SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 3 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.

Which of the following awards was won by Lata Mangeshkar in the year 2001?

(a)Dadasaheb Phalke Award
(b)Padma Vibhushan
(c)Bharat Ratna
(d)Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Lata Mangeshkar was conferred the Bharat Ratna in 2001, India's highest civilian honour.

Every other award on the list is genuinely hers, which is exactly the test — they belong to other years. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award came to her in 1989 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. Only the Bharat Ratna matches the year the question fixes.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Dadasaheb Phalke Award — The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest recognition in cinema, went to her in 1989 — twelve years before the Bharat Ratna, so it cannot answer a stem anchored to 2001.
(b)
Padma Vibhushan — She did receive the Padma Vibhushan, but in 1999. It ranks one step below the Bharat Ratna, so a candidate who recalls only 'some very high award' is pulled here.
(d)
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award — The Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award is an industry film award rather than a national honour, and it is not the award attached to 2001 in her record.

Concept

The Bharat Ratna, instituted in 1954, is India's highest civilian award, given for exceptional service in any field. It carries no cash grant and no title — only a Sanad signed by the President and a peepal-leaf-shaped medallion.

Below it, in order: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.

Arts-and-culture questions in this paper turn on that ladder — which award, which year, which artist — so store performers as award-plus-year pairs rather than as a list of names.

Key facts

Lata Mangeshkar received the Bharat Ratna in 2001.
She received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989.
She received the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
The Bharat Ratna was instituted in 1954 and is India's highest civilian award.

Study next

Bharat Ratna recipients from the performing arts and their yearsOrder of precedence among the Padma awardsDadasaheb Phalke Award and what it recognises

Common traps

Picking Padma Vibhushan because it is also a top-tier honour she genuinely holds.
Attaching the Dadasaheb Phalke Award to the 2001 date.

The identical fact is set from the other end elsewhere in this exam — also asked 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, General Awareness Q.1, which names the Bharat Ratna and asks for the year.

Sister shifts keep the frame and swap the artist: Ravi Shankar's 1999 award at 10 Sep 2024, 12:30, General Awareness Q.22, and Zakir Hussain's 2023 award at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, General Awareness Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.