SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 24 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 4 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 of the following Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Awards was conferred on Ustad Amjad Ali Khan?

(a)18
(b)21
(c)20
(d)19

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the sarod player, received the 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award.

The award was instituted by the All India Congress Committee in 1992 for work towards communal harmony, peace and goodwill, and it carries a citation and a cash prize of ten lakh rupees.

It is presented on 20 August, Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary, observed as Sadbhavna Diwas. The edition number is option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
18 — 18 is three editions short of the keyed number. Nothing in the stem reasons towards a figure, so the item is pure recall of the edition and 18 is simply a near miss.
(c)
20 — 20 is the nearest miss and the likeliest wrong pick, because a round number feels like the memorable one. The key sets the edition at twenty-one, not twenty.
(d)
19 — 19 is two editions short. What is being asked is the ordinal number of the award, not the year it was given, so an approximate memory of the year does not rescue this option.

Concept

The Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award is a party award, instituted by the All India Congress Committee, and not a state civilian honour like the Padma awards. It is given for outstanding contribution to communal harmony, peace and goodwill, and is presented on Sadbhavna Diwas, 20 August.

Amjad Ali Khan belongs to the Bangash lineage of sarod players and is widely called Sarod Samrat. The award recognised his use of music towards harmony rather than his musicianship alone.

The stem's phrasing, "Which of the following Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Awards", is asking for the edition number of the award. Read that way the four numeric options make sense, and the item becomes a straight recall question with no reasoning path into it.

Key facts

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan received the 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award.
The award was instituted in 1992 by the All India Congress Committee, so it is a party award rather than a national civilian honour.
It carries a citation and a cash award of ten lakh rupees.
It is conferred on 20 August, Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary, observed as Sadbhavna Diwas.

Study next

Indian awards that are not state honours, and who confers eachSadbhavna Diwas and the other observances tied to leaders' birth anniversariesSarod and sitar exponents and the epithets attached to them

Common traps

This is not a Padma award or a Bharat Ratna, and treating it as a government honour leads to the wrong recall set.
Amjad Ali Khan plays the sarod, not the sitar, and the two instruments are easily swapped when the epithet Sarod Samrat is not attached.
The question wants the edition number, so hunting for a year among the options wastes the little time this item deserves.

SSC works this family from two directions: the artist by instrument or epithet, and the award by number. Amjad Ali Khan appears as Sarod Samrat at 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.19, where he is the keyed answer.

Related PYQs

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