Awards, Honours & Persons in News Current Affairs MCQs

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An Indian team, Photonics Odyssey from Chennai, won the Most Inspirational Award at NASA’s 2025 International Space Apps Challenge for their satellite internet concept. The team proposed a sovereign, phased-array satellite internet infrastructure aimed at expanding broadband access in remote regions of India. The project is designed to reduce dependency on ground infrastructure and connect over 700 million people in India who currently lack broadband access.

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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.

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The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment organised the programme ‘Celebration of Intergenerational Bonds’ on 22 December 2025 in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh. The event aimed to strengthen emotional, social, and cultural ties between generations and promote active, dignified ageing. The programme promoted dialogue, affection, cooperation, and mutual respect between generations to preserve values, traditions, and social cohesion. The event reinforced intergenerational harmony, social cohesion, community participation, and inclusive, elder-friendly society building.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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Recently, the Centre for Development of Telematics received the SKOCH Award 2025 at the 104th SKOCH Summit themed “Resourcing Viksit Bharat”. The award was given for its Cell Broadcast Solution, an indigenous disaster and emergency alert platform. The system integrates agencies like India Meteorological Department, Central Water Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Defence Geo-informatics Research Establishment, and Forest Survey of India. It delivers near real-time, geo-targeted, multilingual disaster alerts through mobile networks with approval from State and National Disaster Management Authorities.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced an annual literary award named “Semmozhi Illakiya Virudhu (Classical Language Literary Award)”. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for each language. In the first phase, awards will be given for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odiya, Bengali, and Marathi. The initiative was announced following cancellation of the Sahitya Akademi awards due to alleged political intervention by the Union Culture Ministry. The state government will act as patron, while independent experts will handle the selection process.

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The Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar is an annual award instituted by the Government of India to recognize individuals and institutions for outstanding contribution in the field of disaster management. The award is announced every year on 23rd January, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Lieutenant Colonel Seeta Ashok Shelke of the Indian Army received the award in the Individual Category for her exceptional leadership during disaster response operations. She led large-scale Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts in Wayanad, Kerala, during the 2024 floods and landslides. The Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) was awarded in the Institutional Category for its outstanding institutional approach to disaster preparedness and response.

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Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla was conferred the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, by President Droupadi Murmu during the 77th Republic Day celebrations at Kartavya Path. Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair will be awarded the Kirti Chakra. Shubhanshu Shukla travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 as part of the Axiom-4 mission, becoming the second Indian in space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma. The award recognises his exceptional courage, leadership, presence of mind and swift decision-making under demanding space mission conditions.