General Knowledge: Awards and Honours of India

Awards and Honours is a high-frequency topic in Kerala PSC exams. Questions regularly appear on Bharat Ratna recipients, Padma Awards, Indian Nobel laureates, and sports awards. Expect 2-3 questions per paper.

Bharat Ratna — Highest Civilian Award

Fact	Details
Instituted	1954
Awarded for	Exceptional service/performance of highest order in any field (excluding sports originally; sports included from 2011)
Maximum per year	3 (convention, not rule)
Form	Peepal leaf shaped medal; no monetary award
Article	Not entitled to use as prefix/suffix to name
Can be awarded posthumously	Yes
Total recipients	53 (as of 2025)
First recipients (1954)	C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, C.V. Raman

All Bharat Ratna Recipients (Chronological)

Year	Recipient	Field
1954	C. Rajagopalachari	Public Affairs
1954	S. Radhakrishnan	Philosophy, Education
1954	C.V. Raman	Science
1955	Bhagwan Das	Philosophy
1955	M. Visvesvaraya	Engineering
1957	Govind Ballabh Pant	Public Affairs
1958	Dhondo Keshav Karve	Social Reform
1961	Bidhan Chandra Roy	Medicine
1961	Purushottam Das Tandon	Public Affairs
1962	Rajendra Prasad	Public Affairs
1963	Zakir Husain	Education
1963	Pandurang Vaman Kane	Indology
1966	Lal Bahadur Shastri (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1971	Indira Gandhi	Public Affairs
1975	V.V. Giri	Public Affairs
1976	K. Kamaraj (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1980	Mother Teresa	Social Service
1983	Vinoba Bhave (posthumous)	Social Reform
1987	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	Freedom Struggle
1988	M.G. Ramachandran (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1990	B.R. Ambedkar (posthumous)	Social Reform
1990	Nelson Mandela	Anti-apartheid (non-Indian)
1991	Rajiv Gandhi (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1991	Vallabhbhai Patel (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1991	Morarji Desai	Public Affairs
1992	Abul Kalam Azad (posthumous)	Education
1992	J.R.D. Tata	Industry
1992	Satyajit Ray	Cinema
1997	Gulzarilal Nanda	Public Affairs
1997	Aruna Asaf Ali (posthumous)	Freedom Struggle
1997	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	Science
1998	M.S. Subbulakshmi	Music
1998	Chidambaram Subramaniam	Public Affairs
1999	Jayaprakash Narayan (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1999	Amartya Sen	Economics
1999	Gopinath Bordoloi (posthumous)	Public Affairs
1999	Ravi Shankar	Music
2001	Lata Mangeshkar	Music
2001	Bismillah Khan	Music
2009	Bhimsen Joshi	Music
2014	C.N.R. Rao	Science
2014	Sachin Tendulkar	Sports
2015	Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumous)	Education
2015	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Public Affairs
2019	Pranab Mukherjee	Public Affairs
2019	Bhupen Hazarika (posthumous)	Music
2019	Nanaji Deshmukh (posthumous)	Social Service
2024	L.K. Advani	Public Affairs
2024	Karpoori Thakur (posthumous)	Public Affairs

Key Bharat Ratna Facts

Fact	Answer
Only non-Indian recipients?	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Pakistan, 1987), Nelson Mandela (South Africa, 1990)
Youngest recipient?	Sachin Tendulkar (40 years, 2014)
Only sportsperson?	Sachin Tendulkar (2014)
First posthumous award?	Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966)
First woman recipient?	Indira Gandhi (1971)
Kerala connection?	None from Kerala has received Bharat Ratna

Padma Awards

Award	Level	Awarded For
Padma Vibhushan	Second highest civilian award	Exceptional and distinguished service
Padma Bhushan	Third highest	Distinguished service of high order
Padma Shri	Fourth highest	Distinguished service

Fact	Details
Instituted	1954
Announced on	Republic Day (26 January) every year
Awarded by	President of India
Cannot be used as	Title (prefix/suffix)
Selection	Padma Awards Committee recommends to PM and President

Nobel Prize — Indian Winners and India-Connected Laureates

Laureate	Year	Category	Key Fact
Rabindranath Tagore	1913	Literature	First Asian Nobel laureate; for Gitanjali
C.V. Raman	1930	Physics	Raman Effect (scattering of light); first Asian science Nobel
Har Gobind Khorana	1968	Medicine	Genetic code interpretation; US citizen (born in undivided India, now Pakistan)
Mother Teresa	1979	Peace	Service to poor in Calcutta; Albanian-born, Indian citizen
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar	1983	Physics	Chandrasekhar Limit (stellar evolution); US citizen of Indian origin
Amartya Sen	1998	Economics	Welfare economics, famine studies; Indian citizen
V.S. Naipaul	2001	Literature	Trinidadian-British of Indian origin
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	2009	Chemistry	Ribosome structure; US/UK citizen of Indian origin
Kailash Satyarthi	2014	Peace	Child rights activism; Indian citizen
Abhijit Banerjee	2019	Economics	Poverty alleviation experiments; US citizen of Indian origin

