Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India[1] or Gem of India[2] in English) is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour.[3] Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for the award. However the recommendations forBharat Ratna are to be made by the Prime Minister of India to the President of India.[3] The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank 8th in the Indian order of precedence; however they do not carry any special title nor any other honorifics.

List of recipients
Name Image Birth / death Awarded Notes

1.

Chakravarti Rajgopalachari

1878 1972

1954

Independence activist, last Governor-General

2.

Sir C. V. Raman

1888 1970

1954

Physicist

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

3.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

1888 1975

1954

Philosopher, India's First Vice President (1952-1962), and India's Second President(1962-1967)

4.

Bhagwan Das

1869 1958

1955

Independence activist, author

5.

Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya

1861 1962

1955

Civil engineer, Diwan of Mysore

6.

Jawaharlal Nehru

1889 1964

1955

Independence activist, author, first Prime Minister

7.

Govind Ballabh Pant

1887 1961

1957

Independence activist, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister

8.

Dhondo Keshav Karve

1858 1962

1958

Educator, social reformer

9.

Bidhan Chandra Roy

1882 1962

1961

Physician, Chief Minister of West Bengal

10.

Purushottam Das Tandon

1882 1962

1961

Independence activist, educator

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

11. Rajendra Prasad

1884 1963

1962

Independence activist, jurist, first President

12. Zakir Hussain

1897 1969

1963

Scholar, third President

13.

Pandurang Vaman Kane

1880 1972

1963

Indologist and Sanskrit scholar

14.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

1904 1966

1966

Posthumous, independence activist, second Prime Minister

15. Indira Gandhi

1917 1984

1971

Third Prime Minister

16. V. V. Giri

1894 1980

1975

Trade unionist and fourth President

17. K. Kamaraj

1903 1975

1976

Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

18. Mother Teresa

1910 1997

1980

Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity

19. Vinoba Bhave

1895 1982

1983

Posthumous, social reformer, independence activist

20.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

1890 1988

1987

First non-citizen, independence activist

21.

M. G. Ramachandran

1917 1987

1988

Posthumous, film actor, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

22. B. R. Ambedkar

1891 1956

1990

Posthumous, chief architect of the Indian Constitution, politician, economist, and scholar

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

23. Nelson Mandela

b. 1918

1990

Second non-citizen and first nonIndian recipient, Leader of the AntiApartheid movement

24. Rajiv Gandhi

1944 1991

1991

Posthumous, Sixth Prime Minister

25. Vallabhbhai Patel

1875 1950

1991

Posthumous, independence activist, first Home Minister

26. Morarji Desai

1896 1995

1991

Independence activist, fourth Prime Minister

27. Abul Kalam Azad

1888 1958

1992

Posthumous, independence activist, first Minister of Education

28. J. R. D. Tata

1904 1993

1992

Industrialist and philanthropist

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

29. Satyajit Ray

1922 1992

1992

Filmmaker

30.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

b. 1931

1997

Aeronautical Engineer,11th President of India

31. Gulzarilal Nanda

1898 1998

1997

Independence activist, interim Prime Minister

32. Aruna Asaf Ali

1908 1996

1997

Posthumous, independence activist

33.

M. S. Subbulakshmi

1916 2004

1998

Carnatic classical singer

34.

Chidambaram Subramaniam

1910 2000

1998

Independence activist, Minister of Agriculture

35.

Jayaprakash Narayan

1902 1979

1999

Posthumous, independence activist and politician

Name

Image

Birth / death

Awarded

Notes

36. Ravi Shankar

1920 2012

1999

Sitar player

37. Amartya Sen

b. 1933

1999

Economist

38. Gopinath Bordoloi

1890 1950

1999

Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Assam

39. Lata Mangeshkar

b. 1929

2001

Playback singer

40. Bismillah Khan

1916 2006

2001

Hindustani classical shehnai player

41. Bhimsen Joshi

1922 2011

2008

Hindustani classical singer

[edit]Living

recipients

Indian recipients

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) Amartya Sen (1999) Lata Mangeshkar (2001)

Foreign recipients

Nelson Mandela (1990)

[edit]Controversies [edit]Award

to Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose

Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1992. The award was later withdrawn in response to aSupreme Court of India directive following a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Court against the posthumous nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence of Boses death and thus it invalidated the posthumous award.[citation needed] [edit]Award

to Abul Kalam Azad

When the award was offered to freedom fighter and India's first Minister of Education, Abul Kalam Azad, he promptly declined it saying that it should not be given to those who have been on the selection committee. Later he was awarded posthumously in 1992.[7] [edit]References
1. ^ Mahajan, Vidya Dhar (1971). The Constitution of India. Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: Eastern Book Company. p. 169. 2. ^ Hoiberg, Dale; Indu Ramchandani (2000). Students' Britannica India. New Delhi: Encyclopdia Britannica (India). Vol. 3, p198. ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5. 3. ^
a b

http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/Scheme-BR.pdf

4. ^ Dhawan, S. K. (1991). Bharat Ratnas, 19541991. Wave Publications. p. 9. ASIN B0006EYROK.

5. ^ "Govt changes criteria for Bharat Ratna; now open for all". The Hindu. Press Trust of India. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011. 6. ^ Bharat Ratna: Govt amends rules to pave way for sportspersons, Agencies, New Delhi, Fri Dec 16 2011, indianexpress.com 7. ^ "Those who said no to top awards". Times of India. 20 Jan 2008. Retrieved 9, Apr 2013.