Bharat Ratna Award: List Of Recipients (1954-2022)

India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, is given to individuals in recognition of their remarkable contribution in any field, regardless of race, occupation, status, or sex. The President receives recommendations from the Indian Prime Minister.

The recipient of the award is given a medallion and a Sanad (certificate) signed by the president. The prize carries no financial grant.

The first recipients were Drs. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, CV Raman, and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan in 1964. The actual award is shaped like a peepal leaf and has “Bharat Ratna” written beneath a sunburst motif in Devanagri script.

Underneath an inscription of the state emblem, the Hindi phrase “Satyameva Jayate” is written on the back of the award statuette.

The Bharat Ratna award’s symbol, sun, and rim are platinum, and the inscriptions are in polished bronze. Awards recipients are prohibited from adding “Bharat Ratna” as a prefix or suffix to their names under Article 18(1) of the Indian Constitution. In their biodata, visiting cards, letterheads, etc., they can put “Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President” or “Recipient of Bharat Ratna Award.”

Year	Laureates
1954	Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Dr Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan
1955	Dr Bhagwan Das Jawaharlal Nehru Dr Mokshagundam Vivesvaraya
1957	Pt Govind Ballabh Pant
1958	Dr Dhonde Keshav Karve
1961	Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Purushottam Das Tandon
1962	Dr Rajendra Prasad
1963	Dr Pandurang Vaman Kane Dr Zakir Hussain
1966	Lal Bahadur Shastri
1971	Indira Gandhi
1975	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
1976	Kumaraswamy Kamraj
1980	Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu)
1983	Acharya Vinoba Bhave
1987	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
1988	Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran (1988)
1990	Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedakr Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
1991	Morarji Ranchhodji Desai Rajiv Gandhi Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
1992	Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Satyajit Ray
1997	Dr Abul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam Aruna Asaf Ali Gulzari Lal Nanda
1998	Chidambaram Subramaniam Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi
1999	Prof Amartya Sen Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan
2001	Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar Ustad Bismillah Khan
2008	Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
2014	Sachin Tendulkar CNR Rao
2015	Madan Mohan Malaviya Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2019	Pranab Mukherjee Bhupen Hazarika Nanaji Deshmukh

Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to the most common queries related to the General Awareness.

Who is the youngest recipient of the Bharat Ratna?

Sachin Tendulkar received the 2014 Bharat Ratna award as the youngest recipient and the first athlete to do so. ...Read full

Who are the non-Indian recipients of the Bharat Ratna award?

Nelson Mandela and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, both non-Indians, have also received the Bharat Ratna.

The Bharat Ratna awards are produced where?

Along with other major national honours like the Padma Vibushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Param Veer Chakra, t...Read full

)What is the status given to Bharat Ratna in our Constitution?

Bharat Ratna” as a prefix or suffix to their names under Article 18(1) of the Indian Constitution. In their bi...Read full

Who were the first recipients of Bharat Ratna?

The first recipients were Drs. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, CV Raman, and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan in 1964. ...Read full

What fields are Bharat Ratna awards given in?

In any area of human endeavours, such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, sports, trade, i...Read full