Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna
Type	Civillian
Category	National
Instituted	1954
Last Awarded	2009
Total Awarded	41
Awarded by	Government of India
Description	An image of the Sun along with the words "Bharat Ratna", inscribed inDevanagari script, on a peepul leaf
First Awardee(s)	C. Rajagopalachari
Last Awardee(s)	Bhimsen Joshi

Bharat Ratna is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, awarded 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." Unlikeknights, holders of the Bharat Ratna carry no special title nor any other honorifics, but they do have a place in the Indian order of precedence.

The award was established by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad, on 2 January 1954. Along with other major national honours, such as the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, the awarding of the Bharat Ratna was suspended from 13 July 1977 to 26 January 1980.

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 1955 statute. Subsequently, there have been twelve posthumous awards, including the award to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn.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.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 apeepul 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.

Complete list of recipients

S.No	Name	Birth / death	Awarded	Notes
1.	Chakravarti Rajagopalachari	1878–1972	1954	Independence activist, last Governor-General
2.	C. V. Raman	1888–1970	1954	Physicist
3.	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1888–1975	1954	Philosopher, second President
4.	Bhagwan Das	1869–1958	1955	Independence activist, author
5.	Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya	1860–1962	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	Fourth 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 Madras 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, Seventh Prime Minister
25.	Vallabhbhai Patel	1875–1950	1991	Posthumous, independence activist, first Home Minister
26.	Morarji Desai	1896–1995	1991	Independence activist, fifth 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	Bengali 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	Classical Carnatic 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	b. 1920	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