The 'Bharat Ratnas' — Recipients Of India's Highest Civilian Honour

Bharat Ratna is the highest award given to civilians irrespective of gender, race, occupation, position, and nationality.

Bharat Ratna Awardees

Bharat Ratna was awarded for the first time in year 1954. The recipients were (L to R) Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India’s first Vice-President and second President; C. Rajagopalachari, activist, statesman, and lawyer; and physicists, mathematician, and scientist CV Raman | Photos: Getty

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; activist, philosopher, and educationist Bhagwan Das; and civil engineer, statesman, and Diwan of Mysore M. Visvesvaraya were honoured with India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1955 | Photos: Wikimedia Commons

In 1957, Bharat Ratna was given to activist and first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Govind Ballabh Pant (left). Social reformer and educator Dr Dhondo Keshav Karve was honoured with the awarded in 1958 | Photos: Wikimedia Commons

Physician, politician, philanthropist, educationist, and social worker Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy (left), who was also the second Chief Minister of West Bengal, and Purushottam Das Tandon, activist and speaker of the United Provinces Legislative Assembly, were awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1961 | Photos: Wikimedia Commons

India's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was a freedom fighter, lawyer, statesman and scholar, was bestowed the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1962 | Photo: Getty

Mother Teresa or Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born of Albanian parents in 1910. She was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1980 for service to the poor, orphans and destitute. She founded Missionaries of Charity and is known worldwide for her charity works. She was sent to India from Dublin after training in 1931 where she took her initial vows as a nun. After she caught the glimpse of the world outside the convent walls, received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Her legacy still lives on, with the Mother Teresa centre and Missionaries of Charity. (Image Source: Getty)

Born on April 14, 1891 Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar or BR Ambedkar was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. He was born into a Dalit caste who were subjected to socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar graduated from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay, and studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, receiving doctorates in the 1920s. He started his career as an economist, professor, and lawyer. He later joined politics, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits. As a political leader he was the one who led the committee who drafted the Constitution of India. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism starting a wave of Dalits converting to Buddhism. (Image Source: Getty)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela July 18, 1918, was South Africa’s anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its efforts, the ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action, in 1949. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation. In 1990, India awarded him the Bharat Ratna.

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi or MS Subbulakshmi was born on September 16, 1916. She was a carnatic singer and the first musician ever to receive a Bharat Ratna award. Jawaharlal Nehru called her the ‘Queen of Music’, Bade Ghulam Ali defined her as the ‘Goddess of perfect note’. Subbulakshmi began her training under her mother Shanmu Kavadiver Ammal. She then went on to learn the nuances of Carnatic music under Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. She also learnt Hindustani music, under the famous vocalist Pandit Narayanrao Vyas. By the time she was 17, Subbulakshmi was a major attraction in all of her concerts. (Image Source: Getty)

Economist Amartya Sen, born on November 3, 1933 studied economics at Presidency College (now Presidency University, in Kolkata, B.A. 1953) and at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1955, M.A. 1959, Ph.D. 1959). He won the Bharat Ratna for his work in welfare economics. Earlier, in 1998, he was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory. He extensively worked on the causes of famine, an interest which stemmed from his personal experience after seeing thousands perishing in West Bengal due to famine which he thought was unnecessary because he believed India had enough food. (Image Source: Getty)

Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 29, 1920, she was the most legendary playback singer and music director, and is the second vocalist after M S Subbulakshmi to receive the highest civilian honour of the country in 2001. She recorded songs in over 36 regional languages. Her career began in 1942, in a career spanning eight decades gained her honorific titles such as the "Queen of Melody", "Nightingale of India", and "Voice of the Millennium". Lata Mangeshkar recorded more songs than The Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined. She was affectionately known as India's "Didi" or sister, for millions in this country, and around the world. She sang for movies like Devdas (1955), Mughal-e-Azam (1960). A "Wada Na Tod" was included in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and in its soundtrack. (Image Source: Getty)

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the most prominent batsmen in the history of the sport, born on April 24, 1973 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2014. He is the youngest recipient of the highest civilian award to date. He was the highest run scorer of the 1996 Cricket World Cup with a total of 523 runs and also of the 2003 Cricket World Cup with 673 runs. He was the captain of the Indian cricket team for two tenures, though the team wasn’t very successful. Aside from the Bharat Ratna, he has won Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, Arjuna Award among others. (Image Source: Getty)

Pranab Mukherjee was born on December 11, 1935, he was the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna by his successor former-president Ram Nath Kovin. He had a political career of over five decades of exemplary service to the nation in Government as well as Parliament. During the period 2004-2012, Mukherjee was a part of critical decisions made by the Government on a range of issues such as Administrative reforms, Right to Information, Right to Employment, Food Security, Energy Security, Information Technology and telecommunication, setting up of UIDAI, Metro Rail etc. Mukherjee was born in the small village of Mirati in Birbhum District of West Bengal. Mukherjee acquired a Master’s degree in History and Political Science as well as a degree in Law from the University of Kolkata. He then embarked on his professional life as a college teacher and journalist. Inspired by his father’s contribution to the national movement, Shri Mukherjee in 1969 plunged into full time public life following his election to the Upper House of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) He had published around 8 books. (Image Source: Getty)