Bharat Ratna - Facts and Bharat Ratna Award List (1954 to 2019)

Bharat Ratna - The highest civilian award in India

This article is about the highest civilian award in India (Bharat Ratna Award) - Bharat Ratna Is the highest civilian award in India and it's known as ‘Jewel of India’. The Bharat Ratna Awards were started on 02 January 1954 and it is awarded for exceptional service to the nation in recognition of various fields such as science, arts, literature, polity, sports, and social work of the highest order. So far it has been given to only 48 people (16 posthumously). It is always proposed by the Prime Minister of India and given by the President of India and It is provided to a maximum of 3 people per year.

Quick Facts of Bharat Ratna

Award Name	Bharat Ratna
Award Type	National civilian
Country	India
Presented by	President of India
Established	1954
First awarded	1954
Last awarded	2019
Total	48

The History of Bharat Ratna

• The award was instituted on 2 January 1954 by the former President of India, Rajendra Prasad. When the Bharat Ratna Award was instituted, it was given to the nation for exceptional service in the fields of science, art, literature, politics, and social work of the highest order. Then from 2011 Bharat Ratna Award is given for exceptional service to the nation in any field. 
• The provision for awarding posthumously in January 1955 was added to the statute of this prestigious award.
• The first posthumously received the Bharat Ratna Award - Shanti Purush Lal Bahadur Shastri 
• The first youngest and sportsman received the Bharat Ratna Award - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (at the age of 40) 
• The first oldest person received the Bharat Ratna Award - Dhondo Keshav Karve (at the age of 100)
• Nationalised Indian received the Bharat Ratna Award  - Mother Teresa
• The first foreigner received the Bharat Ratna Award - Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela (former prime minister of South Africa)

The Award (Bharat Ratna)

• The medal is made like a peepal tree leaf with incense in the center and the Bharat Ratna is engraved below it.
• The medal is made in bronze.
• On the backside, the emblem of India is embossed and Satyameva Jayate is inscribed in the Devanagari script.
• The award does not carry any monetary arrangements.

Sachin Tendulkar receiving Bharat Ratna (2014) Image credit: knowindia.gov.in

Bharat Ratna Award (1995 to 2019)

Here is the complete list of Bharat Ratna Awardees from 1995 to 2019. You can download Bharat Ratna Award list PDF below.

Awardees	Year	About
C. Rajagopalachari	1954	He was the last Governor-General of India and Indian politician, independence activist, lawyer, writer, historian, and statesman.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1954	First Vice President of India and Indian philosopher and statesman
C. V. Raman	1954	Indian physicist who carried out ground-breaking work in the field of light scattering
Bhagwan Das	1955	Indian Theosophist and a part of Central Legislative Assembly of British India
M. Visvesvaraya	1955	Civil Engineer and Statesman
Jawaharlal Nehru	1955	Indian independence activist, First Prime Minister of India
Govind Ballabh Pant	1957	Indian freedom fighter, One of the architects of modern India
Dhondo Keshav Karve	1958	A social reformer in India in the field of women’s welfare
Bidhan Chandra Roy	1961	An eminent Indian physician, educationist, philanthropist, freedom fighter and politician, He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948
Purushottam Das Tandon	1961	A freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh, India. He has put enormous efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for Hindi.
Rajendra Prasad	1962	First President of India
Zakir Husain	1963	Third President of India
Pandurang Vaman Kane	1963	Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
Lal Bahadur Shastri	1966	Second President of India
Indira Gandhi	1971	The only female Prime Minister of India
V. V. Giri	1975	Fourth President of India
K. Kamaraj	1976	A leader of the Indian National Congress
Mother Teresa	1980	An Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary
Vinoba Bhave	1983	An Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	1987	A Pashtun independence activist
M. G. Ramachandran	1988	An Indian actor, filmmaker, and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
B. R. Ambedkar	1990	An Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who was a part of the Dalit Buddhist movement
Nelson Mandela	1990	A South African revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa
Rajiv Gandhi	1991	An Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India
Vallabhbhai Patel	1991	The First Deputy Prime Minister of India
Morarji Desai	1991	An Indian independence activist, 4th Prime Minister of India
Abul Kalam Azad	1992	An Indian scholar, independence activist, and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress
J. R. D. Tata	1992	Chairman of Tata Group
Satyajit Ray	1992	Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, music composer, graphic artist, lyricist and author
Aruna Asaf Ali	1997	An Indian independence activist and First Mayor of Delhi
Gulzarilal Nanda	1997	Indian politician and economist who specialized in labor issues
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam	1997	Missile Man of India
M. S. Subbulakshmi	1998	Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Chidambaram Subramaniam	1998	An Indian politician and Independence activist
Jayaprakash Narayan	1999	Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader
Amartya Sen	1999	Indian economist and philosopher
Gopinath Bordoloi	1999	First Chief Minister of Assam
Ravi Shankar	1999	An Indian musician and a composer of Hindustani classical music
Lata Mangeshkar	2001	Indian playback singer and music director
Bismillah Khan	2001	Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai
Bhimsen Joshi	2009	Indian vocalist from Karnataka
C. N. R. Rao	2014	Currently, the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India
Sachin Tendulkar	2014	Former captain of the Indian national team and one of the greatest batsmen in the history of Cricket.
Madan Mohan Malaviya	2015	An Indian educationist and politician
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	2015	Indian politician, statesman, and a poet. He served three terms as the Prime Minister of India
Pranab Mukherjee	2019	13th President of India
Nanaji Deshmukh	2019	Social Activist
Bhupen Hazarika	2019	An Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam

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