General Studies & Current Affairs for Bank, SSC, CLAT, Civil Services and other Competitive Exams

1. IMPORTANT AWARDS A] Dadasaheb Phalke Award The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India’s highest award in cinema given annually by the Gover...

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1. IMPORTANT AWARDS

A] Dadasaheb Phalke Award
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India’s highest award in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. The Award is given to a prominent personality from the Indian film industry, noted and respected for significant contributions to Indian cinema. Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich was the first awardee in 1969.

B] Dronacharya Award
Dronacharya Award is an award presented by the government of India for excellence in sports coaching. O.M. Nambiar for athletics , Om Prakash Bhardwaj for boxing and BB Bhagwat for wrestling were the first recipients in 1985.

C] Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian committees in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895.
The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901. The related Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was created in 1968.
The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.

D] List of first recipients of the Nobel Prize:
-Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen received the first Physics Prize for his discovery of X- rays.
-The first laureates for the Economics Prize were Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch “for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes”.
-The Swedish Academy chose the poet Sully Prudhomme for the first Nobel Prize in Literature.
-The first Physiology or Medicine Prize went to the German physiologist and microbiologist Emil von Behring who developed an antitoxin to treat diphtheria. -Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff of Netherlands won the first Chemistry Prize for “discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions”. 
-The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901 to Frederic Passy and Henry Dunant. Passy got it for being one of the main founders of the Inter¬Parliamentary Union and also the main organizer of the first Universal Peace Congress. Dunant received it for his role in founding the International Committee of the Red Cross.

E] Indians who have won the Nobel Prizes
-Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his “Geetanjali”. He was also the first Asian to win the prize.
-Nobel Prize in Physics: C. V. Raman in 1930.
-Nobel Prize in Medicine: Har Gobind Khorana in 1968 (US citizen of Indian origin)
-Nobel Peace Prize: Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1979 (Indian citizen of Albanian origin)
-Nobel Prize in Physics: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1983 (US citizen of Indian origin)
-Nobel Prize in Economics: Amartya Sen in 1998
-Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan in 2009 (USA citizen of Indian origin)

F] Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Republic of Ireland, or Zimbabwe. Beginning in 2014, it will consider authors from anywhere in the world, so long as their work is in English and published in the UK.
P. H. Newby won the first Prize for ‘Something to Answer For’.

G] Man Booker International Prize
The Man Booker International Prize is an international literary award given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation.
The introduction of the International Prize was announced in June 2004. The award, which is sponsored by the Man Group, complements the Man Booker Prize and rewards one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage." Therefore the award is a recognition of the writer's body of work, rather than any one title.
The inaugural winner was Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.

H] Templeton Prize
The Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works". The inaugural winner of the prize, in 1973, was Mother Teresa, six years before she received the Nobel Peace Prize. She was cited by the Templeton Foundation "for her extraordinary efforts to help the homeless and neglected children of Calcutta," work which "inspired millions of others around the world".

I] Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in
government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The Ramon Magsaysay Award is often considered to be Asia’s Nobel Prize.

J] Bharat Ratna
This is the Republic of India’s highest civilian award. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and Nelson Mandela (1990) are the only two non-Indians to win it, with Mother Teresa becoming a naturalised Indian citizen. Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest person alive at the time of receiving the award (at the age of 40). Dhondo Keshav Karve is the eldest person alive at the time of receiving the award (age 100).
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. V. Raman, C. Rajagopalachari were the first awardees in 1954.

K] Param Vir Chakra
The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India’s highest military decoration awarded for the highest degree of valour or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. It can be, and often has been, awarded posthumously. The medal was designed by Savitri Khanolkar. Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient.

L] World Food Prize
The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. It is notably sponsored by agricultural biotechnology companies. Prof. M. S. Swaminathan was the first recipient of the Prize which was started by Norman Borlaug.

M] Fields Medal
The Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The Fields Medal is often viewed as the greatest honour a mathematician can receive. The Fields Medal and the Abel Prize have often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel Prize”. The medal was first awarded in 1936 to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and American mathematician Jesse Douglas, and it has been awarded every four years since 1950.

N] Abel Prize
The Abel Prize is an international prize presented by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. Named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), the award was established in 2001 by the Government of Norway. Jean-Pierre Serre of France first received it in 2003.

O] Sahitya Akademi
Established in 1954, it is a literary honour in India which annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages recognised by the Sahitya Akademi.


