Full list of awardees of India's Highest Citizen Award, Bharat Ratna (1954 - 2024)
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The government of India has named the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur as an awardee of India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna for 2024 and will be honored with the Bharat Ratna posthumously on January 26, 2024. With this, he will be the 49th personality and 4th from Bihar, who will receive this prestigious award. He is also the 17th recipient to receive the award posthumously. In this article, we will share the full list of awardees of India's Highest Citizen Award, Bharat Ratna.
Full list of awardees of India's Highest Citizen Award, Bharat Ratna (1954 - 2024)
|
S. NO |
Name of Awardee |
Year |
Remarks |
|
|
Chakaravarti Rajagopalachari |
1954 |
Statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activist |
|
|
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
Philosopher, politician and former President of India |
|
|
|
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman |
Physicist |
|
|
|
Bhagwan Das |
1955 |
Independence activist, philosopher, and educationist |
|
|
Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya |
Civil engineer, statesman, and Diwan of Mysore |
|
|
|
Jawaharlal Nehru |
Independence activist, author and former Prime Minister of India |
|
|
|
Govind Ballabh Pant |
1957 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Dhondo Keshav Karve |
1958 |
Social reformer and educator |
|
|
Bidhan Chandra Roy |
1961 |
Physician, political leader, philanthropist, educationist, and social worker |
|
|
Purushottam Das Tandon |
1961 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Rajendra Prasad |
1962 |
Independence activist, lawyer, statesman, scholar and former President of India |
|
|
Zakir Husain |
1963 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Pandurang Vaman Kane |
Indologist and Sanskrit scholar |
|
|
|
Lal Bahadur Shastri (Posthumous) |
1966 |
Independence activist and former Prime Minister of India |
|
|
Indira Gandhi |
1971 |
politician and former Prime Minister of India |
|
|
Varahagiri Venkata Giri |
1975 |
Independence activist and former President of India |
|
|
Kumaraswamy Kamraj (Posthumous) |
1976 |
Politician and former Tamil Nadu chief minister |
|
|
Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) |
1980 |
Founder of the Missionaries of Charity |
|
|
Vinoba Bhave (Posthumous) |
1983 |
Independence activist, social reformer |
|
|
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan |
1987 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran (Posthumous) |
1988 |
Actor turned politician |
|
|
Bhim Rao Ramji Ambedkar (Posthumous) |
1990 |
Social reformer |
|
|
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela |
anti-apartheid activist |
|
|
|
Rajiv Gandhi (Posthumous) |
1991 |
Politician and former Prime Minister of India |
|
|
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Posthumous) |
Independence activist |
|
|
|
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai |
Independence activist and Prime Minister of India |
|
|
|
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Posthumous) |
1992 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata |
Industrialist |
|
|
|
Satyajit Ray |
Filmmaker |
|
|
|
Gulzari Lal Nanda |
1997 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Aruna Asaf Ali (Posthumous) |
Independence activist |
|
|
|
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam |
Aerospace, defence scientist and former President of India |
|
|
|
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi |
1998 |
Carnatic classical vocalist |
|
|
Chidambaram Subramaniam |
1998 |
Independence activist |
|
|
Jayaprakash Narayan (Posthumous) |
1999 |
Independence activist, social reformer |
|
|
Amartya Sen |
economist |
|
|
|
Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (Posthumous) |
Independence activist |
|
|
|
Ravi Shankar |
sitar player |
|
|
|
Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar |
2001 |
Playback singer |
|
|
Ustad Bismillah Khan |
Hindustani classical shehnai player |
|
|
|
Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi |
2009 |
Hindustani classical vocalist |
|
|
C. N. R. Rao |
2014 |
chemist and professor |
|
|
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar |
2014 |
Cricketer |
|
|
Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
2015 |
Politician and former Prime Minister of India |
|
|
Madan Mohan Malaviya (Posthumous) |
Scholar and educational reformer |
|
|
|
Nanaji Deshmukh (Posthumous) |
2019 |
social activist |
|
|
Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika (Posthumous) |
Playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, and film-maker |
|
|
|
Pranab Mukherjee |
Politician and former President of India |
|
|
|
Karpoori Thakur (Posthumous) |
2024 |
Politician and former Bihar chief minister |
India's Highest Citizen Honour: Bharat Ratna
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Instituted: 1954
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First recipient (1954): Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, and Dr. ChandrasekharaVenkata Raman
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Latest recipient (2024): Karpoori Thakur (49th)
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Recognition: The award honor to recognize exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavor.
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The Prime Minister of India sends the recommendation for the Bharat Ratna to the President of India.
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The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year.
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The medal is in the form of a peepal leaf which is 5.8 cm long, 4.7 cm wide, and 3.1 mm thick
