Which of the following statements with regard to Bharat Ratna Award is/are correct? 1. It was instituted in the year 1972. 2. The award does not carry any monetary grant. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — B, 2 only. The Bharat Ratna carries no cash award at all — the recipient gets a sanad, a certificate signed by the President, and a medallion shaped like a leaf of the sacred fig, so statement 2 is right. Statement 1 is wrong on the year: the award was instituted on 2 January 1954, not 1972, and its first three recipients — C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman — were named that same year.
- (a)1 only — Takes the wrong year and rejects the right fact. The award dates from 1954, and it genuinely carries no monetary grant.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — The natural pick for a student who is sure about the no-cash rule and simply does not know the year. 1954 is the founding year for both the Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Would mean the award carries money, which it does not. Civilian honours in India are deliberately non-monetary.
The Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian honour, given for exceptional service or performance of the highest order. It is conferred by the President on the Prime Minister's recommendation, is not restricted by field, and confers no title — in Balaji Raghavan the Supreme Court held that these awards are not titles within the meaning of Article 18. Recipients receive a sanad and a peepal-leaf medallion, and no money changes hands. The Padma awards, in the same non-monetary family, were instituted in the same year.
The reliable way into any two-statement item on Indian honours is to fix 1954 as the founding year of the whole civilian awards system and to remember that none of these honours carries a purse. That single pair of facts answers most questions of this kind. The 1972 in statement 1 has no obvious connection to the Bharat Ratna and is simply a plausible-looking decoy. Two further points are worth carrying. The award has twice been in abeyance — from July 1977 to January 1980 and again from mid-1992 until December 1995, the second break arising from a legal challenge — and it has been given posthumously since 1966, which is why questions sometimes turn on whether a posthumous award was ever allowed.
- The Bharat Ratna was instituted on 2 January 1954.
- It carries no monetary grant — only a sanad signed by the President and a medallion shaped like a sacred fig leaf.
- The first recipients, in 1954, were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman.
- Conferment was suspended from July 1977 to January 1980 and again from 1992 to December 1995.
- Confusing 1954, the year of institution, with a later year in which a well-known recipient was honoured.
- Assuming a national award must carry prize money.
- Treating the Bharat Ratna as a title that may be used before or after a name — it may not.
As a two-statement item mixing a date with a rule about the award, or as a 'who is not a recipient' item. Learn 1954, no cash, and the first three names.
Along with Pranab Mukherjee, how many more persons were conferred the Bharat Ratna Award in the year 2019?
- (a) One
- (b) Two
- (c) Three
- (d) Four
Answer(b) Two
The same award tested on a particular year's conferment rather than on its rules. Between the two items you get both halves of what these papers ask about the Bharat Ratna — the institution and the recipients.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Bharat Ratna was instituted in which year?
- (a)1947
- (b)1950
- (c)1954
- (d)1972
Answer(c) 1954 — instituted on 2 January 1954, along with the Padma awards in the same year.
- practice — not a real PYQ
A recipient of the Bharat Ratna receives which of the following?
- (a)A cash prize and a medal
- (b)A sanad signed by the President and a peepal-leaf medallion
- (c)A hereditary title
- (d)A land grant and a certificate
Answer(b) A sanad signed by the President and a peepal-leaf medallion — there is no monetary grant and no title.