Bharat Ratna – The highest civilian award of India
Did you know that the first recipient of Bharat Ratna was Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman? Bharat Ratna awardees or recipients starting from 1954 to date are listed below. Here is everything you need to know about Bharat Ratnas of India.
Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) is the highest Civilian Award conferred by the Government of India to the Individuals recognizing their Exceptional Service/Performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavor. The recipients are honored with a Certificate signed by the President of India and a Peepal leaf-shaped Medallion. However, the award doesn’t have any monetary grant
Initially, the award was limited to only a few categories of excellence/performance. Further, the award was only conferred to living Indian citizens. However, in the due course of time, it was extended to all fields of excellence. It was further thrown open to foreigners, naturalized Indian citizens and began to be conferred posthumously too.
Procedure of selection
The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made only by the Prime Minister of India to the President of India. The president confers them to the recommended Individuals. However, it is not mandatory to award Bharat Ratna every year. Moreover, the maximum number of persons that can be awarded Bharat Ratna is restricted to three in any particular year.
Given below is the list of all the Bharat Ratna awardees till date.
| Year | Name of the Awardee | Place of domicile | Field of Excellence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | C Rajgopalachari | Tamil Nadu | freedom fighter, Politics |
| 1954 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Andhra Pradesh | Education, Politics |
| 1954 | C V Raman | Tamil Nadu | Science (Physics) |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Uttar Pradesh | Freedom Fighter, Education |
| 1955 | M Visvesvaraya | Karnataka | Civil Engineer, Statesman |
| 1955 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Uttar Pradesh | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Uttarakhand | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Maharashtra | Social Reformer, Education |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Bihar | Physician, Politics, Philanthropy |
| 1961 | Purushottam Das Tandon | Uttar Pradesh | Freedom Fighter, politics |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | Bihar | Freedom Fighter, Lawyer, Politics |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain | Telangana | Freedom Fighter, Education |
| 1963 | Pandurang Vaman Kane | Maharashtra | Scholar, Literature |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | Uttar Pradesh | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi | Uttar Pradesh | Politics |
| 1975 | V V Giri | Odisha | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1976 | K Kamaraj | Tamil Nadu | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa | West Bengal (Born in skopje) | Charity, Humanitarian |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave | Maharashtra | Freedom Fighter, Social Reformer |
| 1987 | Abdul Ghaffar Khan | Pakistan | Freedom Fighter |
| 1988 | M G Ramachandran | Tamil Nadu | Actor, Politics |
| 1990 | B R Ambedkar | Maharashtra | Social Reformer, Architect of Constitution |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela | South Africa | Leader of Anti-Apartheid Movement |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | Maharashtra | Politics |
| 1991 | Vallabhbhai Patel | Gujarat | Freedom fighter, Politics |
| 1991 | Morarji Desai | Gujarat | Freedom Fighter, Politics (Also received Nishan-e-Pakistan) |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad | West Bengal | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1992 | J R D Tata | Maharashtra | Industry, Philanthropy, Aviation |
| 1992 | Satyajit Ray | West Bengal | Director and Film Maker |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Punjab | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1997 | Aruna Asaf Ali | Haryana | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1997 | A P J Abdul Kalam | Tamil Nadu | Aerospace, Defence |
| 1998 | M S Subbulakshmi | Tamil Nadu | Carnatic Music (Vocal) |
| 1998 | Chidambaram Subramaniam | Tamil Nadu | Freedom Fighter, Agriculture |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan | Bihar | Freedom Fighter, Social reformer |
| 1999 | Amartya Sen | West Bengal | Economics |
| 1999 | Gopinath Bordoloi | Assam | Freedom Fighter, Politics |
| 1999 | Ravi Shankar | Uttar Pradesh | Hindustani Music (Sitar) |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Maharashtra | Playback Singer |
| 2001 | Bismillah Khan | Bihar | Hindustani Music (Shehnai) |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Karnataka | Hindustani Music (Vocal) |
| 2014 | C N R Rao | Karnataka | Science (Chemistry, Science Literature) |
| 2014 | Sachin Tendulkar | Maharashtra | Sports (Cricket) |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Uttar Pradesh | Educational Reformer |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Madhya Pradesh | Politics, Public Service |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee | West Bengal | Politics, Public Service |
| 2019 | Bhupen Hazarika | Assam | Music |
| 2019 | Nanaji Deshmukh | Maharashtra | Education, Health, Rural Self Reliance |