Awards, Honours & Persons in News Current Affairs MCQs

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Christine Carla Kangaloo, President of Trinidad and Tobago, was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for her contributions to public affairs and promoting India’s global prestige. She served as the chief guest at the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in January 2025. Kangaloo highlighted the deep historical ties between India and Trinidad, dating back to 1845 with the arrival of Indian indentured workers. She praised India’s global contributions in education, medicine, and mathematics, and acknowledged the Indian diaspora’s impact worldwide.

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Latika Katt, a renowned Indian sculptor, passed away at 76 in Jaipur. She was known for larger-than-life sculptures, public busts, and capturing nature’s organic forms. Her works include a 20-ft bronze sculpture of Jawaharlal Nehru at Jawahar Bhawan, Delhi. She experimented with terracotta, papier-mâché, stone, and bronze over five decades. She won the Beijing Art Biennale Award (2010) for Makarsankranti Nahan at Dashaswamedh Ghat.

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Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), replacing Rajiv Kumar. He is a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre and senior to the other commissioners. Vivek Joshi has been appointed as Election Commissioner; he was the former Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner. This is the first appointment under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioner Act, 2023.

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The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and the Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion held a discussion on Diyaslai. Diyaslai is the autobiography of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, detailing his journey from Vidisha to his fight for child rights. Kailash Satyarthi, born in 1954 in Madhya Pradesh, has led global efforts against child slavery and exploitation in 140 countries. His organization has rescued over 1,38,000 children from child labour and trafficking. He highlighted that compassion is the key to solving global issues.

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Garimella Balakrishna Prasad, noted classical singer and former Asthana Vidwan (court musician) of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), passed away at 76 due to a heart attack in Tirupati. Served TTD from 1978 to 2006 and composed music for 1,000+ compositions of saint-poet Tallapaka Annamacharya. His famous works include Vinaro Bhagyamu Vishnukatha, Pidikita Thalambrala Pellikoothuru, and Jagadapu Chanavula Jajara, also featured in the Telugu film Annamayya.

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Mridulika Jha of Aaj Tak won the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism 2025 for reporting on the “Dunki route” used by Haryana youths to illegally enter the United States of America. 27 journalists were awarded across 20 categories at the 19th Ramnath Goenka Awards held in New Delhi on 19 March 2025. The award, instituted by the Indian Express Group in 2005, honors Print/Digital & Broadcast journalists for excellence despite political and economic pressures. President Droupadi Murmu was the chief guest and presented the awards. Winners received a citation, a trophy, and ₹1 lakh cash prize.

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The Abel Prize for mathematics was awarded to Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara. He is a specialist in algebraic analysis, representation theory, and sheaf theory. The 78-year-old was honoured for his work on D-modules and crystal bases. D-modules introduced a new way to study linear differential equations. The prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. It was created by Norway’s government to compensate for the lack of a Nobel Prize in mathematics.

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Padmashree Ram Sahay Pandey, who recently passed away, was a renowned figure associated with the Rai folk dance of the Bundelkhand region. Pandey dedicated his life to promoting and preserving the Rai folk dance, a tradition that was once stigmatized. He is credited with bringing respectability to the art form and taking it from the heart of Bundelkhand to international platforms. The Rai dance is a traditional folk dance from the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2022 for his contributions to the preservation and promotion of Rai dance.

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Researchers from Kerala received the Future Conservationist Award by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) for their work on saving the Malabar Grey Hornbill. The CLP is a global partnership between Fauna & Flora International, BirdLife International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The award supports young conservationists with less than five years of experience by offering funding and expert guidance. The Malabar Grey Hornbill is a bird found only in the Western Ghats of India, mostly at elevations above 50 meters from sea level. Its International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status is Vulnerable, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction.

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Renowned Kathak dancer Kumudini Lakhia passed away at the age of 94, leaving behind a legacy of innovation in Indian classical dance. Kathak, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Katha’, means ‘story’, and is a classical dance form traditionally focused on mythological storytelling. Kumudini Lakhia transformed Kathak from a solo narrative form to a group ensemble, introducing contemporary and non-narrative elements. She received the Padma Shri (1987), Padma Bhushan (2010), and Padma Vibhushan (2024) for her contributions to Indian dance.