UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q95: Besides Urdu poet Gulzar, who is the other recipient of the

Q: What is the answer to UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q95?

C. Correct — C, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. The 58th Jnanpith Award, for the year 2023, was announced on 17 February 2024 as a joint award. Its two laureates were Urdu poet Gulzar and the Sanskrit scholar **Jagadguru Rambhadracharya** of Tulsi Peeth, Chitrakoot. The stem hands you Gulzar; the name it wants is Rambhadracharya. Rambhadracharya, blind since infancy, is a Sanskrit poet and Ramayana commentator, founder-chancellor of a university for the disabled at Chitrakoot, and a Padma Vibhushan (2015). He is the second Sanskrit writer honoured with the Jnanpith, after Satya Vrat Shastri in 2006. The idea to carry away: **the 58th Jnanpith paired Sanskrit (Rambhadracharya) with Urdu (Gulzar)**. President Droupadi Murmu presented the award in New Delhi on 16 May 2025; Gulzar could not attend because of ill health.

UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 95 of 147

Verified against the official question booklet. Answer as per UKPSC's provisional answer key.

Answers from UKPSC's provisional answer key. The Commission publishes a provisional key for UKPSC Prelims 2024 and invites objections before issuing a final key. Every answer shown here is the Commission's own provisional answer (key PDF), not our derivation. If the final key changes an answer, this page is updated to match.

Besides Urdu poet Gulzar, who is the other recipient of the 58th Jnanpith Award?

(a)Damodar Mauzo
(b)Krishna Sobti
(c)Jagadguru Rambhadracharya
(d)Manoj Muntashir

Answer

Why

Correct — C, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya.

The 58th Jnanpith Award, for the year 2023, was announced on 17 February 2024 as a joint award. Its two laureates were Urdu poet Gulzar and the Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya of Tulsi Peeth, Chitrakoot. The stem hands you Gulzar; the name it wants is Rambhadracharya.

Rambhadracharya, blind since infancy, is a Sanskrit poet and Ramayana commentator, founder-chancellor of a university for the disabled at Chitrakoot, and a Padma Vibhushan (2015). He is the second Sanskrit writer honoured with the Jnanpith, after Satya Vrat Shastri in 2006.

The idea to carry away: the 58th Jnanpith paired Sanskrit (Rambhadracharya) with Urdu (Gulzar). President Droupadi Murmu presented the award in New Delhi on 16 May 2025; Gulzar could not attend because of ill health.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Damodar Mauzo — Damodar Mauzo is a Jnanpith laureate, but of the previous cycle. The Goan Konkani novelist and short-story writer (Karmelin) received the 57th Jnanpith Award, for 2022.
He is the answer when a question asks about the award for 2022, or about the Konkani laureate who followed Ravindra Kelekar, who shared the 42nd award (2006) with Satya Vrat Shastri.
(b)
Krishna Sobti — Krishna Sobti, the Hindi novelist of Mitro Marjani and Zindaginama, received the 53rd Jnanpith Award, for 2017. She died in 2019, so she belongs to an earlier cycle, not to the 2023 award shared with Gulzar.
Her name fits a question on Hindi laureates of the Jnanpith or on the award for 2017.
(d)
Manoj Muntashir — Manoj Muntashir is a Hindi film lyricist and dialogue writer: the lyricist of Teri Mitti (Kesari, 2019) and the dialogue writer of Adipurush. His recognition comes from film and screen work, and his name does not figure in the published list of Jnanpith laureates.
The option works by echoing Gulzar's screen career. The Jnanpith honoured Gulzar for Urdu literature, and his co-laureate was a Sanskrit scholar, not another lyricist.

Concept

The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honour, given for outstanding contribution to literature in an Indian language of the Eighth Schedule or in English. It is not a government award: it is conferred by Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust set up in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family.

The award is numbered serially. The first went to Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup in 1965 for Odakkuzhal; the 58th, for 2023, was shared by Rambhadracharya and Gulzar; the 59th, for 2024, went to Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla. A laureate receives a bronze replica of Vagdevi, a citation and ₹11 lakh.

Each cycle is identified three ways: by serial number (58th), by award year (2023) and by announcement date (17 February 2024). The presentation can come much later; the 58th was handed over on 16 May 2025. A question may use any of these labels for the same award.

Joint awards occur. The 42nd (2006) was shared by Ravindra Kelekar (Konkani) and Satya Vrat Shastri (Sanskrit); the 58th by Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit) and Gulzar (Urdu). Knowing one laureate of a shared award is half the fact, and this stem asks for the other half.

Key facts

The 58th Jnanpith Award, for the year 2023, was announced on 17 February 2024 and shared by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit) and Gulzar (Urdu).
President Droupadi Murmu presented the 58th award at a function in New Delhi on 16 May 2025; Gulzar was absent on health grounds.
Rambhadracharya was born Giridhar Mishra in Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh, on 14 January 1950, and lost his sight at two months of age.
He founded Tulsi Peeth at Chitrakoot in 1987 and is founder and lifelong chancellor of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakoot, established in 2001.
He received the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 in the field of literature and education.
Satya Vrat Shastri (2006) was the first Sanskrit writer to receive the Jnanpith; Rambhadracharya is the second.
Gulzar, born Sampooran Singh Kalra in 1934 at Dina (now in Pakistan), holds the Sahitya Akademi Award (2002), Padma Bhushan (2004) and Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2013).
Urdu laureates before Gulzar: Firaq Gorakhpuri (1969), Qurratulain Hyder (1989), Ali Sardar Jafri (1997) and Shahryar (2008).
The award is given by Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain; the first award went to G. Sankara Kurup (Malayalam) in 1965.
The prize comprises a bronze replica of Vagdevi (Saraswati), a citation and a cash award of ₹11 lakh, the sum fixed in 2015.
Eligible languages are the Indian languages of the Eighth Schedule and English; Amitav Ghosh (54th, 2018) was the first English-language laureate.
Damodar Mauzo (Konkani) received the 57th award, for 2022; Krishna Sobti (Hindi) the 53rd, for 2017; Vinod Kumar Shukla (Hindi) the 59th, for 2024.

