SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 24 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 21 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 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.

Harmonium player, Tulsidas Borkar, was awarded with the ___________ in 2016.

(a)Padma Vibhushan
(b)Padma Bhushan
(c)Padma Shri
(d)Bharat Ratna

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Tulsidas Borkar, the Marathi harmonium accompanist, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016 for his work in art and music.

The four options are the civilian-honour ladder, so the item is decided by rung rather than by field. Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic, and it is the rung named in Borkar's 2016 citation, which fixes option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Padma Vibhushan — Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award, given for exceptional and distinguished service. It is two rungs above the honour Borkar received in 2016.
(b)
Padma Bhushan — Padma Bhushan is the third-highest, for distinguished service of a high order. It sits one rung above the award actually conferred on Borkar.
(d)
Bharat Ratna — Bharat Ratna is the country's highest civilian honour and is not part of the Padma series at all. It is given for exceptional service of the highest order, and no more than three are conferred in a year.

Concept

India's civilian honours run in a fixed order: Bharat Ratna at the top, then Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The three Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and conferred by the President.

They recognise distinguished work in fields such as art, social work, public affairs, science, trade and industry, medicine, literature, sport and civil service.

Accompanists are honoured alongside soloists — harmonium, tabla, sarangi — which is how a harmonium player enters a list of national awardees at all.

The stem hands you the year and the instrument but not the rung, so nothing here can be reasoned out. The return on this kind of item comes from carrying a short list of Padma years for musicians.

Key facts

Tulsidas Borkar, a harmonium player, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016.
The order of India's civilian honours is Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.
Bharat Ratna is a separate honour and not one of the three Padma awards.
Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and presented by the President.

Study next

The four civilian honours and the level of service each one namesPadma awards to Indian instrumentalists, by year and by instrumentHow Padma nominations are considered, and by which committee

Common traps

Choosing the highest-sounding award for a name you half-recognise.
Treating Bharat Ratna as the top rung of the Padma series, when it is a separate honour.
Mixing up the announcement, on Republic Day eve, with the investiture that follows later.

The award ladder is SSC's standard way of asking about musicians — 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.4 asks which award Hariprasad Chaurasia received in 2000, and 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.25 asks which award the violinist Annavarapu Rama Swamy received in 2021.

It is asked in reverse as well, at 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.11, which gives the honour and asks which instrument the Padma Bhushan awardee Ustad Sabri Khan played.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.