Established: By the President of India, 2 January
1954. The regulations were revised 8 January 1955 (to alter the
design) and amended 26 January 1957 (to alter the depiction of
the devices on the obverse and reverse). From 13 July 1977 to
26 January 1980, awards of the Bharat Ratna were suspended.
Obverse: A toned bronze pipal leaf design, 2-5/16 inches
x 1-7/8 inches, "stem" downwards. (note, however, comments
on the original design, above.) In the center, a platinum sunburst
with the name of the decoration in silver-gilt in Sanskrit/Hindi
"Bharat Ratna" (roughly, "Jewel of
India") below. In 1957, the sun and motto were changed to
burnished bronze. Worn around the neck from an oval suspender.
Worn around the neck from an oval suspender.
Reverse: In the center, the state emblem in platinum
and the motto in silver-gilt. In 1957, this was altered to burnished
bronze.
Ribbon: 2 inches, white moire
Awards: To date, there have been thirty-three recipients
of the Bharat Ratna, and many other names have been raised
in public discussion.
The provision of Bharat Ratna was introduced in 1954.
The first ever Indian to receive this award was the famous scientist,
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman. Since then, many dignitaries,
each a whiz in varied aspects of their career has received this
coveted award. In fact, our present President, Shri A. P. J
Abdul Kalam is also a recipient of this esteemed honour (1997).
There is no written provision that Bharat Ratna should
be awarded to Indian citizens only. The award has been awarded
to a naturalized Indian citizen, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better
known as Mother Teresa (1980) and to two non-Indians – Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela (1990). It is
also not mandatory that Bharat Ratna be awarded every year.
The last time Bharat Ratna Award was given in 2001, to
Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.
List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners
| Name of Recipients |
Year |
Name of Recipients |
Year |
| C Rajagopalachari
(1878-1972) |
1954 |
Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) |
1954 |
| Dr. C.V.
Raman (1888-1970) |
1954 |
Dr. Bhagwan
Das (1869-1958) |
1955 |
| Dr. M.
Visvesvaraya (1861-1962) |
1955 |
Jawaharlal
Nehru (1889-1964) |
1955 |
| Govind
Ballabh Pant (1887-1961) |
1957 |
Dr. Dhondo
Keshave Karve (1858-1962) |
1958 |
| Dr. Bidhan
Chandra Roy (1882-1962) |
1961 |
Purushottam
Das Tandon (1882-1962) |
1961 |
| Dr. Rajendra
Prasad (1884-1963) |
1962 |
Dr. Zakir
Hussain (1897-1969) |
1963 |
| Dr. Pandurang
Vaman Kane (1880-1972) |
1963 |
Lal Bahadur
Shastri (1904-1966) (Posthumous)) |
1966 |
| Indira
Gandhi (1917-1984) |
1971 |
Varahagiri
Venkatagiri (V.V. Giri) (1 884-1980) |
1975 |
| Kumaraswami
Kamraj (1903-1975) (Posthumous) |
1976 |
Mother
Teresa (1910-1997) |
1980 |
| Acharya
Vinobha Bhave (1895-1982) |
1983 |
Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988) |
1987 |
| Marudu Gopalan Ramachandran (1917-1987) (Posthumous) |
1988 |
Dr. Bhim Rao Ramji (B.R) Ambedkar (1891-1956) (Posthumous) |
1990 |
| Dr. Nelson
Rolihlahla Mandela (1918- ) |
1990 |
Rajiv
Gandhi (1944-1991) (Posthumous) |
1991 |
| Sardar
Vallabhai Patel (1875-1950) |
1991 |
Morarji
Ranchhodji Desai (1869-1995) |
1991 |
| Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) (Posthumous) |
1992 |
Jahangir
Ratanji Dadabhai (J.R.D) Tata (1904-1993) |
1992 |
| Satyajit
Ray (1922-1992) |
1992 |
Aruna
Asaf Ali (1909-1996) (Posthumous) |
1997 |
| Gulzari Lal Nanda (1898-1997) (Posthumous) |
1997 |
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931-) |
1997 |
| Madurai
Shanmukhavadivu (M.S) Subbalakshmi (1916- ) |
1998 |
Chidambaram
Subramaniam (1910-2000) |
1998 |
| Loknayak
Jayaprakash Narayan ( 1902-1979) (Posthumous) |
1999 |
Professor
Amartya Sen (1933- ) |
1999 |
| Lokpriya
Gopinath Bordoloi (1890-1950) (Posthumous) |
1999 |
Pandit
Ravi Shankar (1920-) |
1999 |
| Lata Mangeshkar
(1929- ) |
2001 |
Bissmillah
Khan (1916- ) |
2001 |
