandhi.
Which Telugu poet won the Jnanpith Award for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu?
1. Dasarathi
2. Sri Sri
3. Gurajada Apparao
4. Viswanatha Satyanarayana
Answer
D. Viswanatha Satyanarayana
He was honoured for his epic work.
The Padma awards carry
1. a title to be used before the name
2. a lifetime pension
3. no cash prize and are not titles
4. a large cash prize
Answer
C. no cash prize and are not titles
They cannot be used as prefix or suffix.
The Gandhi Peace Prize is given by the
1. Government of India
2. UNESCO
3. Norwegian Parliament
4. Swedish Academy
Answer
A. Government of India
It honours non-violent social change.
The Saraswati Samman is given by the
1. Bharatiya Jnanpith
2. Ministry of Culture
3. K. K. Birla Foundation
4. Sahitya Akademi
Answer
C. K. K. Birla Foundation
It honours outstanding literary work.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is chosen by the
1. Swedish Academy
2. Norwegian Nobel Committee
3. Karolinska Institute
4. Royal Society
Answer
A. Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy chooses the Literature winner.
Consider these statements. 1. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour of India. 2. It was started in 1954. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
C. Both 1 and 2
Both are correct.
Consider these statements. 1. The Param Vir Chakra is a peacetime award. 2. The Ashoka Chakra is a wartime award. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
D. Neither 1 nor 2
The reverse is true.
Consider these statements. 1. The Nobel Prize in Economics was one of the original five prizes. 2. The first Nobel Prizes were given in 1901. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
B. 2 only
Economics was added in 1968.
Consider these statements. 1. Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature. 2. C. V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
C. Both 1 and 2
Both are correct.
Consider these statements. 1. The Nobel Peace Prize is presented at Oslo. 2. The Economics prize was among the original five prizes. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Economics was added later.
Consider these statements. 1. Padma awards may be used as titles before a name. 2. Padma awards carry no cash prize. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
B. 2 only
They are not titles.
Consider these statements. 1. The Fields Medal is given for mathematics. 2. The Turing Award is given for physics. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Turing Award is for computer science.
Consider these statements. 1. Kailash Satyarthi shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Malala Yousafzai. 2. Abhijit Banerjee shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
C. Both 1 and 2
Both are correct.
Consider these statements. 1. The first Jnanpith Award was given in 1965. 2. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was also started in 1965. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Phalke Award started in 1969.
Consider these statements. 1. Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. 2. Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Sen won in Economics.
Consider these statements. 1. Har Gobind Khorana won the Nobel Prize in Physics. 2. S. Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Which is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
B. 2 only
Khorana won in Medicine.
Which pair is correctly matched?
1. Pulitzer Prize : mathematics
2. Abel Prize : medicine
3. Fields Medal : literature
4. Booker Prize : fiction in English
Answer
D. Booker Prize : fiction in English
Booker Prize is for fiction in English.
National Science Day on 28 February marks the announcement of
1. the first Indian satellite
2. the Chandrasekhar limit
3. the Green Revolution
4. the Raman effect
Answer
D. the Raman effect
The day marks the discovery of the Raman effect.

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Chapter quiz · 8 questions

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अध्याय पढ़ने के बाद अभ्यास करें।

1.________ was posthumously conferred the second-highest civilian award in India, the Padma Vibhushan in the field of public affairs in 2023.
2.Which Indian award was established in the year 1982, to promote and encourage scientific efforts in the field of environment and ecology?
3.Pandit Ram Narayan, who was awarded the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015–2016, is a _______ player.
4.Padma Shri awardee (2023) Guru K Kalyanasundaram Pillai is an exponent of which of the following classical dance genres?
5.Purushottam Dadheech, a renowned Kathak dancer who had been honoured with Padma Shri award for 2020, is associated with which of the following places?
6.In 2022, Arjun Singh Dhurve was honoured with the Padma Shri Award for his contribution in which of the following Indian folk-dance forms?
7.For which song did Tanvi Shah become the first Indian woman to win a Grammy Award in 2010?
8.Who among the following Dance Gurus got Padma Vibhushan in the year 2000?

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