Who won the 2018 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for a work that portrays life in contemporary South Asia?

Introduction / Context:
The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is a major international literary award that celebrates writing about South Asia and its people, culture, and issues. The prize may be awarded to writers of any nationality, as long as the work is about South Asia and is written in or translated into English. This question asks you to recall who received the DSC Prize in 2018, which is a typical current affairs and literature topic for exams.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The year specified is 2018.
• The award is the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
• The options list Jayant Kaikini, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Amitav Ghosh, and None of the above.
• You must identify the writer who actually won the prize for a literary work related to South Asia.

Concept / Approach:
In 2018, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature was awarded to Jayant Kaikini, along with his translator Tejaswini Niranjana, for the collection of short stories titled No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories, originally written in Kannada and translated into English. The work focuses on everyday lives in the city of Mumbai, reflecting various aspects of urban South Asian life. Poonam Khetrapal Singh is known for her role in public health as the regional director of the World Health Organization South East Asia, not for winning this literary award. Amitav Ghosh is a celebrated novelist, but he did not receive the DSC Prize in 2018.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Focus on the specific award: DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, 2018. Step 2: Recall which writer and work were connected to this prize for that year. Step 3: Remember that Jayant Kaikini, with translator Tejaswini Niranjana, won the prize for the book No Presents Please, which explores life in Mumbai. Step 4: Recognise that Poonam Khetrapal Singh is linked with health policy, and Amitav Ghosh, although an important novelist, is not recorded as the DSC winner for 2018. Step 5: Conclude that Jayant Kaikini is the correct choice among the options given.

Verification / Alternative check:
You can cross check by remembering some basic lists of recent literary award winners. Many guidebooks and news digests include the DSC Prize winners with the note that 2018 was significant because a translated work from Kannada won. This detail usually mentions the names Jayant Kaikini and Tejaswini Niranjana. Since this combination is unique and highly publicised, it makes it easy to verify that Jayant Kaikini is indeed associated with the 2018 prize, while the other names in the options are not.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Poonam Khetrapal Singh: Known for her leadership role in public health as a regional director in the World Health Organization, not for winning this literary prize.
Amitav Ghosh: A famous novelist whose works include The Shadow Lines and the Ibis trilogy, but he was not the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature winner in 2018.

None of the above: This is incorrect because credible sources clearly identify Jayant Kaikini as the winner for that year.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes confuse various international literary prizes, such as the Booker Prize, the Sahitya Akademi Award, and the DSC Prize. Another pitfall is to choose a more widely known literary name like Amitav Ghosh rather than paying attention to the specific match between prize year and winner. Keeping a simple table of recent major award winners can help avoid such mistakes in exams.

Final Answer:
The 2018 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature was awarded to Jayant Kaikini for his collection No Presents Please, in translation.