Bharat Ratna Awards 1954-2021: The highest civilian distinction bestowed by the Union of India is the Bharat Ratna, bestowed to notable individuals from numerous areas. The Prime Minister makes recommendations to the President for the Bharat Ratna. This distinguished Bharat Ratna award list includes three nominees each year. A certificate (Sanad) signed by the President and a peepal-leaf-shaped medallion is given to those on the Bharat Ratna Awardee list.

The Bharat Ratna Awardees are ranked seventh on India’s priority list. C. Rajagopalachari, philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and scientist C.V. Raman were among the first Bharat Ratna winners. Since 1954, 45 people have received the Bharat Ratna Award, with 12 of them receiving posthumous accolades. Social activist Nanaji Deshmukh (posthumously), singer-music director Bhupen Hazarika (posthumously), and former President of India Pranab Mukherjee are the newest recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 2019.

Bharat Ratna Awards

The Bharat Ratna Award award was instituted in 1954 to recognise the exceptional service or performance of the highest order without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. It was originally limited to attainment in the arts, literature, science, and public services but in December 2011, the government later expanded the criteria to include any field of human achievement. Sachin Tendulkar who was aged 40 then, became the youngest receiver of this prestigious award while social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve was the oldest receiver to receive the Award on his 100th birthday.

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Let us now look at the list of the Bharat Ratna Awardees from 1954 t0 2021:

2019 Recipients

1. Nanaji Deshmukh
2. Bhupen Hazarika
3. Pranab Mukherjee

2015 Recipients

1. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (Posthumous)

2014 Recipients

1. Shri Sachin Tendulkar
2. Professor C. N. R. Rao

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2009 Recipients

1. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

2001 Recipients

1. Ustad Bismillah Khan
2. Sushri Lata Mangeshkar

1999 Recipients

1. Pandit Ravi Shankar
2. Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (Posthumous)
3. Professor Amartya Sen
4. Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan (Posthumous)

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1998 Recipients

1. Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam
2. Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi

1997 Recipients

1. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
2. Smt Aruna Asaf Ali (Posthumous)
3. Shri Gulzarilal Nanda

1992 Recipients

1. Shri Satyajit Ray
2. Shri J.R.D Tata
3. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Posthumous)

1991 Recipients

1. Shri Morarji Desai
2. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Posthumous)
3. Shri Rajiv Gandhi (Posthumous)

1990 Recipients

1. Nelson Mandela
2. Dr B.R Ambedkar

1988 Recipients

1. Shri M.G Ramachandran

1987 Recipients

1. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

1983 Recipients

1. Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave

1980 Recipients

1. Mother Teresa

1976 Recipients

1. Shri K. Kamaraj (Posthumous)

1975 Recipients

1. Shri V.V Giri

1971 Recipients

1. Smt Indira Gandhi

1966 Recipients

1. Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri (Posthumous)

1963 Recipients

1. Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane

1962 Recipients

1. Dr. Zakir Husain
2. Dr. Rajendra Prasad

1961 Recipients

1. Shri Purushottam Das Tandon
2. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy

1958 Recipients

1. Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve

1957 Recipients

1. Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant

1955 Recipients

1. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Dr. M Visvesvaraya
3. Dr. Bhagwan Das

1954 Recipients

1. Dr. C.V Raman
2. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
3. Shri C. Rajagopalachari

It is interesting to know that the original 1954 specifications of the Bharat Ratna Awards were a circle made of gold 35 mm in diameter with a centred sunburst design on the obverse side. The text ‘Bharat Ratna’ which is written in Devanagari script, is inscribed on the upper edge in silver gilt with a wreath set along the lower edge.

Several bestowals of Bharat Ratna have met with criticism. The posthumous award for M. G. Ramachandran (1988) was considered to have been aimed at wooing the voters for the Tamil Nadu assembly election that year and the posthumous awards of Madan Mohan Malaviya (2015) and Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) met with the criticism that they died before the award was created. Bharat Ratna Awards were briefly suspended from July 1977 to January 1980 due to the change in the national government and were again suspended for the second time from August 1992 to December 1995 when several public interest litigations challenged the constitutional validity of the awards.

The year 1997 was the only time when Bharat Ratna Award was announced but not conferred. In 1992, the government decided to give the award posthumously to Subhas Chandra Bose but the decision of awarding Bose posthumously was opposed by those who had refused to accept his death. Following a 1997 Supreme Court decision, the press communique announcing Bose’s award had to be cancelled.

FAQs on Bharat Ratna Awards

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about the Bharat Ratna awards

Q1. Who are the last Bharat Ratna winners? Ans. The latest recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 2019 are social activist Nanaji Deshmukh (posthumously), singer-music director Bhupen Hazarika (posthumously) and former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee

Q2. Who was among the first Bharat Ratna award winners? Ans. The first receivers of this award were politician C. Rajagopalachari, philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and scientist C.V. Raman.

Q3. Who was first awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously? Ans. The award was first posthumously conferred upon former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Q4. In which year did the Bharat Ratna awards create controversy? Ans. Several bestowals of Bharat Ratna have met with criticism. The posthumous award for M. G. Ramachandran (1988) was considered to have been aimed at wooing the voters for the Tamil Nadu assembly election that year and the posthumous awards of Madan Mohan Malaviya (2015) and Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) met with the criticism that they died before the award was created. Bharat Ratna award was briefly suspended from August 1992 to December 1995, when several public-interest litigations questioned the constitutional validity of the awards. In 1992, the government’s decision to award Subhas Chandra Bose posthumously was opposed by those, including Bose’s family members, who refused to accept the story of his death.

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