Bharat Ratna

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. Unlike knights, 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.

Complete list of recipients
Name:Chakravarti Rajagopalachari(1878–1972)
Year Awarded:1954
Note: Independence activist, last Governor-General
Name:C. V. Raman(1888–1970)
Year Awarded:1954
Note: Physicist
Name:Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan(1888–1975)
Year Awarded:1954
Note: Philosopher, second President
Name:Bhagwan Das(1869–1958)
Year Awarded:1955
Note: Independence activist, author
Name:Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya(1860–1962)
Year Awarded:1955
Note: Civil engineer, Diwan of Mysore
Name:Jawaharlal Nehru(1889–1964)
Year Awarded:1955
Note: Independence activist, author, first Prime Minister
Name:Govind Ballabh Pant(1887–1961)
Year Awarded:1957
Note: Independence activist, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister
Name:Dhondo Keshav Karve(1858–1962)
Year Awarded:1958
Note: Educator, social reformer
Name:Bidhan Chandra Roy(1882–1962)
Year Awarded:1961
Note: Physician, Chief Minister of West Bengal
Name:Purushottam Das Tandon(1882–1962)
Year Awarded:1961
Note: Independence activist, educator
Name:Rajendra Prasad(1884–1963)
Year Awarded:1962
Note: Independence activist, jurist, first President
Name:Zakir Hussain(1897–1969)
Year Awarded:1963
Note: Scholar, third President
Name:Pandurang Vaman Kane(1880–1972)
Year Awarded:1963
Note: Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
Name:Lal Bahadur Shastri(1904–1966)
Year Awarded:1966
Note: Posthumous, independence activist, second Prime Minister
Name:Indira Gandhi(1917–1984Y
ear Awarded:1971
Note: Fourth Prime Minister
Name:V. V. Giri(1894–1980)
Year Awarded:1975
Note: Trade unionist and fourth President
Name:K. Kamaraj(1903–1975)
Year Awarded:1976
Note: Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Madras State
Name:Mother Teresa(1910–1997)
Year Awarded:1980
Note: Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity
Name:Vinoba Bhave(1895–1982)
Year Awarded:1983
Note: Posthumous, social reformer, independence activist
Name:Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan(1890–1988)
Year Awarded:1987
Note: First non-citizen, independence activist
Name:M. G. Ramachandran(1917–1987)
Year Awarded:1988
Note: Posthumous, film actor, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Name:B. R. Ambedkar(1891–1956)
Year Awarded:1990
Note: Posthumous, chief architect of the Indian Constitution, politician, economist, and scholar
Name:Nelson Mandela(b. 1918)
Year Awarded:1990
Note: Second non-citizen and first non-Indian recipient, Leader of the Anti-Apartheid movement
Name:Rajiv Gandhi(1944–1991)
Year Awarded:1991
Note: Posthumous, Seventh Prime Minister
Name:Vallabhbhai Patel(1875–1950)
Year Awarded:1991
Note: Posthumous, independence activist, first Home Minister
Name:Morarji Desai(1896–1995)
Year Awarded:1991
Note: Independence activist, fifth Prime Minister
Name:Abul Kalam Azad(1888–1958)
Year Awarded:1992
Note: Posthumous, independence activist, first Minister of Education
Name:J. R. D. Tata(1904–1993)
Year Awarded:1992
Note: Industrialist and philanthropist
Name:Satyajit Ray(1922-1992)
Year Awarded:1992
Note: Bengali filmmaker
Name:A. P. J. Abdul Kalam(b. 1931)
Year Awarded:1997
Note: Aeronautical Engineer,11th President of India
Name:Gulzarilal Nanda(1898–1998)
Year Awarded:1997
Note: Independence activist, interim Prime Minister
Name: Aruna Asaf Ali(1908–1996)
Year Awarded:1997
Note: Posthumous, independence activist
Name: M. S. Subbulakshmi(1916–2004)
Year Awarded:1998
Note: Classical Carnatic singer
Name: Chidambaram Subramaniam(1910–2000)
Year Awarded:1998
Note: Independence activist, Minister of Agriculture
Name: Jayaprakash Narayan(1902–1979)
Year Awarded:1999
Note: Posthumous, independence activist and politician
Name: Ravi Shankar(b. 1920)
Year Awarded:1999
Note: Sitar player
Name: Amartya Sen(b. 1933)
Year Awarded:1999
Note: Economist
Name: Gopinath Bordoloi(1890–1950)
Year Awarded:1999
Note: Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Assam
Name: Lata Mangeshkar(b. 1929)
Year Awarded:2001
Note: Playback singer
Name: Bismillah Khan(1916–2006)
Year Awarded:2001
Note: Hindustani classical shehnai player
Name: Bhimsen Joshi(1922-2011)
Year Awarded:2008
Note: Hindustani classical singer