Previous Year Question
With reference to Jnanpith Award, which of the following statements is/are correct?
The 58th Jnanpith Award was conferred upon Sanskrit Scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Ji.
The 1st Jnanpith Award was given in 1965.
Select the correct answer from the code given below:
Only 2
Neither 1 nor 2
Both 1 and 2
Only 1
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is correct. The 58th Jnanpith Award, for the year 2023, was announced jointly for Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya and renowned Urdu poet and lyricist Gulzar. The Bharatiya Jnanpith Selection Committee announced their selection on 17 February 2024. The award recognised their distinguished contributions to Sanskrit and Urdu literature.
The 58th Jnanpith Award ceremony was held on 16 May 2025 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. President Droupadi Murmu presented the award to Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. Gulzar could not attend the ceremony due to health-related reasons. This was the second occasion on which a Sanskrit writer was selected for the Jnanpith Award, while it was the fifth occasion for an Urdu writer.
Statement 2 is also correct. The first Jnanpith Award was presented in 1965 to the renowned Malayalam poet Govind Sankara Kurup (G. Sankara Kurup). He received the award for his Malayalam poetry collection Odakkuzhal. The title means The Bamboo Flute, and the work was first published in 1950.
The Jnanpith Award was instituted in 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith, although the first award was presented in 1965. Bharatiya Jnanpith was established in 1944. It is a prestigious Indian literary honour recognising outstanding contributions to Indian literature. In 1976, Bengali writer Ashapurna Devi became the first woman to receive the Jnanpith Award.