What is the highest Civilian award of the Republic of India ?

Why is it issued? 

          This award is awarded in recognition of exceptional highest order service/performance, without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. This award was originally limited to arts, literature, science, and public services, but after December 2011, it includes all fields. The recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President, with a maximum of three nominees being awarded each year. 

 

What will they receive?

   

The recipients receive a Sanad(certificate) signed by the President and a Peepal leaf-shaped medallion. There is no momentary grant associated with this award. The very first recipients of Bharat Ratna were C.Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C.V.Raman in the year 1954. 

 

History 

          The Bharat Ratna, along with other personal civil honors, was partially suspended from July 1977 to January 1980 during the change in the National government; and from August 1992 to December 1995 for the second time, when several public-interest litigations challenged the constitutional validity of the awards.

 

          In 1992, the government's decision to issue the award posthumously (after death) on Subash Chandra Bose was opposed by those who had refused to accept the fact of his death, including some of his extended family. In 1997, the Supreme court announced that Bose's award was canceled; it is the only time the award was announced but not given.

 

Some issues regarding the Award

          Several bestowals of the award have met with criticism. The posthumous award for M.G.Ramachandran in 1998 was considered to have been aimed at violating the voters for the upcoming assembly election, and posthumous awards of Madan Mohan Malaviya in 2015 Vallabhai Patel in 1991 drew criticism because they died before the award was announced.

 

First and Last to receive

          The first recipients were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C.V.Raman in 1954, and the last (till 2021) were Nanaji Deshmukh, Bhupen Hazarika, Pranab  Mukharjee in 2019. Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first to be honored posthumously (After death). In 2014, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, then aged 40, became the youngest recipient, while the social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve was awarded on his 100th birthday. The first singer to be awarded was M.S. Subbalakshmi. 

 

List of all recipients

In 1954:- C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C.V.Raman

In 1955 :- Bhawan Das, M.visvesvaraya, Jawaharlal Nehru

In 1957:- Govind Ballabh Pant

In 1958 :- Dhondo Keshav Karve

In 1961 :- Bidhan Chandra Roy, Purushottham Das Tandom

 

In 1962:- Rajendra Prasad

In 1963 :- Zakir Hussain , Panduran Vaman Kane

In 1966 :- Lal Bahadur Shastri

In 1971:- Indira Gandhi

In 1975:- V.V.Giri

In 1976:- K. Kamaraj

In 1980:- Mother Teresa

 

In 1983:- Vinoba Bhave

In 1987:- Abdul Ghaffar Khan

In 1988:- M.G.Ramachandran

In 1990 :- B.R.Ambedkar, Nelson Mandela

In 1991:- Rajiv Gandhi, Vallabhai Patel, Morarji Desai

In 1992 :- Abul Kalam Azad, J.R.D. Tata, Satyajit Ray

 

In 1997 :- Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam

In 1998 :- M.S.Subbalakahmi, Chidambaram Subramaniam

In 1999 :- Jayaprakash Narayan, Amartya Sen , Gopinath Bordoloi , Ravi Shankar

In 2001:- Lata Mangeshkar

 

In 2009:- Bhimsen Joshi

In 2014 :- C.N.R Rao , Sachin Tendulkar

In 2015 :- Madan Mohan Malaviya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee

In 2019 :- Nanaji Deshmukh, Bhupen Hazarika, Pranab Mukharjee

 

Posthumous recipients

1. Lal Bahadur Shastri

2. K. Kamaraj

3. Vinoba Bhave

4. M.G.Ramachandran

5. B.R.Ambedkar

 

6. Rajiv Gandhi

7. Vallabhai Patel

8. Abul Kalam Azad

9. Aruna Asaf Ali

10. Jayaprakash Narayan

11. Gopinath Bordoloi

12. Madan Mohan Malaviya

 

13. Bhupen Hazarika

14. Nanaji Deshmukh

 

Other than Indians 

3 people are non-Indians but also issued Bharat Ratna.

They were:-

1. Mother Teresa 

2. Abdul Ghaffar Khan

3. Nelson Mandela

 

          This is all about the Bharat Ratna, The Highest Civilian Award of the Republic of India.

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