In a historic announcement, the Indian government declared its decision to award the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honor, to three eminent individuals on Friday. Former Prime Ministers Chaudhary Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao, alongside Dr. MS Swaminathan, have been selected for their outstanding contributions to various fields within the nation. Their remarkable achievements in agriculture, farmers' welfare, nation-building, and economic reforms have rightfully earned them this prestigious accolade. Prime Minister Modi personally took to Twitter to share the news of their Bharat Ratna conferral.
The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was established by former President Rajendra Prasad on January 2, 1954. The inaugural Bharat Ratna recipients in 1954 were Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Sir CV Raman, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Initially, the concept of awarding it posthumously was absent from the original statute. However, in January 1966, provisions for posthumous awards were added to the prestigious accolade. Notably, Sachin Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna, also earning the distinction of being the youngest recipient of the award.53 individuals have been honoured with the prestigious Bharat Ratna award for their noteworthy contributions to society. The following is a comprehensive list of all the recipients who have received this esteemed award.
Here's The Complete List
1954: C Rajagopalachari, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, CV Raman
1955: Bhagwan Das, M Visvesvaraya, Jawaharlal Nehru
1957: Govind Ballabh Pant
1958: Dhondo Keshav Karve
1961: Bidhan Chandra Roy, Purushottam Das Tandon
1962: Dr Rajendra Prasad
1963: Dr Zakir Husain, Pandurang Vaman Kane
1966: Lal Bahadur Shastri
1971: Indira Gandhi
1975: VV Giri
1976: K Kamaraj
1980: Mother Teresa
1983: Acharya Vinoba Bhave
1987: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
1988: MG Ramachandran
1990: BR Ambedkar, Nelson Mandela
1991: Rajiv Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Morarji Desai
1992: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, JRD Tata, Satyajit Ray
1997: Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
1998: MS Subbulakshmi, Chidambaram Subramaniam
1999: Jayaprakash Narayan, Amartya Sen, Gopinath Bordoloi, Pandit Ravi Shankar
2001: Lata Mangeshkar, Ustad Bismillah Khan
2009: Bhimsen Joshi
2014: CNR Rao, Sachin Tendulkar
2015: Madan Mohan Malaviya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2019: Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh, Bhupen Hazarika
2024: Karpoori Thakur, Lal Krishna Advani, Chaudhary Charan Singh, PV Narasimha Rao, Dr MS Swaminathan