Bharath Ratna is the highest civilian honor given for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature, and Science and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order. The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the Hindi legend 'Bharat Ratna' 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. This design was altered after a year. The provision of Bharat Ratna was introduced in 1954. The first ever Indian to receive this award was a famous scientist, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.
YEAR | RECIPIENT |
---|---|
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 | Dr.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 | Sardar 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 |
2008 | Bhimsen Joshi |
2014 | C.N.R.Rao |
2014 | Sachin Tendulkar |
2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
2019 | Pranab Mukherjee |
2019 | Bhupen Hazarika |
2019 | Nanaji Deshmukh |