The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honor for outstanding contribution in the field of Art, Literature and Science, Sports and Public Service. The prestigious award that ranks seventh in the Indian order of precedence is conferred for exceptional service/performance of the highest order.
A maximum of 3 persons can be awarded the coveted Bharat Ratna every year. The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna included C. Rajagopalachari the last Governor-General of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan the first Vice President and later second President of India and Nobel prize winning Physicist C. V. Raman on 2 January 1954. Since then, the award has been bestowed upon 48 individuals, 16 of whom were awarded posthumously.
Former Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri was the first individual to be honoured posthumously. Sachin Tendulkar was the youngest recipient; while Dhondo Keshav Karve social reformer received the coveted award on his 100th birthday. Mother Teresa, Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela are the only foreigners to receive the award.
The recipients receive a certificate signed by the President and a peepal leaf-shaped medallion. There is no monetary grant associated with the award.
| Year |
Awardees |
Notes |
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari | Only Indian and last Governor-General of India. He founded the Swatantra Party. |
| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | India’s first Vice-President (1952–62) and second President (1962–67). His birthday 5 September is observed as “Teachers’ Day”. | |
| C. V. Raman | Worked in the field of atomic Physics, electromagnetism and was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics. | |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Founder of Banaras Hindu University and co-founded the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith. |
| M. Visvesvaraya | A former Diwan of Mysore his birthday, 15 September, is observed as “Engineer’s Day”. | |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | The first and the longest-serving Prime Minister of India | |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Premier of United Provinces and first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Known for his works related to woman education and remarriage of widows. |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Second CM of Bengal. His birthday is observed as National Doctors’ Day |
| Purushottam Das Tandon | A former freedom fighter. He became speaker of UP Legislative Assembly and was instrumental in getting Hindi recognized as official language. | |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | An associate of Mahatma Gandhi, he became the first President of India |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain | Former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and Governor of Bihar. Became the 2nd Vice-President and 3rd President of India |
| Pandurang Vaman Kane | Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He authored books on ancient and Civil laws of India. | |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | Second Prime Minister of India, he raised the slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” led India to victory in 1965 war. |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi | Prime Minister of India. She masterminded the 1971 War and liberation of Bangladesh. |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri | Forth President of India |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1954–57, 1957–62, and 1962–63. |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa | Catholic nun and the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work in 1979. |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave | A close associate of Gandhi, Bhave is best known for his Bhoodan movement, He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award for humanitarian work. |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | Widely known as “Frontier Gandhi”, he was a Pashtun leader who was in the forefront of khilafat and Khudai Khidmatgar movements. |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran | Actor turned politician, served as CM of Tamil Nadu for three terms |
| 1990 | B. R. Ambedkar | Chief architect of the Indian Constitution and the first Law Minister of India. Ambedkar campaigned against the social discrimination of Dalits |
| Nelson Mandela | Leader of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa, later became President of South Africa. He was awarded Nobel Peace Prize | |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | Ninth Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. |
| Vallabhbhai Patel | First Deputy Prime Minister of India, “Sardar” Patel was instrumental behind merger of 555 princely states in the Indian union. | |
| Morarji Desai | Sixth Prime Minister of India, he is the only Indian to be given Nishan-e-Pakistan, highest civilian award in Pakistan | |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad | First Education Minister of India, he worked towards free primary education. His birthday on 11 November is observed as National Education Day in India. |
| J. R. D. Tata | Visionary industrialist JRD Tata founded Air India, India’s first airline and other institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Motors and TCS | |
| Satyajit Ray | World famous Indian film-maker Ray directed films like Pather Panchali and was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in cinema. | |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Two times interim Prime Minister of India and two times deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. |
| Aruna Asaf Ali | Freedom fighter. Hoisted the Indian flag in Bombay during 1942 Quit India Movement, she was later elected as first mayor of Delhi in 1958. | |
| A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | 11th President of India from 2002 -2007 Kalam was the architect behind India’s first satellite launch vehicle SLV-III and Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. | |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi | Carnatic classical vocalist Subbulakshmi is the first musician to be awarded Ramon Magsaysay award. |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam | Former Agriculture Minister of India Subramaniam started the Green Revolution in India. | |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan | Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan initiated the famous “JP Movement” in the mid-70s to overthrow the corrupt Congress government. |
| Amartya Sen | Nobel Prize winner in Economics Sen is an authority on topics like political philosophy, welfare or development economics, public health and gender studies. | |
| Gopinath Bordoloi | first Chief Minister of Assam, Bardaloi worked with Patel to make Assam a part of India when parts of it decided to merge with East Pakistan. | |
| Ravi Shankar | world’s best- exponent of Hindustani classical music, winner of four Grammy Awards and sitar player | |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Nightingale of India and playback singer- sung in over 36 languages and was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in cinema. |
| Bismillah Khan | Hindustani classical shehnai player for more than eight decades, popularized Shehnai | |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Hindustani classical vocalist, and disciple of Kirana gharana, he is known for the Khyal genre of singing. |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao | Recipient of Honorary Doctorates from 63 Universities – authored around 1600 research papers and 48 books on Solid State, Material Chemistry, Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure. |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Played 664 international cricket matches over two decades. He holds various records like the only player to score 100 international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in a One Day International and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in both ODI and Test cricket. | |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Founder of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, and Banaras Hindu University. He served BHU’s vice-chancellor, Chairman of Hindustan Times and Congress party President for four terms |
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee | A former External Affairs Minister, he was awarded as the “Best Parliamentarian” in 1994. Elected 9 times as Lok Sabha and twice as Rajya Sabha MP. Served as Prime Minister of India for three terms. |
|
2019 |
Pranab Mukherjee - Advertisement -
|
The 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. |
|
Bhupen Hazarika |
Playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet and film-maker from Assam, whose songs have been translated and are sung in many languages, including Bengali and Hindi. |
|
|
Nanaji Deshmukh - Advertisement -
|
A social activist known for his work in the field of education, health, and rural self-reliance. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and also a member of the Rajya Sabha. |
