SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 3 of 99

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

In 2002, Zakir Hussain became the youngest percussionist to be honoured with which award?

(a)Padma Bhushan
(b)National Heritage Fellowship
(c)Grammy Award
(d)Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The 2002 honour is the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.

Zakir Hussain, the tabla player, received it in 2002 — the award the stem's 'youngest percussionist' claim is built on. He already held the Padma Shri, given to him in 1988.

Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and conferred by the President → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
National Heritage Fellowship — The National Heritage Fellowship is an American honour, conferred by the United States National Endowment for the Arts on folk and traditional artists. It is not an Indian award, and not the 2002 honour the stem dates.
(c)
Grammy Award — A Grammy is a recording-industry prize of the Recording Academy in the United States, given for a record. Hussain has won Grammys, but the honour the stem fixes to 2002 is an Indian civilian award.
(d)
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award — The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award is the national academy's honour for performing artists — a separate stream from the Padma awards, which are conferred by the President on the Government's recommendation.

Concept

The Padma awards are announced each year on the eve of Republic Day and conferred by the President. They run in three grades — Padma Vibhushan, then Padma Bhushan, then Padma Shri — all below the Bharat Ratna.

Zakir Hussain holds all three grades: Padma Shri in 1988, Padma Bhushan in 2002, Padma Vibhushan in 2023.

The grade and the year both have to be carried. The name alone will not separate the options.

The stem's 'youngest percussionist' is only framing — the same fact is set on 9 Sep 2024, 16:00 as 'youngest instrumentalist'. What is being asked is the award, and the year 2002 is the discriminator between his three Padma honours.

Key facts

The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award of India.
Zakir Hussain received the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and presented by the President.

Study next

The Bharat Ratna and the three Padma grades in order of precedenceInstrument-to-maestro pairing — tabla, sitar, shehnai, sarod, santoorSangeet Natak Akademi awards and fellowships as a separate honours stream

Common traps

Choosing the Padma Vibhushan, which came to Zakir Hussain in 2023, not 2002.
Treating a Grammy or an American fellowship as an Indian civilian honour.

The identical fact is set from the other end at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.5, which describes the youngest instrumentalist awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and asks for the name instead of the award.

His 2023 Padma Vibhushan is asked at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.1. Learn the artist as a list of award-plus-year pairs, not as a single honour.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.