SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 17 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 10 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.

Which Indian musician from Maharashtra received the Padma Vibhushan 2023?

(a)Zakir Hussain
(b)Milind Date
(c)Ramdas Palsule
(d)Bharat Kamat

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Zakir Hussain, the tabla player born in Mumbai in 1951, received the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.

He is the Maharashtra connection the stem asks for — born in the state, trained by his father Ustad Alla Rakha — and the 2023 award completed a set he had been building since the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002.

The award year is what settles it, so option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Milind Date — The stem's Maharashtra tag does not decide this item — the award year does. Milind Date is not among the recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
(c)
Ramdas Palsule — Ramdas Palsule does not appear in the 2023 Padma Vibhushan list. Padma awards are announced each year on the eve of Republic Day, and the year's list is public — check the year, not the reputation.
(d)
Bharat Kamat — Bharat Kamat is likewise absent from that list. The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award and goes to only a handful of people a year, so familiarity with a name proves nothing.

Concept

India's civilian honours run Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, in that descending order.

The Padma list is announced annually on the eve of Republic Day, so every such question is answerable from a single dated fact.

Zakir Hussain's own record shows the ladder being climbed: Padma Shri in 1988, Padma Bhushan in 2002, Padma Vibhushan in 2023 — one person, three award years, and SSC has asked more than one of them.

The stem's Maharashtra tag narrows nothing on its own — it is set dressing around the real test, which is the 2023 award year.

Key facts

Zakir Hussain received the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
He was born in Mumbai in 1951 and is the son of the tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha.
He had earlier received the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002.
The Padma Vibhushan is India's second-highest civilian award, ranking below the Bharat Ratna.

Study next

The four civilian honours and their order of precedencePadma award years for tabla, sitar and flute playersSangeet Natak Akademi Awards and Fellowships as a separate honour

Common traps

Answering from the state instead of the award year.
Confusing the Padma Bhushan year (2002) with the Padma Vibhushan year (2023) for the same musician.

The same artist is recycled across shifts with the award year changed, so learn the pairs rather than the names.

Also asked 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q1 (which award Zakir Hussain received in 2023), 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q3 (the 2002 award to the youngest percussionist) and 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q5 (youngest instrumentalist awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.