UP Police Constable · Bite-size lessons
Awards & Honours
About 6 min · General Knowledge · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 426 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Awards and honours represent national and international recognition of excellence in various fields. Key areas are recent recipients, the hierarchy of awards, eligibility criteria, and award categories.
Key ideas
- Order of Precedence: Indian civilian awards follow a strict hierarchy — Bharat Ratna (highest), Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri. Gallantry awards have separate hierarchies for wartime and peacetime.
- Civilian vs. Gallantry Awards: Civilian awards recognize excellence in arts, literature, science, public service, sports, and social work. Gallantry awards honour acts of bravery and valour by armed forces and civilians.
- Award Categories: Padma awards are announced on Republic Day (January 26) and conferred by the President. Bharat Ratna has no fixed number per year and can be awarded posthumously.
- Gallantry Award Hierarchy (Wartime): Param Vir Chakra (highest), Maha Vir Chakra, Vir Chakra. For peacetime: Ashok Chakra (highest), Kirti Chakra, Shaurya Chakra.
- Nobel Prize Categories: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine/Physiology, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences. Indian Nobel laureates include Rabindranath Tagore, CV Raman, Mother Teresa, Amartya Sen, Kailash Satyarthi, and Abhijit Banerjee.
Watch out for
- Confusing Ashok Chakra with Param Vir Chakra: Students mix these up. Remember PVC = wartime highest, Ashok Chakra = peacetime highest. They are equivalent in rank but awarded under different circumstances.
- Assuming Bharat Ratna must be given every year: Bharat Ratna has no annual quota. Some years see multiple awards, other years none. There is no compulsion to award it annually. Maximum 3 per year is only an upper limit.
- Mixing Padma award tiers: Students often reverse Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. Correct order: Vibhushan (higher) > Bhushan > Shri. "Vibhushan" sounds grander — that's the second-highest civilian award.
Quick reference
- Civilian award order: Bharat Ratna > Padma Vibhushan > Padma Bhushan > Padma Shri.
- Wartime gallantry order: Param Vir Chakra > Maha Vir Chakra > Vir Chakra.
- Peacetime gallantry order: Ashok Chakra > Kirti Chakra > Shaurya Chakra.
- Bharat Ratna 2024: Karpoori Thakur, LK Advani, PV Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary Charan Singh, MS Swaminathan (all posthumous except Advani).
- First Indian Nobel: Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature).
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Which of the following is the highest civilian award in India?
2. The Param Vir Chakra is awarded for which of the following?
3. Who among the following was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for the struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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