‘Bharat Ratna’, the highest civilian Award of the country, was instituted in the year 1954. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for these awards. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour. The number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year. Recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a peepal-leaf–shaped medallion; there is no monetary grant associated with the award. The prime minister recommends the president the name of the person he thinks is fit. Sachin Tendulkar is the first sportsperson and the youngest Bharat Ratna Award Winner. Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.
First Awarded: 1954
Total Awards: 45
First awardee(s)
- C. Rajagopalachari
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
- C. V. Raman
Recent awardee(s)
- Madan Mohan Malaviya (Posthumous)
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee
List of Bharat Ratna Awardees
|
S.No. |
Name | Year |
About him/her |
| 1 | Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari | 1954 | Last Governor – General, Independence activist |
| 2 | Dr. Sarvapali Radhakrishnan | 1954 | India’s 1st Vice President (1952 – 1962), Philosopher and India’s 2nd President (1962 – 1967) |
| 3 | Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman | 1954 | Physicist |
| 4 | Dr. Bhagwan Das | 1955 | Author, Independence activist, Kashi Vidya Peeth Founder |
| 5 | Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya | 1955 | Diwan of Mysore, Civil engineer |
| 6 | Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru | 1955 | Author, Independence activist, 1st Prime Minister |
| 7 | Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant | 1957 | Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Independence activist, Home Minister |
| 8 | Dr. Dhondo Keshave Karve | 1958 | Educator, social reformer |
| 9 | Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy | 1961 | Chief Minister of West Bengal and a Physician |
| 10 | Shri Purushottam Das Tandon | 1961 | Educator, Independence activist |
| 11 | Dr. Rajendra Prasad | 1962 | Jurist, Independence activist, 1st President of India |
| 12 | Dr. Zakir Hussain | 1963 | Scholar, Independence activist, 3rd President of India |
| 13 | Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane | 1963 | Sanskrit scholar and Indologist |
| 14 | Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri (Posthumous) | 1966 | 2nd Prime Minister of India, Independence activist |
| 15 | Smt. Indira Gandhi | 1971 | 3rd Prime Minister of India |
| 16 | Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri | 1975 | 4th President, Trade unionist |
| 17 | Shri Kumaraswami Kamraj (Posthumous) | 1976 | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Independence activist |
| 18 | Mother Teresa | 1980 | Founder of Missionaries of Charity and a Catholic nun |
| 19 | Shri Acharya Vinobha Bhave (Posthumous) | 1983 | Independence activist and a Social reformer |
| 20 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | 1987 | Independence activist, First non-citizen |
| 21 | Shri Marudu Gopalan Ramachandran (Posthumous) | 1988 | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Film actor |
| 22 | Dr. Bhim Rao Ramji Ambedkar (Posthumous) | 1990 | Crusader against Untouchablity, Chief architect of Indian Constitution, Social Reformer, Dalit Icon, Historian, Economist, scholar, politician |
| 23 | Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela | 1990 | 2nd non – citizen and non – Indian recipient, Leader of Anti – Apartheid movement |
| 24 | Shri Rajiv Gandhi (Posthumous) | 1991 | 6th Prime Minister of India |
| 25 | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Posthumous) | 1991 | Independence activist, 1st Home Minister |
| 26 | Shri Morarji Ranchhodji Desai | 1991 | 4th Prime Minister and Independence activist |
| 27 | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Posthumous) | 1992 | 1st Minister of Education and an Independence activist |
| 28 | Shri Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata | 1992 | Philanthropist and an Industrialist |
| 29 | Shri Satyajit Ray | 1992 | Filmmaker |
| 30 | Shri Gulzarilal Nanda | 1997 | Interim Prime Minister, Independence activist |
| 31 | Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali (Posthumous) | 1997 | Independence activist |
| 32 | Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam | 1997 | Aeronautical Engineer and 11th President of India |
| 33 | Smt. Madurai Sanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi | 1998 | Carnatic classical singer |
| 34 | Shri Chidambaram Subramniam | 1998 | Minister of Agriculture and an Independence activist |
| 35 | Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan (Posthumous) | 1999 | Politician, Independence activist |
| 36 | Professor Amartya Sen | 1999 | Economist |
| 37 | Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (Posthumous) | 1999 | Chief Minister of Assam, Independence activist |
| 38 | Pandit Ravi Shankar | 1999 | Sitar player |
| 39 | Sushri Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar | 2001 | Playback singer |
| 40 | Ustad Bismillah Khan | 2001 | Hindustani classical shehnai player |
| 41 | Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi | 2008 | Hindustani classical singer |
| 42 | Sachin Tendulkar | 2014 | Indian Cricketer, First Sportsman and Youngest Indian who got Bharat Ratna |
| 43 | Prof. C.N.R Rao | 2014 | Indian Scientist |
| 44 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who was the Eleventh Prime Minister of India from BJP |
| 45 | Madan Mohan Malviya | 2015 | The freedom icon and Educationist popularly known as ‘Mahamana”. |