2. Firsts’ among Indian's

  • President of Indian Republic: Dr Rajendra Prasad
  • Vice President of Indian Republic: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
  • Defence Minister of India: Baldev Singh
  • Indian Commander-in-Chief of Free India: General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa
  • Chief of Air Staff: Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst 
  • Indian Chief of Staff: General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa 
  • Commander-in-Chief, IAF: Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee 
  • Chief of Naval Staff: Vice Admiral R D Katari
  • Cosmonaut: Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma
  • Field Marshal: Sam Manekshaw
  • First female jawan in the Army: Shanti Tigga
  • First Param Vir Chakra Winner: Major Som Nath Sharma
  • Person to reach the South Pole: Col Jatinder Kumar Bajaj
  • Woman to scale Mount Everest: Bachendri Pal
  • Person to reach the North Pole: Jagannathan Srinivasaraghavan
  • Person to have walked across Gobi desert: Sucheta Kadethankar
  • Indian to swim across the English Channel: Mihir Sen, 1958.
  • Woman to swim across the English Channel: Arati Saha, 1959 
  • Formula One racer: Narain Karthikeyan 
  • Formula One team: Force India F1
  • Person to equal world record in Archery: Limba Ram, 1992 Shiva Keshavan, 
  • First Indian to win 2 Gold Medals for India in Winter sports Sushil Kumar (wrestler) is the first Indian to win back to back Olympic medals (Bronze and Silver in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics respectively)
  • Chess Grandmaster: Male - Viswanathan Anand, 1988.
  • Female - Koneru Humpy - 2002 
  • Mr. Universe: Manohar Aich in 1952
  • Miss World: Reita Faria in 1966. (She was also the first Asian to win the title.)
  • Miss Universe: Sushmita Sen in 1994
  • Miss Earth: Nicole Faria in 2010
  • Man Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy for her novel "The God of Small Things” in the year 1997.
  • Bharat Ratna: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari, and C. V. Raman in 1954
  • Magsaysay Award: Vinoba Bhave, 1958
  • Oscar for Lifetime Achievement - Satyajit Ray
  • Nishan-e-Pakistan: Morarji Desai, 1990
  • First Indian filmmaker to get Bharat Ratna: Satyajit Ray
  • Sound film: Alam Ara (1931) directed by Ardeshir Irani
  • Sound engineer to win an Oscar: Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire
  • Music director to win an Oscar and first double Oscar winner-Mr. A. R. Rahman
  • for Slumdog Millionaire
  • Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film: Mother India Oscar for Lifetime Achievement: Satyajit Ray
  • Sponsored TV serial: Hum Log, started on 7 July 1984, was also the first soap opera of India, ran for 156 episodes
  • 3-D film: My Dear Kuttichathan, a Malayalam film, produced in 1984, dubbed in Hindi as Chhota Chetan.
  • Hindi film screened at the United Nations: Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 10 November 2006,directed by Rajkumar Hirani
  • President of the Indian National Congress: Womesh Chandra Bannerjee, 1885 
  • President of the Indian National Congress of independent India: Acharya Kripalani, till November 1947 President: Rajendra Prasad (1950-1962)
  • First Woman President: Pratibha Patil (2007-2012)
  • The first Chief Election Commissioner : Sukumar Sen 
  • Vice-President: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 
  • Prime Minister: Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-64 
  • Deputy Prime Minister: Vallabhbhai Patel (1947-1950)
  • Law Minister of India: B. R. Ambedkar
  • Leader of Opposition: A. K. Gopalan
  • Women Railway Minister of India: Mamata Banerjee
  • The first Viceroy of India: Lord Canning, 1858
  • Governor-General of India: Warren Hastings, 1773
  • Governor-General of Independent India: Lord Mountbatten, 1947
  • Indian Governor-General of Indian Union: C Rajagopalachari, 1948
  • Chief Justice of India: H. J. Kania (1947-1951)
  • Indian ICS Officer: Satyendranath Tagore, 1863
  • Speaker of Lok Sabha: G.V. Mavlankar (1952-1956)
  • Presentation of First Budget after India's Independence: R. K. Shanmukhan Chetty
  • First Home Minister of India: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel
  • First Indian President to die in Office: Dr Zakir Hussain
  • First Chief Minister to die in Office: C.N.Annadurai, Tamil Nadu
  • First Indian Prime Minister to resign from office: Morarji Desai, 1979
  • First woman Cabinet Minister in India: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
  • First woman Minister in India: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
  • First woman Chief Minister: Sucheta Kriplani, UP
  • First woman Governor of a State: Sarojini Naidu (Governor of Uttar Pradesh, 1947-49)
  • First female Home Minister: Sabitha Indra Reddy in Andhra Pradesh Govt.
  • First woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar
  • Woman in space: Kalpana Chawla
  • Test-tube baby: Durga Agarwal, born 1978
  • Nuclear Reactor: Apsara, Mumbai
  • Satellite: Aryabhata, launched on 19 April 1975
  • Woman to be the Chairperson of State Bank of India:Arundhati Bhattacharya
  • Woman Photojournalist: Homai Vyarawalla
  • Woman Supreme Court judge: Justice M. Fathima Beevi
  • Woman President of the United Nations General Assembly: Vijaya Lakshmi
  • Pandit, 1953
  • Wax statue of a living Indian: Mahatma Gandhi at Madame Tussaud’s in 1939.



