UPSSSC PET · Bite-size lessons

Awards & Honours

About 7 min · General Awareness · English

Time worked out from the lesson's 522 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.

Awards and honours form a staple component of the General Awareness section in UPSSSC PET. This topic bridges current affairs with static GK, as questions can ask about historical recipients, eligibility criteria, fields of recognition, or recent awardees.

Key ideas

• Civilian awards hierarchy in India: Bharat Ratna (highest) → Padma Vibhushan → Padma Bhushan → Padma Shri. Announced on Republic Day eve; conferred by the President.
• Bharat Ratna is awarded for exceptional service in any field of human endeavour, with no field restrictions. No posthumous bar since 1955 rules amended. Maximum 3 per year (as per the official scheme; 5 were given in 2024).
• Padma awards recognise distinguished service in art, literature, science, public affairs, social work, sports, medicine, trade/industry. Categories: Vibhushan (exceptional), Bhushan (distinguished), Shri (distinguished). Announced by Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Nobel Prize established by Alfred Nobel's will (1895), first awarded 1901. Six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine/Physiology, Literature, Peace, Economic Sciences (added 1968). Administered by Nobel Foundation, Sweden (Peace in Norway). Cash prize currently ~11 million SEK.
• Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honour, instituted 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith. Given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature in any of the 22 scheduled languages or English. Cash award ₹11 lakh, citation, bronze replica of Saraswati.

Watch out for

• Confusing Nobel categories with Indian achievements: Students often misattribute Indian Nobel wins. C. V. Raman won Physics, not Chemistry. Rabindranath Tagore won Literature, not Peace. Mother Teresa won Peace, not a social service Nobel (no such category).
• Mixing Padma award tiers: Padma Vibhushan is higher than Bhushan, which is higher than Shri. Students sometimes reverse Bhushan and Shri. Fix: Remember alphabetically by prestige: Vibhushan (V for very top) > Bhushan (B for below) > Shri (S for standard recognition).
• Assuming Bharat Ratna only for Indian citizens: Non-Indian nationals have received it since 1987 (Nelson Mandela, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan). Fix: Note the phrase "exceptional service to humanity" in the award description—nationality is not a strict bar, though recipients are rare.

Quick reference

• Bharat Ratna – 1954, highest civilian, max 3/year, President confers; recent: Pranab Mukherjee 2019.
• Padma Vibhushan, Bhushan, Shri – Announced Jan 26 eve; fields: art, literature, science, public service, sports.
• Nobel Prize – 6 categories; Indians: Tagore (Lit-1913), Raman (Phy-1930), Mother Teresa (Peace-1979), Sen (Eco-1998), Satyarthi (Peace-2014), Banerjee (Eco-2019).
• Jnanpith – Highest literary, ₹11L, for 22 scheduled languages + English; first: G. Sankara Kurup 1965; recent English: Amitav Ghosh 2018.
• Booker Prize – £50k, English novel; Indians: Rushdie 1981, Roy 1997, Desai 2006, Adiga 2008.

Check yourself: 3 questions

This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 17 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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