

Padma Awards - Category, GK Questions with Detailed Answer
A copy of a country like India is impossible to find in this world because India recognizes and praises the hard work of each and every individual. A big list of awards can be found on the internet, however, the two civilian awards are conferred to people who did great in various spheres of activity including the following:
Art
Education
Industry
Literature
Science
Sports
Medicine
Social service
Engineering
Trade, and Industry and
Public affairs
So, What Are Padma Awards? Well! To recognize people’s distinguished contribution towards these domains, the government of India in 1905 decided to confer the great personalities with a Civilian Award called Padma Award. The Padma Award is also divided into the following three categories:
Padma Bhushan Award, Padma Vibhushan Award, and Padma Shri (or Shri) Award
These awards seek to recognize the 'work of distinction' of the person, which we will discuss on this page along with this, gk questions and answers on Padma awards and learn the amazing facts about Padma awards.
GK Questions And Answers On Padma Awards: 2020-21
Below, you will find the important GK questions on Padma awards that will help you out in the govt. Exam preparation:
Q1: How many people have been awarded ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2021?
(a) 11
(b) 7
(c) 5
(d) 16
Ans. b: Seven Recipients
Explanation: ‘Padma Vibhushan Award' is the second-highest civilian award of Republican India.
On 25 January 2021, seven people received the Padma Vibhushan Award.
Below is the list of the seven awardees:
Shinzo Abe - Public Affairs – Japan
S. P. Balasubramaniam (Also known as Paadum Nila) (Posthumous) – Art (Indian Playback Singer) – Tamil Nadu
Belle Monappa Hegde - Medicine – Karnataka
Narinder Singh Kapany (an Indian-American physicist best known for his work on fiber optics) (Posthumous) – Science and Engineering – USA
Wahiduddin Khan - Spiritualism – Delhi
Sh. B. B. Lal - Archaeology – Delhi
Sudarshan Sahoo - Art – Odisha
Q2: Who among the following was not the winner of the Padma Bhushan Award 2020?
(a) Anand Mahindra
(b) Mary Kom
(c) P.V. Sindhu
(d) S.C. Jamir
Ans: Mary Kom is not selected for the Padma Bhushan Award, 2020, however, she is selected for the Padma Vibhushan Award 2020.
Q3: List the category of Padma Awards.
Ans: The category of Padma Awards is as follows:
Padma Vibhushan - Exceptional and distinguished service,
Padma Bhushan - Distinguished service of higher-order
Padma Shri - Distinguished service
Q4: Who won the Padma Shri Award in the year 2020?
Ans: Kangana Ranaut was awarded the Padma Shri Award in the year 2020.
Q5: List the youngest winners of the Padma Shri Awards so far.
Ans: The list of the youngest Padma Shri Awardees is as follows:
Q6: What is the money prize for Padma Shri Award?
Ans: Padma Shri Award comprises a Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize is Rs. 10 Lakh, along with a shawl.
Q7: Padma Bhushan award 2020 winner Ms. Krishnammal Jagannathan belongs to which of the following fields?
(a) Architecture
(b) Public Affairs
(c) Literature and Education
(d) Social Work
Ans: d
A Padma Bhushan Awardee Ms. Krishnammal Jagannathan is a social service activist who hails from Tamil Nadu. She founded the renowned Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI) movement in 1981. Keeping the notion of Gandhian Principles, her protest against the social injustice transferred the scenario of Tamil Nadu.
The objective of this movement was to bring forth the landlords and the landless people on the settling table and to aid landless people to buy the land at a fair price. The movement was successful and around 13,000 acres of land were provided to 13,000 families.
For her ideal principles and hard work, Ms. Jagannath was awarded Padma Bhushan as gratitude from the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the year 2020.
Q8: When were Padma awards instituted?
(a) 1948
(b) 1954
(c) 1965
(d) 1985
Ans: b
Padma Award was instituted in the year 1954. The award is announced every year on Republic Day.
Q9: How are Padma Awardees nominated every year?
Ans: A list of Padma Award nominees is submitted by the state governments, union territory administrations, central ministries and departments, the institutions of Excellence, etc.
The recommendations are submitted to an Awards Committee on 1 May and 15 September every year. After the approval of the Hon. Prime Minister and President, the awards are announced by the President of India on the auspicious day of Republic Day, i.e., 26 January every year.
After this, the awards are conferred by the Presisent at ceremonial functions held at Rastrapati Bhawan generally around March/April every year.
Q10: Which of the following statement is/are true?
A maximum of 3 persons are awarded Bharat Ratna Award in any specific year.
Each year, Padma Awards Committee is headed by the President of India.
