Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna ( भारत रत्‍न) is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science and public services but the government expanded the criteria to include "any field of human endeavour" in December 2011. Recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President, with a maximum of three nominees being awarded per year. Recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a peepal-leaf–shaped medallion; there is no monetary grant associated with the award. Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in theIndian order of precedence, but are constitutionally prohibited from using the award name as a title.

The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were politician C. Rajagopalachari, scientist C. V. Raman and philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who were honoured in 1954. Since then, the award has been bestowed on 43 individuals including 11 who were awarded posthumously. The original statutes did not provide for posthumous awards but were amended in January 1955 to permit them. In 1966, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first individual to be honoured posthumously. In 2013, cricketerSachin Tendulkar, aged 40, became the youngest recipient while social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve was awarded on his 100th birthday. Though usually conferred on Indian citizens, the Bharat Ratna has been awarded to one naturalised citizen, Mother Teresa in 1980, and to two non-Indians, Pakistan national Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1987 and former South African President Nelson Mandela in 1990. Most recently, Indian government has announced the award to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) on 24 December 2014.

The Bharat Ratna, along with other personal civil honours, was briefly suspended from July 1977 to January 1980 during the change in the national government and for a second time from August 1992 to December 1995 when several public-interest litigations challenged the constitutional validity of the awards. In 1992, the government's decision to confer the award posthumously on Subhash Chandra Bose met with controversy. Due to the debate surrounding Bose's death, the "posthumous" mention of Bose was much criticised, and his family refused to accept the award. Following a 1997 Supreme Court decision, the press communiqué announcing Bose's award was cancelled; it is the only time when the award was announced but not conferred.

List of recipients

Year	Laureates	Notes
1954	C. Rajagopalachari	Independence activist, last and only Indian Governor-General   of India
	C. V. Raman	Nobel laureate physicist (1930)
	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Philosopher, India's first Vice-President (1952–62), and second President (1962–67)
1955	Bhagwan Das	Independence activist, theosophist, and founder of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith
	Visvesvaraya	Civil engineer, statesman and Diwan of Mysore (1912–18)
	Jawaharlal Nehru	Independence activist, author, and first Prime Minister of India (1947–64)
1957	Govind Ballabh Pant	Independence activist, first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1950–54)
1958	Dhondo Keshav Karve	Social reformer
1961	Bidhan Chandra Roy	Physician-Surgeon and second Chief Minister of West Bengal (1948–62)
	Purushottam Das Tandon	Independence activist, educator
1962	Rajendra Prasad	Independence activist, lawyer, first President of India (1950–62)
1963	Zakir Hussain	Independence activist, second Vice-President of India (1962–67), and third President of India (1967–69)
	Pandurang Vaman Kane	Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
1966	Lal Bahadur Shastri	Independence activist and third Prime Minister of India (1964–66)
1971	Indira Gandhi	Former Prime Minister of India (1966–77, 1980–84)
1975	V. V. Giri	Trade unionist, first Acting President of India, and fourth President of India (1969–74)
1976	K. Kamaraj	Independence activist and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1954–57, 1957–62, 1962–63)
1980	Mother Teresa #	Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and Nobel peace prize laureate (1979)
1983	Vinoba Bhave	Independence activist, social reformer, and Ramon Magsaysay Award laureate (1958)
1987	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	Independence activist
1988	M. G. Ramachandran	Film actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1977–80, 1980–84, 1985–87)
1990	B. R. Ambedkar	Chief architect of the Indian Constitution and social reformer
	Nelson Mandela	Leader of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1993)
1991	Rajiv Gandhi	Ninth Prime Minister of India (1984–89)
	Vallabhbhai Patel	Independence activist and first Deputy Prime Minister of India (1947–50)
	Morarji Desai	Independence activist and sixth Prime Minister of India (1977–79)
1992	Abul Kalam Azad	Independence activist
	J. R. D. Tata	Industrialist and philanthropist
	Satyajit Ray	Filmmaker
1997	Gulzarilal Nanda	Independence activist and two times interim Prime Minister of India
	Aruna Asaf Ali	Independence activist
	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	Aerospace and Defense Scientist, eleventh President of India (2002–07)
1998	M. S. Subbulakshmi	Carnatic classical vocalist
	Chidambaram Subramaniam	Independence activist and former Minister of Agriculture of India (1964–66)
1999	Jayaprakash Narayan	Independence activist and social reformer
	Ravi Shankar	Hindustani classical Sitar player
	Amartya Sen	Nobel laureate economist (1998)
	Gopinath Bordoloi	Independence activist, first Chief Minister of Assam (1946–50)
2001	Lata Mangeshkar	Playback singer
	Bismillah Khan	Hindustani classical Shehnai player
2009	Bhimsen Joshi	Hindustani classical vocalist
2013	C. N. R. Rao	Chemist
	Sachin Tendulkar	Cricketer
2014	Madan Mohan Malaviya	Educationist and politician (President of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1909, 1918)
	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Former Prime Minister of India (1996), (1998), (1999-2004), poet