Indian Citizens Who Won Nobel Prize

Laureate	Year	Category
Rabindranath Tagore	1913	Literature
C.V. Raman	1930	Physics
Mother Teresa	1979	Peace
Amartya Sen	1998	Economics
Kailash Satyarthi	2014	Peace

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Fact	Details
Named after	Dhundiraj Govind Phalke — Father of Indian Cinema
Instituted	1969
Given by	Government of India (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)
Awarded for	Outstanding contribution to growth and development of Indian cinema
First recipient	Devika Rani (1969)
Consists of	Golden Lotus, shawl, and cash prize
Announced at	National Film Awards ceremony

Notable Recipients

Year	Recipient	Known For
1969	Devika Rani	First lady of Indian cinema
1970	B.N. Sircar	New Theatres studio
1972	Pankaj Mullick	Music director/singer
1984	Satyajit Ray	Director
1992	Bhupen Hazarika	Singer/filmmaker
1994	Dilip Kumar	Actor
1996	Sivaji Ganesan	Tamil actor
2000	Asha Bhosle	Singer
2005	Shyam Benegal	Director
2007	Manna Dey	Singer
2012	Pran	Actor
2014	Shashi Kapoor	Actor
2016	Kasinathuni Viswanath	Telugu director
2018	Amitabh Bachchan	Actor
2019	Rajinikanth	Tamil actor
2021	Asha Parekh	Actress
2022	Waheeda Rehman	Actress

National Sports Awards

Arjuna Award

Fact	Details
Instituted	1961
Given for	Outstanding performance in sports over 4 years
Given by	President of India
Consists of	Statuette of Arjuna, scroll, blazer, and cash prize (Rs. 15 lakh)
Selection	Sports Ministry committee

Dronacharya Award

Fact	Details
Instituted	1985
Given for	Outstanding coaches who produce medal-winning sportspersons
Named after	Dronacharya — the guru in Mahabharata
Consists of	Statuette of Dronacharya, scroll, blazer, and cash prize (Rs. 15 lakh)
Two categories	Lifetime and Regular

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna)

Fact	Details
Instituted	1991-92
Renamed	Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (2021)
Given for	Most outstanding performance in sports over 4 years
Highest sports honour	Yes — highest sporting honour in India
Cash prize	Rs. 25 lakh
First recipient	Viswanathan Anand (Chess, 1991-92)
Notable recipients	Sachin Tendulkar, P.V. Sindhu, Neeraj Chopra, Mary Kom

Dhyan Chand Award

Fact	Details
Instituted	2002
Given for	Lifetime contribution to sports development
Cash prize	Rs. 10 lakh

Other Important Awards

Award	Field	Given By	Key Fact
Jnanpith Award	Literature	Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust	Highest literary award in India; for Indian language literature
Sahitya Akademi Award	Literature	Sahitya Akademi	Given in 24 languages
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award	Performing Arts	Sangeet Natak Akademi	Music, dance, drama
National Film Awards	Cinema	Directorate of Film Festivals	Golden Lotus (best film), Silver Lotus
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize	Science	CSIR	For scientists under 45
Ashoka Chakra	Gallantry (peacetime)	President	Highest peacetime gallantry award
Param Vir Chakra	Gallantry (wartime)	President	Highest wartime gallantry award

Gallantry Awards (in decreasing order)

Wartime

Order	Award
1	Param Vir Chakra
2	Maha Vir Chakra
3	Vir Chakra

Peacetime

Order	Award
1	Ashoka Chakra
2	Kirti Chakra
3	Shaurya Chakra

Quick Recall — PSC Favourites

Question	Answer
Highest civilian award in India?	Bharat Ratna
First Bharat Ratna recipients?	C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, C.V. Raman (1954)
Only sportsperson with Bharat Ratna?	Sachin Tendulkar
First Asian Nobel laureate?	Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature)
C.V. Raman Nobel year?	1930 (Physics)
Father of Indian Cinema?	Dadasaheb Phalke
First Dadasaheb Phalke awardee?	Devika Rani (1969)
Highest sports award in India?	Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna
Dronacharya Award for?	Outstanding coaches
Arjuna Award instituted in?	1961
Jnanpith Award for?	Literature (Indian languages)
Param Vir Chakra for?	Highest wartime gallantry
Ashoka Chakra for?	Highest peacetime gallantry
Kailash Satyarthi Nobel for?	Peace (2014, child rights)
Amartya Sen Nobel year?	1998 (Economics)