Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna
Award Information
Type	Civilian
Category	National
Description	An image of the Sun along with the words "Bharat Ratna", inscribed in Devanagari script, on a peepal leaf
Instituted	1954
Last awarded	2008
Total awarded	41
Awarded by	Government of India
Ribbon
First awardee(s)	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Sir C.V. Raman, C. Rajagopalachari
Last awardee(s)	Bhimsen Joshi
Award rank
None ← Bharat Ratna → Padma Vibhushan

Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India or Gem of India in English) is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour.

Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for the award. However the recommendations for Bharat Ratna are to be made by the Prime Minister of India to the President of India.

The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank 7th in the Indian order of precedence; however they do not carry any special title nor any other honorifics.

History

The order was established by Rajendra Prasad, President of India, on 2 January 1954. The original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for posthumous awards (and this perhaps explains why the decoration was never awarded to Mahatma Gandhi), though this provision was added in the January 1966 statute.^{citation needed} Subsequently, there have been twelve posthumous awards, including the award to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn.

The award was briefly suspended from 13 July 1977 to 26 January 1980.

While there was no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens, this seems to have been the general assumption.^{citation needed} Of the 41 awards so far, there has been one award to a naturalised Indian citizen, Mother Teresa (1980), and to two non-Indians, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and Nelson Mandela (1990). The awarding of this honour has frequently been the subject of litigation questioning the constitutional basis of such.

Originally, the specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal carrying the state emblem and motto, among other things. It is uncertain if a design in accordance with the original specifications was ever made. The actual award is designed in the shape of a peepal leaf and carries with the words "Bharat Ratna", inscribed in Devanagari script. The reverse side of the medal carries the state emblem and motto. The award is attached to a 2-inch-wide (51 mm) ribbon, and was designed to be worn around the recipient's neck.

In 2011, the Government of India modified the eligibility criteria to allow sportspersons to receive the award and opened the award for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour from the earlier criteria for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order."

Indira Gandhi is the youngest person alive at the time of receiving the award (at the age of 54) and Rajiv Gandhi is the youngest overall to receive the Bharat Ratna (posthumously at the age of 47). Gulzarilal Nanda is the eldest person alive at the time of receiving the award (age 99) and Vallabhbhai Patel is the eldest overall (posthumously at the age of 116).

Specifications

The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the legend "Bharat Ratna" (in Devanagari) above and a floral wreath below. The reverse was to carry the state emblem and motto. It was to be worn around the neck from a white ribbon. There is no indication that any specimens of this design were ever produced and one year later the design was altered. The decoration is in the form of a peepal leaf, about 5.8 cm long, 4.7 cm wide and 3.1 mm thick. It is of toned bronze. On its obverse is embossed a replica of the sun, 1.6 cm in diameter, below which the words Bharat Ratna are embossed in Devanagari script. On the reverse are State emblem and the motto, also in Devanagari. The emblem, the sun and the rim are of platinum. The inscriptions are in burnished bronze.

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
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
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
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
23.	Nelson Mandela		b. 1918	1990	Second non-citizen and first non-Indian recipient, Leader of the Anti-Apartheid 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
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
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	75px	1922–2011	2008	Hindustani classical singer

Living recipients

Indian recipients

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

Foreign recipients

• Nelson Mandela (1990)

Controversies

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 a Supreme 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 Bose’s death and thus it invalidated the posthumous award.^{citation needed}

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.

External links

• "Bharat Ratna Award". Ministry of Home Affairs. 
• "Bharat Ratna Award". Ministry of Home Affairs.