The four names and the Jnanpith cycle each belongs to

Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit)→58th, for 2023 — shared with Gulzar

Damodar Mauzo (Konkani)→57th, for 2022

Krishna Sobti (Hindi)→53rd, for 2017

Manoj Muntashir (film lyricist)→film awards; not a Jnanpith laureate

Three of the four names are tied to literary honours, but Rambhadracharya is the one who shares the 58th award with Gulzar. Announced 17 February 2024; presented by President Murmu on 16 May 2025.

Study next

Jnanpith laureates from the 53rd award onward, with language and award yearBharatiya Jnanpith, Sahitya Akademi and the K.K. Birla Foundation: which body gives which literary awardRambhadracharya, Tulsi Peeth and the Chitrakoot university for the disabledGulzar's honours: Sahitya Akademi 2002, Padma Bhushan 2004, Dadasaheb Phalke 2013, Oscar and Grammy for Jai HoPadma Vibhushan recipients in literature and education, 2015 onward

Common traps

Recognising a name as a Jnanpith winner is not enough; the stem fixes a serial number. Mauzo (57th) and Sobti (53rd) are laureates of other cycles.
The stem itself calls Gulzar an Urdu poet. The co-laureate was honoured for Sanskrit; an option built on Gulzar's film career, a fellow lyricist, is a lure.
Award year, announcement date and presentation date differ: 2023 award, February 2024 announcement, May 2025 ceremony. 'Jnanpith 2023' and 'announced in 2024' both mean the 58th award.
The award is given by Bharatiya Jnanpith, a private trust, not by the Sahitya Akademi or a ministry; a statement attributing it to the government is false.

The 58th award appears as direct recall of the co-laureate, as here, or as a statement to be judged, such as '58th Jnanpith conferred on Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya' set beside 'first Jnanpith given in 1965'.

It also comes as a match between laureate and language, or as an odd-one-out among recent laureates where the distractors are winners of adjacent cycles or well-known writers holding other honours.

Related PYQs

UPPSC_2025_PRE_GSI_Q1482025

Statement 1 of this UPPSC item asserts the same fact the UKPSC stem tests: the 58th Jnanpith conferred on Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. It differs in form, wrapping the fact in a two-statement judgement and adding the first award year (1965), whereas UKPSC gives Gulzar and asks for the co-laureate by name.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Jnanpith Award is conferred by which of the following bodies?
- (a)Sahitya Akademi
- (b)Bharatiya Jnanpith
- (c)Ministry of Culture, Government of India
- (d)Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Answerb — Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, instituted the award in 1961 and has conferred it since 1965.
Sahitya Akademi (a) gives its own Sahitya Akademi Award and Fellowship. The Ministry of Culture (c) plays no part in selecting or conferring the Jnanpith. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (d) is an educational trust founded by K.M. Munshi and gives no such award.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following correctly pairs a Jnanpith laureate with the language for which the award was conferred?
- (a)Gulzar — Punjabi
- (b)Jagadguru Rambhadracharya — Sanskrit
- (c)Damodar Mauzo — Marathi
- (d)Krishna Sobti — Urdu
Answerb — Rambhadracharya received the 58th Jnanpith (2023) as a Sanskrit scholar, the second Sanskrit laureate after Satya Vrat Shastri.
Gulzar (a) was honoured for Urdu, not Punjabi. Damodar Mauzo (c) writes in Konkani, and his 57th award was for Konkani. Krishna Sobti (d) was a Hindi writer; her 53rd award was for Hindi.
practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about the Jnanpith Award: 1. The first award was conferred in 1965 on Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup. 2. The 58th award was shared by two writers. 3. The award is confined to languages of the Eighth Schedule, so a writer in English cannot receive it. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 and 2 only
- (b)2 and 3 only
- (c)1 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Answera — Statement 1 is correct: G. Sankara Kurup received the first award in 1965 for Odakkuzhal. Statement 2 is correct: the 58th award (2023) went jointly to Rambhadracharya and Gulzar.
Statement 3 is wrong. English is an eligible language, and Amitav Ghosh received the 54th award (2018) for writing in English. Options b, c and d each include statement 3.
practice — not a real PYQ
Who received the 59th Jnanpith Award, for the year 2024?
- (a)Vinod Kumar Shukla
- (b)Damodar Mauzo
- (c)Nilmani Phookan
- (d)Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
Answera — The 59th Jnanpith Award, for 2024, went to Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla, known for Naukar ki Kameez and Deewar Mein Ek Khirkee Rahati Thi.
Damodar Mauzo (b) received the 57th award, for 2022. Nilmani Phookan (c), the Assamese poet, received the 56th. Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (d), the Malayalam poet, received the 55th, for 2019.