Awards, Honours & Persons in News Current Affairs MCQs

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Recently, Leila Aboulela, a Sudanese-Scottish author, won the 2025 PEN Pinter Prize for her bold and truthful literary voice. The award was announced at English PEN’s summer party in London, with live readings of her work by actors Khalid Abdalla and Amira Ghazalla. She writes from a Muslim and immigrant perspective, exploring faith, migration, and cultural identity. Aboulela will receive the prize on October 10 at the British Library, where she will also announce the Writer of Courage for 2025. Past Writers of Courage include Alaa Abd el-Fattah (2024) and Rahile Dawut (2023), both persecuted for defending free speech.

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Dr. Abhijat Sheth has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the National Medical Commission (NMC) in July 2025. The appointment comes amid rising concerns over regulatory loopholes and a recent corruption probe in medical college approvals. The National Medical Commission (NMC) is India’s top regulatory body for medical education and professionals. It was established under the NMC Act, 2019, replacing the Medical Council of India (MCI). NMC is a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) was named the World’s Best Consumer Bank for 2025 by Global Finance magazine. The recognition was announced on July 18, 2025. SBI is India’s largest public sector bank. The award was based on Global Finance’s research and analysis, along with inputs from corporate finance experts, analysts, and bankers worldwide.

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Renowned economist and UK House of Lords member Lord Meghnad Desai passed away recently at age 85. He was born in 1940 in Vadodara, Gujarat as Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai. He earned BA and MA in Economics from University of Mumbai and completed PhD from University of Pennsylvania in 1963. He authored over 200 academic papers and 8 books, including Marxian Economic Theory and The Rediscovery of India. He was a pioneer in Marxian economics, globalisation, and development economics. In 1991, he became the first Indian-origin Labour Party peer in the House of Lords.

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Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari received the 43rd Lokmanya Tilak National Award in Pune. The award was instituted in 1983 by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust. It is given annually on 1st August, the death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak. The award honours individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the progress and development of the nation. Lokmanya Tilak was born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak and was a key figure in India’s freedom struggle. He was a nationalist, social reformer, and strong advocate of Swaraj or Self-Rule.

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Laura Dahlmeier, a 31-year-old German mountaineer and Olympic biathlon champion, died during an expedition on Laila Peak in the Karakoram mountains. She was caught in a rockfall at around 5,700 metres (18,700 feet) altitude. She was a double Olympic gold medallist in biathlon at Pyeongchang 2018 and won 15 World Championship medals.

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Former Governor Satya Pal Malik passed away on August 5, 2025, at the age of 79. He served as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Goa, Odisha, and Meghalaya. He died at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, due to multiple organ failure following sepsis, pneumonia, and chronic kidney disease. Malik began politics in the 1960s, influenced by Ram Manohar Lohia’s socialist ideology. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2004, became national vice-president in 2012. He belonged to the Jat community, originally from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, with roots in Haryana. As J&K Governor, he oversaw the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

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Hiromasa Urakawa, a 28-year-old Japanese boxer, died from brain injuries sustained in a fight in Tokyo. He was knocked out in the eighth round against Yoji Saito on August 2 and later died after surgery for subdural haematoma, a bleeding between the skull and brain. This comes after Shigetoshi Kotari also died from similar injuries in the same event at Korakuen Hall. The Japan Boxing Commission reduced all Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) title fights from 12 to 10 rounds. Urakawa is the third high-profile boxing death in 2025, after Irish boxer John Cooney’s death from intracranial haemorrhage in February.

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India won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal at the 18th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2025 held in Mumbai from August 15–21. The event hosted 288 students from 63 countries. Indian gold medalists are Aarush Mishra (Bengaluru), Banibrata Majee (Delhi), Panini (Patna) and Akshat Srivastava (Kolkata). Sumant Gupta (Gurugram) won the silver medal. Iran emerged as the top performer with all five members winning gold medals. The event was organized by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)

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The 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture winners were announced on September 2, 2025, with the award ceremony held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The seven winning projects, including Khudi Bari in Bangladesh and Vision Pakistan, were selected from a shortlist of 19 projects and address themes like community resilience and climate-responsive design. For the 2025 award cycle, India did not have any projects on the final shortlist. The Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) continue to be active in India. In 2024, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture partnered with the Archaeological Survey of India to develop a modern sunken museum at the 16th-century Humayun’s Tomb Complex in Delhi.