SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 24 of 100

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.

Where this paper and its answers come from

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.

Tabla maestro, Bickram Ghosh, was awarded with which of the following awards in 2023 in the Contemporary Category?

(a)Padma Shri
(b)Padma Bhushan
(c)Sangeet Natak Akademi
(d)Sangeet Kalanidhi

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The key gives the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, the honour conferred by India's national academy for music, dance and drama.

It is the senior professional recognition inside the performing arts: selected by the Akademi's General Council and carrying a Tamrapatra, an angavastram and a cash prize.

That is a different track from the Padma honours, which are civilian awards of the Republic announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and from Sangeet Kalanidhi, which is a private academy's title in Carnatic music.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Padma Shri — The Padma Shri is a civilian honour of the Republic, announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the eve of Republic Day. It is not an award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
(b)
Padma Bhushan — The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian honour, one grade above the Padma Shri and from the same Republic Day list. Same track, higher grade, still not an academy award.
(d)
Sangeet Kalanidhi — Sangeet Kalanidhi is conferred by the Madras Music Academy on a Carnatic musician, who then presides over its December conference. It is a private academy's title in one tradition, not a national award.

Concept

Awards questions are decided by matching the honour to the body that gives it, not by admiring the artist.

Three bodies stand behind the awards named in this stem.

The Government of India announces the Padma awards on the eve of Republic Day. The Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national academy for music, dance and drama. The Madras Music Academy confers Sangeet Kalanidhi, Carnatic music's own title.

Fix the body first and the option list usually collapses to one.

Bickram Ghosh is a tabla player known for fusion and cross-genre percussion, which is why the stem places the award in a contemporary category.

Key facts

The Sangeet Natak Akademi is India's national academy of music, dance and drama.
It was set up by a Government of India resolution in 1952 and inaugurated in January 1953.
The Akademi award carries a Tamrapatra, an angavastram and a cash prize.
Sangeet Kalanidhi is conferred by the Madras Music Academy and not by the government.

Study next

The Akademi Ratna, the Akademi's fellowship, as distinct from the Akademi awardThe order of precedence among the Padma awards and the Bharat RatnaThe Sahitya Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi as the other national academies

Common traps

Picking a Padma award because the artist is famous, when the stem names a category rather than a civilian honour
Reading Sangeet Kalanidhi as a government award because the name sounds official

SSC gives an artist and a year and asks which award, so the awarding body is the thing to pin down. The Akademi's registered office is asked at General Awareness Q.23 of the 25 Sep 2024, 16:00 paper, and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma's 1986 Akademi award at Q.16 of the 23 Sep 2024, 16:00 paper.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.