(a) Only a
(b) Only b
(c) Both a & b are correct
(d) Neither a nor b is correct
Ans. a
A maximum of 3 persons can be awarded the Bharat Ratna Award in any specific year.
Like in the year 2019, three following persons have received the prestigious civilian award Bharat Ratna:
Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh, and Bhupen Hazarika
Q11: List the benefits of the Padma Awards.
Ans: The awardees are recognized for their 'work of distinction' for their out-of-the-box and exceptional achievements/service in the following fields/disciplines:
Art,
Literature,
Education,
Sports,
Medicine,
Social Work,
Science and Engineering,
Public Affairs,
Civil Service,
Trade and Industry
Q13: How many won the civil awards in the year 2020?
Ans: In the year 2020, Padma Award has been presented to 141 persons including 4 duo cases that are in a duo case, however, the award is regarded as one.
The list consists of the following:
7 Padma Vibhushan,
16 Padma Bhushan and
118 Padma Shri Awards.
Please note that out of the awardees, 33 were women, along with this, the list also includes 18 people from the following category:
Foreigners,
NRI,
PIO,
OCI, and
twelve Posthumous awardees.
Q14: Who was the first person to receive Padma Bhushan Award and in which year?
Ans: Padma Bhushan award was constituted on January 2, 1954, this award is conferred to people for their "distinguished service of a high order without considering their race, occupation, position or sex." The criteria involve "service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" thereby excluding those working with the public sector undertakings (PSUs), with the exclusion of doctors and scientists
Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri, well-known writer, activist, freedom-fighter, and book publisher from Kerala was the first recipient to be honoured posthumously with Padma Bhushan award in 1999.
Q15: Who were the first recipients of the Padma Vibhsuhan Award in the year 1954?
Ans: The list of first recipients awarded with the Padma Vibhushan Award in 1954 are as follows:
Q16: List the awards won by an Indian Tabla player Zakir Hussain.
Ans: Ustad Zakir Hussian was a musician by profession. The genres of his music were: Hindustani classical music, jazz fusion, world music.
Besides this, he was an Indian tabla virtuoso, Composer, Percussionist, Music producer, and a Film actor as well.
He was conferred with the following awards for being the best Indian Tabla Player:
Padma Shri Award - 1988 and 1998
Padma Bhushan - 2002
These two wards were presented by the 11th President of India, Sh. A.P.J Abdul Kalam.
Q17: Name the first person to win Padma Shri Award.
Ans: An Indian actress, Nargis was the first person to receive the Padma Shri award in the year 1958.
Q18: Name the person who won Padma Bhushan award in 2010?
Ans: An Indian music composer, record producer, singer, and songwriter, A.R. Rehman was conferred with Padma Bhushan award in the year 2010.
So these are GK questions on Padma awards that will help you in preparation of general competitive exams, like SSC, Banking, and Teaching exams, like SUPER TET, UPTET, MTET, RTET/REET, and much more.
After going through GK Questions And Answers On Padma Awards, we must find some interesting facts about Padma Awards as well, so let’s discuss these facts one-by-one:
Facts About Padma Awards
Below are the amazing facts on Padma Awards:
The difference between Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bushan is as follows:
Padma Vibhushan award is offered to people for their “extraordinary and distinguished service", while Padma Bhushan for "distinguished service of a high order".
The government of India announced that 272 foreigners, including Non- Resident Indians, Overseas Citizens of India, and Persons of Indian Origin have been conferred Padma awards since its inception in 1954.
Image of Padma Awards:
Padma Vibhushan
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Padma Bhushan
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Padma Shri
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S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, full name: Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was a renowned Indian playback singer, music director, actor, dubbing artist, television presenter, and film producer who won Padma Vibhushan Award in 2021 and Padma Shri in 2002.
Bharat Ratna is the highest civil award. Recipients of this award are the people who made the highest order performance in any field.
FAQs on Padma Awardees In India 2020-21
1. Who was Zakir Hussain?
The former Indian economist and politician, Sh. Zakir Hussain was the third President of India, effective from 13 May 1967 until his demise on 3 May 1969.
Before this, he served as Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962,
The Vice President of India between 1962 and 1967.
Besides this, he was the co-founder of Jamia Millia Islamia, serving as its Vice-chancellor from 1928. Under Husain, Jamia became closely linked to the Indian freedom movement.
2. What amendments were made for the Padma Award?
On 15 January 1955, the Padma Award was recategorized into three following awards:
The highest civilian award is Bharat Ratna, after this we have:
The second-highest civil award: Padma Vibhushan
The third-highest: Padma Bhushan, and
The fourth-highest: Padma Shri



















