Awards and Honours — Study Notes for SSC CHSL
Overview
Awards and Honours is a scoring topic in SSC CHSL General Awareness. Questions typically ask about recent award recipients, the highest civilian/military awards, their order of precedence, or matching personalities with honours. This topic directly connects to current affairs since most questions focus on the past 12–24 months of announcements, but you must also know the static framework—what each award represents, who can receive it, and the hierarchy.
Expect 2–3 questions from this area. The good news: these are fact-based and straightforward if you maintain a current list. The challenge is volume—new awardees are announced annually (Republic Day for Padma awards, ad-hoc for Bharat Ratna, October for Nobel). Your strategy should combine memorising the permanent structure (award categories, eligibility, precedence) with updating your notes quarterly for recent recipients.
Master this topic by building two layers: a static base (award definitions, order of precedence, eligibility criteria) and a dynamic layer (last year's recipients across all major categories). This separation makes revision efficient and prevents confusion between permanent facts and current affairs.
Key Concepts
- **Civilian awards follow a strict precedence**: Bharat Ratna (highest), then Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri. All are announced on Republic Day eve and conferred by the President.
- **Bharat Ratna has no formal recommendations**: The Prime Minister advises the President directly. Maximum three awards per year, any field of human endeavour, open to all nationalities. No monetary grant attached.
- **Padma awards are given in specific disciplines**: Art, Social Work, Public Affairs, Science-Engineering, Trade-Industry, Medicine, Literature-Education, Sports, and Civil Service. Up to 120 awards annually across three categories.
- **Gallantry awards have wartime and peacetime categories**: Param Vir Chakra (wartime, highest) and Ashok Chakra (peacetime, highest) are top military honours. Both can be awarded posthumously.
- **Nobel Prizes cover six fields**: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences (added 1969). Announced in October, awarded in December in Stockholm (Peace in Oslo). Multiple laureates can share one prize.
- **Padma awards can be declined or returned**: Several recipients have refused honours on personal or political grounds. The award can be withdrawn for misconduct but this is rare.
- **International awards appear in CHSL**: Recent questions have asked about Booker Prize, Pulitzer, Grammy, Oscar winners—especially Indian recipients or India-related work.
- **Sports awards form a separate cluster**: Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna), Arjuna, Dronacharya, and Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement awards are announced on National Sports Day (August 29).