Awards, Honours & Persons in News Current Affairs MCQs

Notes:
Sai Jadhav, at 23, became the first woman officer to graduate from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, breaking a 93-year tradition since its opening in 1932. More than 67,000 cadets have graduated from IMA until now; Sai is the first woman to do so. Sai has been commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Territorial Army, the first woman from IMA to join through this route. She will make history again in June 2026 during the IMA parade at Chetwode Building, symbolizing institutional change.

Notes:
Nnena Kalu has become the first artist with a learning disability to win the Turner Prize 2025. She is autistic and largely non-verbal, known for large-scale swirling abstract drawings and cocoon-like sculptures from repurposed fabrics and VHS tapes. Born in 1966, Kalu began making art in the 1980s and has worked at ActionSpace, a London nonprofit for disabled artists, since 1999. The award jury was chaired by Alex Farquharson (Tate Britain) and included curators from the National Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, and Fitzwilliam Museum.

Notes:
The Vice-President of India, Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan, released the book Sanatan Sanskriti Ki Atal Drishti by Shri Vasudev Devnani, Speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, at the Vice-President’s Enclave, New Delhi. The book is a tribute to former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his centenary birth anniversary. The Vice-President praised Vajpayee as an institution whose life embodied principles, values, and visionary leadership.

Notes:
Vice-President of India Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan released the book Economic Empowerment of Bharat in the Modi Era by Prof. (Dr.) Sikander Kumar, MP, at the Vice-President’s Enclave.The book presents India’s economic journey and policy reforms under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. It documents key governance and economic changes linking them to people’s economic empowerment. The book emphasizes “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” and initiatives like Digital India, Make in India, Startup India, and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) expansion.

Notes:
Tripura Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu, aged 72, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru following a massive cerebral stroke. A four-time MLA from the Dharmanagar constituency, he started his political career with Congress, joined Trinamool Congress in 2016, and later BJP before the 2018 Assembly elections. The state government declared three days of mourning and ordered the closure of all government offices, schools, colleges, and institutions on 26 December as a mark of respect.

Notes:
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) conferred the IFFCO Sahitya Samman 2025 on eminent Hindi writer Maitreyi Pushpa for her outstanding contribution to Hindi literature, especially rural life and agrarian realities. The IFFCO Young Literary Award 2025 was presented to Ankita Jain for her book “Oh Re! Kisan.” Maitreyi Pushpa (born 30 Nov 1944, Aligarh) has a master’s in Hindi literature and is renowned for novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and women-centric writings. IFFCO Sahitya Samman, instituted in 2011, honors writers reflecting rural and agricultural life and carries a cash prize of ₹11 lakh, citation, and memento.

Notes:
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced winners of four creative challenges under the Badalta Bharat Mera Anubhav campaign, organized in collaboration with the MyGov platform. The campaign invited citizens to share personal experiences and creative expressions showcasing India’s transformation over the past 11 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. It aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047. Indrajeet Subodh Mashankar won first prize in the Instagram Reel Contest category. Manthan Rohit won first prize in the YouTube Shorts Challenge category. Sushovan Manna won first prize in the Short Audio-Visual Challenge – Story of New India category. Krishna Gupta won first prize in the Blog Writing Contest category.

Notes:
Renowned Indian ecologist Madhav Dhananjaya Gadgil passed away on 7 January 2026 in Pune at the age of 82. He was the founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. He chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) in 2010, known as the Gadgil Commission. He played a key role in establishing India’s first biosphere reserve, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1986). He significantly contributed to the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and People’s Biodiversity Registers. He received major honours including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and United Nations Champions of the Earth Award (2024).

Notes:
Senior Indian diplomat DB Venkatesh Varma has been nominated by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to chair the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters for 2026–27. This is the first time an Indian has been appointed as chair of the board, established in 1978. Indian diplomats have previously served as members, but never as chair. DB Venkatesh Varma is a leading expert on disarmament and Russia, with key roles in India’s Prime Minister’s Office, including during India–US nuclear deal negotiations. He also served as India’s ambassador to Russia, managing bilateral ties during Covid-era coordination and launching India’s Act Far East policy from Vladivostok in 2019.

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party President K Pawan Kalyan received rare international recognition in Japanese martial arts. He became the first person from Andhra Pradesh to be honoured as a “Samurai.” He was awarded the prestigious Fifth Dan (5th Dan) by Sogo Budo Kanri Kai, a global Japanese martial arts body. He became the first Telugu-speaking person inducted into the historic Takeda Shingen Clan outside Japan. The Golden Dragons organisation honoured him with the title “Tiger of Martial Arts.” He trained in karate in Chennai and later studied Samurai traditions for over three decades.