History of Bharat Ratna Award

On 2 January 1954, a press communique was released from the office of the secretary to the President of India announcing the creation of two civilian awards—Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, and the three-tier Padma Vibhushan, classified into "Pahela Warg" (Class I), "Dusra Warg" (Class II), and "Tisra Warg" (Class III), which rank below the Bharat Ratna.[2] A year later on 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest of the three followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.[3]

There is no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens. It has been awarded to a naturalised Indian citizen, Mother Teresa in 1980, and to two non-Indians, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Pakistan in 1987 and the late former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1990.[4] Sachin Tendulkar, at the age of 40, became the youngest person and first sportsperson to receive the honour. Dhondo Keshav Karve was awarded on his 100th birthday on 18 April 1958 in a special ceremony. As of 2014, the award has been conferred upon 45 people with 12 posthumous declarations.

The award was briefly suspended twice in its history. The first suspension occurred after Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of India in 1977. His government withdrew all personal civil honours on 13 July 1977 and past recipients were asked not to use the awards as a title.The suspension was rescinded on 25 January 1980 after Indira Gandhi again became the Prime Minister.The civilian awards were suspended again in mid-1992 when two Public-Interest Litigations were filed, one in the Kerala High Court and another in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, challenging "the constitutional validity" of the awards.The awards were reintroduced by the Supreme Court of India in December 1995 following the conclusion of the litigation.

Regulations

The Bharat Ratna is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order", and was originally confined to the arts, literature, science and public services, per the 1954 regulations. But, in December 2011, the rules were changed to include "any field of human endeavour".The 1954 statutes also did not allow posthumous awards but this was subsequently modified in the January 1955 statute and Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first recipient to be honoured posthumously in 1966. 

Although there is no formal nomination process, recommendations for the award can only be made by the Prime Minister of India to the President with a maximum number of three nominees being awarded per year. The recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion without any monetary grant. Under the terms of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution of India, the recipients cannot use the award as a prefix or suffix to their name, although recipients may use either the expressions "Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President" or "Recipient of Bharat Ratna Award" to indicate that they have been honoured with the award.The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank 7th in the Indian order of precedence.

As with many official announcements, recipients are announced and registered in The Gazette of India, a publication released by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Urban Development used for official government notices; without publication in the Gazette, conferral of the award is not considered official. Recipients whose awards have been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, are also registered in the Gazette. Recipients whose awards have been revoked are required to surrender their medal, and their name to be struck from the register. 

Specifications

The original 1954 specifications of the award was a circle made of gold 1 3⁄8 inches (35 mm) in diameter with a centred sun burst design on the obverse side. The text "Bharat Ratna", in Devanagari Script, is inscribed on the upper edge in silver gilt with a wreath set along on the lower edge. A platinum Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the national motto of India, "Satyameva Jayate" (Truth alone triumphs) in Devanagari Script, inscribed in silver-gilt on the lower edge.

A year later, however, the design was modified to the form that is currently in use. The current medal is in the shape of a Peepal leaf, about 2 5⁄16 inches (59 mm) long, 1 7⁄8 inches (48 mm) wide and 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) thick and rimmed in platinum. The embossed sun burst design, also made of platinum, on the obverse side of the medal has a diameter of 5⁄8 inch (16 mm) with rays spreading out from 5⁄6 inch (21 mm) to 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) from the center of the Sun. The words "Bharat Ratna" on the obverse side remained the same as the 1954 design as did the emblem of India and "Satyameva Jayate" on the reverse side. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) white ribbon is attached to the medal so it can be worn around the neck. In 1957, the silver-gilt decoration was changed to burnished bronze.