3. First Indian's in Olympics

  • Olympic team medal: Gold in Field Hockey, Amsterdam, beating the Netherlands in the Finals.
  • Individual medal (in British India): Two Silver medals by Norman Pritchard in 200 metres and 200 metres hurdles at the 1900 Summer Olympics, Paris. (This is disputed however. The IOC claims he participated for India. The IAAF records him as participant for Great Britain.)
  • Individual medal: Bronze by K. D. Jadhav for Wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.
  • Medal in Tennis: Leander Paes at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 
  • Individual medal by a woman: Bronze by Karnam Malleswari for weightlifting 54 kg class, at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney.
  • Individual Gold medal: Abhinav Bindra in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
  • Individual Silver medal Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the Men's Double Trap event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
  • Medal in boxing: Vijender Kumar in the Beijing Olympics 2008.
  • Medal in Badminton: Saina Nehwal, winning bronze in the London Olympics 2012
  • Medal in wrestling: Sushil Kumar, winning a Bronze in the Beijing Olympics 2008
  • Medal in ladies’ boxing: MC Mary Kom, winning bronze in the London Olympics 2012


MC Mary Kom

  • Grand Slam title: Mahesh Bhupathi (partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 1997 French Open.
  • Woman to win a Grand Slam title: Sania Mirza (partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 2009 Australian Open 


4. First In Cricket

  • Captain in Tests: C. K. Nayudu for the 1932 tour of England.
  • ODI captain: Ajit Wadekar.
  • Cricketer to score a century in a Test match: Lala Amarnath 
  • Cricketer to score a double century in a Test match: Polly Umrigar, 223 
  • Cricketer to score a triple century in a Test match: Virender Sehwag 
  • Indian to score an ODI century: Kapil Dev, 175 
  • Indian to score an ODI double century is Sachin Tendulkar, 200*
  • Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in Tests: Sunil Gavaskar (he was the first in the World to achieve this feat)
  • Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in ODIs: Sachin Tendulkar (he was the first in the World to achieve this feat)
  • First Indian to score a T20 century: Suresh Raina


5. List of Sobriquets for Places

  • Battle field of Europe - Belgium 
  • City of Sky Scrapers - New York (USA)
  • City of Magnificent Distances - Washinton DC 
  • City of Golden Gate - San Francisco (USA)
  • City of Seven Hills - Rome (Italy)
  • Cockpit of Europe - Belgium 
  • Copper Country - Zambia 
  • Dark Continent - Africa 
  • Empire City - New York (USA)
  • Emerald Island - Ireland 
  • Eternal City - Rome (Italy)
  • Forbidden City - Lhasa (Tibet, China)
  • Garden of England - Kent 
  • George Cross Island - Malta 
  • Granite City - Aberdeen (Scotland)
  • Hill Queen - Shimla
  • Holy Land - Palestine
  • Island of Pearls - Bahrain
  • Island of Cloves - Madagascar
  • Land of Eagles - Albania
  • Land of Golden Fleece - Australia
  • Land of Lilies - Canada
  • Land of Golden Pagoda - Myanmar
  • Land of Maple - Canada
  • Land of Thousand Lakes - Finland
  • Land of Morning Calm - Korea
  • Land of Rising Sun - Japan
  • Land of Setting Sun - Britain
  • Land of Midnight Sun - Norway
  • Land of Lakes - Scotland
  • Land of the Tulips - Netherlands
  • Land of White Elephant - Thailand
  • Land of Thunder Bolt - Bhutan
  • Land of Thousand Elephants - Laos
  • Manchester of the Orient - Osaka
  • Never Never Land - Prairies, North Australia
  • Land of Thunder Dragon - China
  • Nation of Thousand Hills - Rwanda
  • Pearl of Arabia - Bahrain
  • Pearl of Antilles - Cuba
  • Pillars of Hercules - Strait of Gibralter
  • Quaker City of USA - Philadelphia (USA)
  • Queen of the Adriatic - Venice, Italy
  • Sick Man of Europe - Turkey
  • Sugar Bowl of World - Cuba
  • Venice of the North - Stockholm (Sweden)
  • White City - Belgrade Windy City - Chicago
  • World's Bread Basket - Priries of North America Land of Windmills - Holland


