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🔒 Log in to trackAwards & Honours
🔒 Log in to trackAward questions ask who got the first one, what a prize is for, or which year it began. Learn four groups: civilian honours, gallantry awards, Nobel laureates and sports awards. Then add the big international prizes by field.
Civilian honours
The order of precedence is Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri. All four began in 1954. The Padma awards are announced on Republic Day eve.
| Bharat Ratna fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| First three (1954) | C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, C.V. Raman |
| First woman | Indira Gandhi (1971) |
| First posthumous | Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) |
| First sportsperson | Sachin Tendulkar (2014) |
| First non-Indians | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987), Nelson Mandela (1990) |
Normally at most three Bharat Ratnas are given in a year.
Tip: Remember RRR for 1954: Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan, Raman.
Gallantry awards
The Param Vir Chakra (1950) is the highest wartime gallantry award. Below it come the Maha Vir Chakra and the Vir Chakra. The Ashoka Chakra (1952) is its peacetime counterpart.
The first Param Vir Chakra went to Major Somnath Sharma (1947, posthumous).
Nobel Prizes
The prizes began in 1901. The categories are Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace. Economics was added in 1969 by Sweden's central bank, not under Nobel's will.
| Person | Year | Field |
|---|---|---|
| Rabindranath Tagore | 1913 | Literature (first Asian) |
| C.V. Raman | 1930 | Physics |
| Hargobind Khorana | 1968 | Medicine |
| Mother Teresa | 1979 | Peace |
| Amartya Sen | 1998 | Economics |
| V. Ramakrishnan | 2009 | Chemistry |
| Kailash Satyarthi | 2014 | Peace (with Malala Yousafzai) |
| Abhijit Banerjee | 2019 | Economics |
Marie Curie was the first woman laureate (Physics 1903). She is the only one to win in two sciences (Chemistry 1911).
Literary and arts awards
| Award | Started | Key fact |
|---|---|---|
| Jnanpith | 1965 | Highest literary award; first winner G. Sankara Kurup (Malayalam, Odakkuzhal) |
| Sahitya Akademi | 1955 | Literature, 24 languages |
| Dadasaheb Phalke | 1969 | Highest cinema honour; first winner Devika Rani |
International prizes by field
- Booker: English fiction; first awarded 1969 to P.H. Newby.
- Pulitzer (1917): American journalism and letters.
- Oscar (Academy Award): film. Grammy: music. Pritzker: architecture.
- Abel Prize (2003, Norway) and Fields Medal: mathematics. The Fields Medal is for work done under 40, every four years.
- Turing Award: computer science. Kalinga Prize: popularising science (UNESCO).
- Ramon Magsaysay (1958): the 'Asian Nobel', named after a Philippine president.
- Gandhi Peace Prize (1995): set up by India; first won by Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.
Sports awards of India
| Award | Started | For |
|---|---|---|
| Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna | 1991-92 | Highest sports honour |
| Arjuna | 1961 | Sportspersons |
| Dronacharya | 1985 | Coaches |
| Dhyan Chand Award | 2002 | Lifetime achievement in sport |
| MAKA Trophy | - | Best university in sports |
The Khel Ratna was renamed from Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2021. Its first winner was Viswanathan Anand.
Watch: Dronacharya is for coaches. Arjuna is for players.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Bharat Ratna: firsts and recipients
The stem asks for the first Bharat Ratna recipient, or the first woman, posthumous or sportsperson.
Anchor 1954 and the RRR trio.
Recall the firsts: woman Indira Gandhi (1971), posthumous Shastri (1966), sportsperson Tendulkar (2014).
Remember the order of precedence: Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.
Each 'first' has exactly one name, so recall by category.
Who was the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna?
Show solutionHide solution
Bharat Ratna to a sportsperson came in 2014.
The recipient was Sachin Tendulkar.
He was announced with C.N.R. Rao and was its youngest recipient at 40.
Sachin Tendulkar
Nobel Prize: categories and Indian laureates
The stem asks for the first Indian laureate, a laureate by year, or when Economics was added.
Recall the table in year order.
Match field to name: Tagore Literature, Raman Physics, Khorana Medicine.
For Peace: Mother Teresa 1979, Satyarthi 2014.
Economics: Sen 1998, Banerjee 2019; the prize dates from 1969.
Year and field together fix each laureate.
Who was the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize?
Show solutionHide solution
The earliest Indian laureate is in 1913.
