Civilian Awards are bestowed to an individual who has done par excellence or attained achievements in their respective fields. 1954 was the commencement year of the Civilian Awards. This award is given by the President of India every year on Republic Day. The Civilian Awards in India include the following awards in their order of honor;

  • Bharat Ratna: Highest Civilian Awards in India and is awarded for exceptional performance or services of the highest order.
  • Padma Vibhushan: Second Highest Civilian Award in India and is awarded for distinguished and exceptional services.
  • Padma Bhushan: Third Highest Civilian Award in India and is awarded for distinguished or different services of a high order.
  • Padma Shri: Fourth Civilian Award in India and is awarded for distinguished or different services.

The Padma Awards were constituted in 1954 and are awarded for the distinguished, exceptional, and extraordinary performance or services every year on Republic Day. The beneficiaries will receive a certificate (Sanad) and a medal along with its image and a brochure. The Prime Minister of India constituted the Padma Awards Committee for Padma Awards for representing the nominees every year. The Cabinet Secretary is the head of the Padma Awards Committee with the members including President Secretary, Home Secretary, and 4-6 eminent personalities. Finally, the committee submitted the list of approved nominees to the Prime Minister of India who then recommended to the President of India.

Other Awards includes are the Dada Saheb Phalke Award which is given to those who have contributed to Indian Cinema and Arjuna Award for National sports achievements and finally the Param Vir Chakra Award for contribution in the services of the military.

Highest Civilian Award in India

The Bharat Ratna Award is considered the highest civilian award in India. Bharat Ratna Award was constituted on January 2, 1954, is presented to the person for their extraordinary performance or work in their work or field irrespective of their caste, position, gender, race, and occupation. This award was restricted to the achievements in fields like science, trade and industry, sports, art, medicine, public services, education, civil services, and literature but in December 2011 the government ordered that this award be expanded to every human effort in their respective fields. The Prime Minister of India recommended to the President of India 3 nominees for the Bharat Ratna Award. 

The beneficiary receives a medal of peepal leaf shape with the President signing a certificate (Sanad). The sun image along with the “Bharat Ratna” word in Devnagari Script is inscribed on the medal and at the back, the symbol of the State Emblem of India is inscribed with the golden words “Satyameva Jayate” in Devanagari Script.

  1. Rajagopalachari (the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the last Governor-General of the Indian Dominion), C.V. Raman (Physicist), and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (the 1st Vice president and the 2nd President of India) were the first recipients who were honored with the Bharat Ratna Award, the highest civilian award in India in the year 1954. Since 1954, 48 individuals have been bestowed with the Bharat Ratna Award. In 2014, Sachin Tendulkar, the cricketer, was the youngest recipient of this award.

List of Some Civilian Awards and Awardees of 2022

Harshaali Malhotra has been awarded the 12th Bharat Ratna Dr. Ambedkar Award 2022 for her incredible performance in the movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan. 128 Padma Awards were distributed in the year 2022 out of which 4 were Padma Vibhushan, 17 were Padma Bhushan and 107 were Padma Shri Awards. 

List of some of the Padma Awards are :

  • Padma Vibhushan
  1. Ms. Prabha Atre is in the field of Art.
  2. Shri Radheyshyam Khemka (Posthumous) in the field of Literature and Education.
  3. General Bipin Rawat (Posthumous) in the field of Civil Services.
  4. Shri Kalyan Singh (Posthumous) in the field of Public Affairs.
  • Padma Bhushan
  1. Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the field of Public Affairs.
  2. Ms. Gurmeet Bawa and Shri Victor Banerjee in the field of Art.
  3. Shri Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Shri Satya Narayana Nadella, Shri Sundararajan Pichai, Shri Cyrus Poonawalla, Shri Krishna Ella, and Smt. Suchitra Ella* (Duo) in the field of Trade and Industry.
  4. Ms. Pratibha Ray, Swami Sachidanand, and Shri Vashishth Tripathi in the field of Literature and Education and many more.
  • Padma Shri Award
  1. Shri Prahlad Rai Agarwala, Shri Jagjit Singh Dardi, Ms. Muktamani Devi, and Shri Ryuko Hira in the field of Trade and Industry.
  2. Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre and Dr. Prokar Dasgupta in the field of Medicine.
  3. Other 105 Padma Shri Awards were given to individuals.

Conclusion

Civilian Awards are the awards given to an individual for their magnificent work in their respective fields or work. Bharat Ratna Award is the highest Civilian Award in India followed by the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri Award. These awards are given every year by the President of India to the beneficiaries. Recently in 2021, no one was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award while in 2022 only Harshaali Malhotra was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award.