Awards & Honours MCQ Questions

Indian Awards & Honours MCQ Questions — Bharat Ratna, Padma, Nobel Prize & Gallantry Awards for UPSC & SSC 2026

Questions on Indian awards and honours appear in virtually every competitive exam that includes a General Awareness section. Indian awards honours MCQ for competitive exams 2026 cover both the static side (when was an award instituted, who was the first recipient, what is the criteria) and the current affairs angle (recent awardees). SSC CGL, IBPS PO, RRB NTPC, and State PSC exams all test this topic — and UPSC Prelims occasionally includes awards questions that link a recipient to their field of contribution.

Bharat Ratna — India's Highest Civilian Award

Bharat Ratna Padma awards questions SSC CGL UPSC are among the most consistent in the awards category. The Bharat Ratna was instituted on January 2, 1954, by President Rajendra Prasad. C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was the first recipient. The award is given for "exceptional service or performance of the highest order" in any field of human endeavour — originally restricted to arts, literature, science, and public service; expanded to all fields in 2011.

Maximum three Bharat Ratnas can be awarded in a year. It is not awarded posthumously as a rule, though exceptions have been made — Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966), Subhash Chandra Bose (1992, later revoked), and M.G. Ramachandran (1988) received posthumous awards. Sachin Tendulkar (2014) was the first sportsperson and the youngest to receive Bharat Ratna. M.S. Subbulakshmi was the first musician to receive it.

The 2024 Bharat Ratna awards were notable for their breadth — Karpoori Thakur (Bihar's former CM, posthumously), LK Advani, PV Narasimha Rao (posthumously), Chaudhary Charan Singh (posthumously), and MS Swaminathan (posthumously) were all honoured. Keeping track of recent recipients is essential for exam preparation.

Padma Awards — Vibhushan, Bhushan & Shri

The Padma Awards — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri — were also instituted in 1954. Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian honour; Padma Bhushan the third; Padma Shri the fourth. They are announced on Republic Day (January 26). These awards were suspended from 1978–79 and 1993–97 but have been given continuously since 1998.

Key distinctions tested in MCQs: Bharat Ratna and Padma awards are civilian awards, not titles — the Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that they cannot be used as suffixes or prefixes to names. Recipients who use them as titles lose them. The Padma Awards committee is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and includes the Home Secretary and other senior officials.

Nobel Prize — Indian Winners & Indian-Origin Scientists

Nobel Prize Indian winners MCQ is high-value because the list is short enough to memorise completely. Indians who have won the Nobel Prize: Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913 — first Asian Nobel laureate), C.V. Raman (Physics, 1930 — for Raman Effect/scattering of light), Har Gobind Khorana (Medicine, 1968 — shared, for genetic code research), Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Physics, 1983 — Chandrasekhar Limit), Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998 — welfare economics), V.S. Naipaul (Literature, 2001 — Indo-Trinidadian), Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009 — ribosome structure), Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014 — with Malala Yousafzai), Abhijit Banerjee (Economics, 2019 — with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer).

The Nobel Prize was established by Alfred Nobel (inventor of dynamite) and first awarded in 1901. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo (Norway); all other prizes in Stockholm (Sweden). The Economics prize (officially Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) was added in 1969 — the only one not in Nobel's original will.

Gallantry Awards — Wartime & Peacetime

Gallantry awards national film awards questions are common in defence-related competitive exams (CDS, CAPF, NDA) and SSC CGL. India's wartime gallantry awards in order of precedence: Param Vir Chakra (PVC — highest, equivalent to Victoria Cross), Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), and Vir Chakra (VrC). Peacetime gallantry awards: Ashoka Chakra (highest peacetime gallantry, equivalent to PVC), Kirti Chakra, and Shaurya Chakra.

Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra (posthumous) for action in J&K in 1947. Captain Vikram Batra (Operation Vijay, Kargil 1999) and Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav (youngest PVC recipient, Kargil) are frequently asked names. The Param Vir Chakra citation reads "For most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy."

National Film Awards & Literary Awards

The National Film Awards are given annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Best Feature Film award (Golden Lotus/Swarna Kamal) and Best Direction are the top honours. The Dada Saheb Phalke Award — the highest honour in Indian cinema — is given to individuals for outstanding contribution to the growth of Indian cinema. Dada Saheb Phalke himself (Dhundiraj Govind Phalke) directed India's first feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913).

The Sahitya Akademi Award recognises literary works in 24 languages recognised by the Akademi. The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary award — given for a lifetime contribution to Indian literature. It has been given since 1965; G. Sankara Kurup was the first recipient. The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recognises outstanding contribution to music, dance, and theatre.

Sports Awards

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (formerly Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, renamed in 2021) is India's highest sports honour. The Arjuna Award recognises outstanding performance over four years. The Dronacharya Award honours coaches. The Dhyan Chand Award recognises lifetime contribution to sports. Abhinav Bindra, Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, and Neeraj Chopra are Khel Ratna recipients whose names appear repeatedly in MCQs.

Exam Weightage

• SSC CGL/CHSL: 2–4 questions; Bharat Ratna, Padma, and recent winners
• UPSC Prelims: 1–3 questions; often linked to current affairs awardees
• RRB NTPC: 1–2 questions; gallantry awards and sports honours
• IBPS: 1–3 questions; recent Nobel Prize and national award winners