Tagore won the Literature prize that year for Gitanjali.
Raman's Physics prize came in 1930.
Rabindranath Tagore
Gallantry awards: hierarchy and firsts
The stem asks for the highest gallantry award, the first PVC or the peacetime equivalent.
Write the wartime ladder: Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Vir Chakra.
Recall the first PVC: Major Somnath Sharma (1947, posthumous).
Pair the peacetime award: Ashoka Chakra.
The ladder gives the answer to both rank and equivalence questions.
The Ashoka Chakra is awarded for what?
Show solutionHide solution
It is the peacetime counterpart of the Param Vir Chakra.
It honours bravery or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.
Peacetime gallantry
Literary, arts and international prizes
The stem asks the highest literary award, the first Phalke winner, or the field of Abel, Fields or Turing.
India first: Jnanpith 1965 (Kurup), Phalke 1969 (Devika Rani).
Then world prizes: Booker, Pulitzer, Magsaysay, Gandhi Peace Prize.
Then specialist prizes: Abel and Fields for mathematics, Turing for computer science.
Field and year make each prize unique.
The Fields Medal, awarded every four years, honours achievement in which field?
Show solutionHide solution
The Fields Medal is a mathematics prize.
It goes only to mathematicians under 40.
The Abel Prize (2003) is mathematics' other big award.
Mathematics
Sports awards of India
The stem asks the highest sporting honour, the first Khel Ratna, or what Arjuna and Dronacharya are for.
Recall the Khel Ratna, first winner Anand, renamed 2021.
Pair Dronacharya with coaches and Arjuna with players.
Add Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime work and MAKA Trophy for the best university.
Each award has one audience: player, coach or institution.
The Arjuna Award (instituted 1961) is given for what?
Show solutionHide solution
Arjuna is for players.
It honours consistent outstanding performance by sportspersons.
The Dronacharya Award honours their coaches.
Outstanding performance by sportspersons
Start year of an award
The stem asks in which year Jnanpith, Phalke, Magsaysay or the Khel Ratna began.
Recall the decade ladder: 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s.
Match the exact year: Jnanpith 1965, Phalke 1969, Magsaysay 1958, Gandhi Peace Prize 1995.
Cross-check with the field, such as literature or cinema.
The decade ladder narrows four options to one.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award for cinema was instituted in which year?
Show solutionHide solution
Phalke fits the 1960s rung.
It began in 1969.
Its first winner was Devika Rani.
1969
Shortcuts that save time
The first Bharat Ratnas were Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan and Raman. Three Rs, one year: 1954.
Who was NOT among the first Bharat Ratna recipients in 1954? (a) C.V. Raman (b) S. Radhakrishnan (c) Jawaharlal Nehru (d) C. Rajagopalachari
Show solutionHide solution
The 1954 trio is the three Rs.
Nehru is not among them; he received it in 1955.
(c) Jawaharlal Nehru
1950s: Bharat Ratna (1954). 1960s: Arjuna (1961), Jnanpith (1965), Phalke (1969). 1980s: Dronacharya (1985). 1990s: Khel Ratna (1991-92).
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Giving Dronacharya to players.
Dronacharya is for coaches. Arjuna is for players.
Naming Prithviraj Kapoor as the first Phalke winner.
Devika Rani was first. Prithviraj Kapoor received it in 1971, after his death.
Mixing the Khel Ratna with the Dhyan Chand Award.
The Khel Ratna was renamed in 2021. The Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime work is separate.
Saying Nehru got a Bharat Ratna in 1954.
The 1954 trio was Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan and Raman.
Using the Param Vir Chakra for peacetime bravery.
Param Vir Chakra is wartime. Ashoka Chakra is its peacetime counterpart.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
1954: Bharat Ratna and the three Padma awards; first trio Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan, Raman.
Param Vir Chakra: first to Major Somnath Sharma (posthumous); peacetime equal is Ashoka Chakra.
Nobel: Tagore 1913, Raman 1930, Khorana 1968, Mother Teresa 1979, Sen 1998, Ramakrishnan 2009, Satyarthi 2014, Banerjee 2019.
Jnanpith 1965 (Kurup); Phalke 1969 (Devika Rani); Magsaysay 1958; Gandhi Peace Prize 1995 (Nyerere).
Khel Ratna first winner Anand; Dronacharya is for coaches; Arjuna is for players.
Fields Medal and Abel Prize are for mathematics; Turing is for computer science.
Practice: 17 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 3 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.