6. Nicknames of famous persons

  • Father of the Nation: Mahatma Gandhi Bapu: Mahatma Gandhi
  • Frontier Gandhi, Badshah Khan Khan: Abdul Ghaffar Khan
  • Grand Old man of India: Dadabhai Naoroji
  • Punjab Kesari: Lala Lajpat Rai
  • Bengal Kesari Ashutosh Mukherji
  • Bihar Kesari Dr. Srikrishna Singh
  • Andhra Kesari T. Prakasam
  • Bangabandhu Sheikh: Mujibur Rahman
  • Deshbandhu : Chitta Ranjan Das
  • Deenbandhu: C.F. Andrews
  • Lokmanya: Bal Gangadhar Tilak
  • Loknayak: Jayaprakash Narayan
  • Jana Nayak: Karpuri Thakur
  • Rajarshee: Purushottam Das Tandon
  • Gurudev: Rabindranath Tagore
  • Mahamana Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya
  • Netaji: Subhash Chandra Bose
  • Chacha : Jawaharlal Nehru
  • Rajaji/C.R. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
  • Shahid-e-Azam: Bhagat Singh
  • Nightingale of India Sarojini Naidu
  • Lady with the lamp: Florence Nightinga
  • Lal, Bal, Pal: Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal
  • Anna: C.N. Annadurai 
  • Haryana Hurricane: Kapil Dev
  • Little Master: Sunil Gavaskar 
  • Little Corporal: Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Man of Destiny: Napoleon Bonaparte 
  • Fuehrer: Adolf Hitler 
  • Bard of Avon: William Shakespeare 
  • Maid of Orleans: Joan of Arc 
  • Quaid-i-Azam: Md. Ali Jinnah



7. World Geography

  • Largest Continent: Asia 
  • Smallest Continent: Australia
  • Highest Mountain: Mount Everest, 
  • Himalayan Mountains, Nepal-Tibet 
  • Lowest Point on Land: The Dead Sea, Israel-Jordan 
  • Deepest Underwater Trench: Mariana Trench 
  • Largest Sea: The Mediterranean Sea
  • Highest Lake: The highest navigable lake is Lake Titicaca in Peru 
  • Lowest Lake: The Dead Sea, Israel-Jordan 
  • Largest Lake: Caspian Sea Deepest Lake: Lake Baikal
  • Largest Freshwater Lake: Lake Superior, U.S.-Canada
  • Deepest Ocean: Pacific Ocean
  • Largest Ocean: Pacific Ocean
  • Smallest Ocean: Arctic Ocean
  • Largest Gulf: Gulf of Mexico
  • Largest Bay: The Bay of Bengal
  • Largest Island: Greenland
  • Largest Gorge: Grand Canyon
  • Longest Mountain Range: The Andes of South America 
  • Longest River: The Nile, Africa 
  • Largest River: The Amazon, South America 
  • Largest Waterfall: Angel Falls, Venezuela 
  • Wettest place on Earth: Mawsynram



8.Indian Geography

  • Longest River in India: The Ganges
  • Longest Tributary river of India : Yamuna
  • Largest Lake: Wular Lake, Kashmir
  • Largest Lake (Saline Water) : Chilka Lake, Orrisa
  • Largest Man-Made Lake: Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar (Rihand Dam)
  • Largest Fresh Water Lake: Kolleru Lake (Andhra Pradesh)
  • Highest Lake Devtal Lake
  • Highest Peak Karkoram-2 of K-2(8,611 meters)
  • Largest State(Area) Rajasthan
  • Largest State(Population) Uttar Pradesh
  • State wise largest area under forest : Madhya Pradesh
  • Largest Delta: Sunderbans Delta
  • Longest Cantilever Span bridge: Howrah Bridge
  • Longest Road: Grand Trunk Road
  • Biggest Mosque: Jama Masjid at Delhi
  • Highest Gateway: Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri (53.6 meters high) 
  • Longest Canal: Indira Gandhi Canal or Rajasthan Canal (Rajasthan)
  • Largest Dome: Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur
  • Largest Zoo: Zoological Garden at Alipur (Kolkata)
  • Largest Museum: India Museum at Kolkata 
  • Longest Dam: Hirakud Dam (Orrisa)
  • Highest Dam: Tehri Dam ( 260 meters , 850 ft )
  • Largest Desert: Thar (Rajasthan)
  • State with longest coastline: Gujarat
  • Longest Railway Route From Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari via Vivek Express
  • Densest Populated State West Bengal
  • Longest Beach:Marina Beach, Chennai
  • Highest Battle Field :Siachin Glacier
  • Highest Airport: Leh (Laddakh)
  • Largest River Island :Majuli (Brahmaputra River, Asom)
  • Largest Planetarium :Birla Planetarium (Kolkata) 
  • Largest inland salt lake: Sambhar Lake