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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 |
