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Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. It is instituted in the year 1954 by former President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad. The award is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services, but the government expanded the criteria to include "any field of human endeavour" in December 2011.
The 1954 statutes did not allow posthumous awards, but this was subsequently modified in the January 1955 statute, and Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first recipient to be honoured posthumously in 1966.
The recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President of India, with a maximum of three nominees being awarded per 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. Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.
List of Bharat Ratna Winners:
| Year | Laureates |
|---|---|
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari |
| 1954 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1954 | C. V. Raman |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das |
| 1955 | M. Visvesvaraya |
| 1955 | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy |
| 1961 | Purushottam Das Tandon |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain |
| 1963 | Pandurang Vaman Kane |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran |
| 1990 | B. R. Ambedkar |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi |
| 1991 | Vallabhbhai Patel |
| 1991 | Morarji Desai |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad |
| 1992 | J. R. D. Tata |
| 1992 | Satyajit Ray |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda |
| 1997 | Aruna Asaf Ali |
| 1997 | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi |
| 1998 | Chidambaram Subramaniam |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan |
| 1999 | Amartya Sen |
| 1999 | Gopinath Bordoloi |
| 1999 | Ravi Shankar |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar |
| 2001 | Bismillah Khan |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao |
| 2014 | Sachin Tendulkar |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
Other important points related to Bharat Ratna:
1. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) And Nelson Mandela (1990) are the two non-Indians who received Bharat Ratna Award.
2. Sachin Tendulkar is the first sportsperson and the youngest Bharat Ratna Award Winner.
3. In 1992 Subhash Chandra Bose was awarded with Bharat Ratna posthumously but due to suspense regarding Subhash Chandra Bose's death his family refused to accept the award. It is the only incident in the history of Bharat Ratna that an award was withdrawn.