Static GK· Prelims
Awards facts for prelims: Bharat Ratna, Padma, Nobel, Booker and 2025 honours
Bharat Ratna, Padma, gallantry awards, Dadasaheb Phalke, Jnanpith, Nobel, Booker and the 2025 honours: the awards facts prelims tests, with practice questions and model answers.
Awards are the most predictable part of static GK: the same honours recur with the same first recipients, the same order of precedence, and the same recent winners. This article covers India's civilian and gallantry awards, the major world awards, and the 2025 honours that prelims is most likely to ask about.
Indian civilian awards
The Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian honour, instituted on 2 January 1954. The first recipients were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman, all in 1954.
The order of precedence is Bharat Ratna, then Padma Vibhushan, then Padma Bhushan, then Padma Shri. The Padma awards were also instituted in 1954. The first posthumous Bharat Ratna went to Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, the first woman recipient was Indira Gandhi in 1971, and the youngest recipient was Sachin Tendulkar in 2014.
The Bharat Ratna is awarded for exceptional service towards the advancement of art, literature, science and public service, and it is not restricted to Indian citizens.
Gallantry awards
The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest military decoration for valour in wartime. Its first recipient was Major Somnath Sharma, who was killed in action in 1947 and received it posthumously.
Below the Param Vir Chakra in wartime gallantry come the Maha Vir Chakra and the Vir Chakra. In peacetime the order is the Ashoka Chakra, the Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra, with the Ashoka Chakra the highest peacetime gallantry award.
Gallantry awards are announced twice a year, on Republic Day and Independence Day.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Jnanpith Award
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in 1969, is India's highest honour in cinema. Its first recipient was Devika Rani, and it is presented at the National Film Awards ceremony.
The Jnanpith Award, instituted in 1961 and first conferred in 1965 on the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup, is India's highest literary honour. The 58th award, for 2023, was shared by Gulzar and Rambhadracharya, the 59th, for 2024, went to the Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla, and the 60th, for 2025, went to the Tamil poet and lyricist R. Vairamuthu, the third Tamil writer to receive it after Akilan and Jayakanthan. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a bronze statue of Vagdevi and a citation.
World awards
The Nobel Prizes are awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics. The first Indian laureate was Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Literature prize in 1913.
Nobel Prize 2026 | Laureates and work |
|---|---|
Physiology or Medicine | Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, for optogenetics and light-gated ion channels |
Physics | Francis Halzen, for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos detected at the IceCube Observatory |
Chemistry | Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai, for non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis |
Literature | Anne Carson, Canadian poet and classicist |
Peace | Navanethem Pillay, for international law and the prosecution of war crimes and genocide |
Economics | Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, for the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation |
The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, has gone to four Indian writers: Salman Rushdie in 1981, Arundhati Roy in 1997, Kiran Desai in 2006 and Aravind Adiga in 2008. In 2019 it was awarded jointly to Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's highest honour for public service, went first to an Indian in 1958, when Vinoba Bhave received it for community leadership.
The Pulitzer Prize's first Indian-born winner was the journalist Gobind Behari Lal, who won for reporting in 1937, and Jhumpa Lahiri won the fiction prize in 2000. Bhanu Athaiya became the first Indian to win an Oscar in 1983, for costume design in Gandhi.
2025 honours
The Padma Awards for 2025 comprised 139 awards: 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri. The seven Padma Vibhushan recipients were Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy for medicine, Jagdish Singh Khehar for public affairs, Kumudini Rajnikant Lakhia for art, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam for art, M. T. Vasudevan Nair for literature and education (posthumous), Osamu Suzuki for trade and industry (posthumous) and Sharda Sinha for art (posthumous). The list included 23 women, 10 foreigners and NRIs, and 13 posthumous awards.
The Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2025, announced on 16 March 2026 across 24 languages, went in English to Navtej Sarna for the novel Crimson Spring and in Hindi to Mamta Kalia for the memoir Jite Ji Allahabad. The prize carries Rs 1 lakh, a copper plaque and a shawl.
Asked in SSC CGL 2026
Prelims practice
The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 1954 were:
Show answer
Answer: (A) The first Bharat Ratna recipients in 1954 were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman.
The first Indian to win a Nobel Prize was:
Show answer
Answer: (A) Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first Indian laureate.
The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to:
Show answer
Answer: (A) Navanethem Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for international law and the prosecution of war crimes and genocide.
How many Padma Awards were conferred in 2025?
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Answer: (A) The Padma Awards for 2025 comprised 139 awards: 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri.
The 60th Jnanpith Award, for 2025, went to:
Show answer
Answer: (A) R. Vairamuthu, the Tamil poet and lyricist, won the 60th Jnanpith Award for 2025; Vinod Kumar Shukla won the 59th.
Answer key
- (a): The first Bharat Ratna recipients in 1954 were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman.
- (a): Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first Indian laureate.
- (a): Navanethem Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for international law and the prosecution of war crimes and genocide.
- (a): The Padma Awards for 2025 comprised 139 awards: 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri.
- (a): R. Vairamuthu, the Tamil poet and lyricist, won the 60th Jnanpith Award for 2025; Vinod Kumar Shukla won the 59th.
Frequently asked questions
What is the order of the Padma awards?
Padma Vibhushan, then Padma Bhushan, then Padma Shri, all below the Bharat Ratna. The Padma awards were instituted in 1954.
Who was the first Indian to win the Booker Prize?
Salman Rushdie, in 1981, for Midnight's Children. Three more Indian writers have won it since: Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and Aravind Adiga.
Who was the first Indian to win an Oscar?
Bhanu Athaiya, in 1983, for costume design in Gandhi.
What is the cash prize of the Jnanpith Award?
Rs 11 lakh, along with a bronze statue of Vagdevi and a citation.