Education
Full list of Bharat Ratna Award Winners From 1954 to 2021
The Bharat Ratna Award was established in 1954 and is India's highest civilian honor. It recognizes the highest achievements in public service, literature, science, art, or any other field where human creativity is required. In any given year, no more than three individuals can be honored with this accolade. When choosing a Bharat Ratna recipient, no discrimination is shown toward the nominee's caste, creed, occupation, religion, language, sex, etc. In this list, you will find the names of all the Bharat Ratna awardees from 1954 to 2019.
Important facts about the Bharat Ratna Award
The Indian Prime Minister is responsible for making nominations for the Bharat Ratna.
The Indian President presents it.
48 individuals have been honored with the Bharat Ratna so far, and a total of 14 notable figures have received the award posthumously.
Awards like the Bharat Ratna are not allowed to be added as a prefix or suffix to a person's name in accordance with Article 18 (1) of the Indian Constitution.
This recognition comes with no monetary benefits.
Winners get a certificate signed by the current president of India and a medal in the shape of a peepal leaf.
The Indian national emblem and the slogan "Satyamev Jayate” are etched on the medallion.
| Recipients (State/UT) | Year | Key Notes |
|---|---|---|
| C. Rajagopalachari/ Rajaji (Tamil Nadu) | 1954 | He was the last Governor General of India. He was the founder of the Swatantra Party. He was the conscience keeper of MK Gandhi. |
| Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (Tamil Nadu) | 1954 | He was the first Vice President of India. He became the country's second President. |
| C. V. Raman (Tamil Nadu) | 1954 | He became the first Asian scientist to receive a Nobel Prize in any branch of science. He is famous for his discoveries in physics like Raman Scattering. |
| Bhagwan Das (Uttar Pradesh) | 1955 | He was the co-founder of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith. He also contributed to the foundation of Banaras Hindu University. |
| M. Visvesvaraya (Karnataka) | 1955 | His birth anniversary on 15th September is celebrated as Engineer’s Day in the country. He was a civil engineer who contributed much to the country's dam development. |
| Jawaharlal Nehru (Uttar Pradesh) | 1955 | He became the first and longest tenure Prime Minister (PM) of India. He was PM at the time of receiving this award. |
| Govind Ballabh Pant (Uttarakhand) | 1957 | He was elected to be the first chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh. He was an ardent supporter of making Hindi a national language. |
| Dhondo Keshav Karve (Maharashtra) | 1958 | He was a great social reformer and was famous for women's education, and widow remarriage. He founded the Widow Marriage Association. |
| Bidhan Chandra Roy (West Bengal) | 1961 | He is recognized as the Maker of Modern West Bengal. His birth anniversary on 1st July is celebrated as National Doctors’ Day in the country. |
| Purushottam Das Tandon (Uttar Pradesh) | 1961 | He was titled Rajarshi. He became the speaker in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He supported the Hindi language making it the official language. |
| Rajendra Prasad (Bihar) | 1962 | He swore as the first President of India. He was actively involved in the non-cooperation movement with Mahatma Gandhi Ji. |
| Zakir Husain (Andhra Pradesh) | 1963 | He was elected to be the second Vice President and third President of India. He became the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. |
| Pandurang Vaman Kane (Maharashtra) | 1963 | He was a great Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He is well known for his works like ‘History of Dharmasastra: Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Laws in India’. |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri (Uttar Pradesh) * | 1966 | He became the first posthumous recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award. He was elected to be the second PM of India. He is popular in country for his slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’. |
| Indira Gandhi (Uttar Pradesh) | 1971 | She was the first female recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award. She was PM during the Indo-Pak War of 1971. She was PM of India at the time of receiving this award. |
| V. V. Giri (Odisha) | 1975 | He served as the first acting President of India. He became the 4th President of India. He organized many trade unions for the freedom struggle. |
| K. Kamaraj (Tamil Nadu) * | 1976 | He was recognized as the King Maker in Indian Political History as he contributed much to making Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi the PM of India. |
| Mother Teresa (West Bengal, born in North Macedonia) | 1980 | She is the first and only naturalized citizen of India who received the Bharat Ratna Award. She was the founder of Catholics Missionaries of Charity. She was also Nobel Laureate for her humanitarian works. |
| Vinoba Bhave (Maharashtra) * | 1983 | He was a great follower of Gandhism. He is well known for his Bhoodan Movement in the country. He received Ramon Magsaysay Award for his humanitarian works. |
| Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Pakistan) | 1987 | He became the first non-citizen recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award. He was also known as Frontier Gandhi. He was the founder of the Red Shirt Movement (Khudai Khidmatgar). |
| M. G. Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu) * | 1988 | He was the first actor who became the recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award and the chief minister of any state. He was the founder of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. |
| B.R. Ambedkar (Maharashtra) * | 1990 | He is recognized as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. He became the first Law Minister of the country. He vehemently criticized the caste system in Hinduism. |
| Nelson Mandela (South Africa) | 1990 | He is recognized as the Gandhi of South Africa. He became the second non-citizen recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award. He received Nobel Peace Prize also. |
| Rajiv Gandhi (Uttar Pradesh) * | 1991 | He was elected to be the sixth PM of India. He became the youngest PM of India in 1984 at the age of 40 years. During his tenure as PM, landmark laws were passed like the Anti-defection law in 1985. |
| Vallabhbhai Patel (Gujarat) * | 1991 | He is recognized as the Iron Man of India. He served as the first Deputy Prime Minister of the country. He played an important role in Bardoli Satyagraha, modern-based All India Services. |
| Morarji Desai (Gujarat) | 1991 | He is the sole national of India to be awarded the highest civilian honor of Pakistan the Nishan-e-Pakistan. He was elected to be the first non-congress PM of India. He was the oldest PM. |
| Abul Kalam Azad (West Bengal) * | 1992 | He was the first Education Minister of India. He is popularly known as Maulana Azad. His birth anniversary on 11th November is celebrated as National Education Day in the country. |
| J. R. D. Tata (Maharashtra) | 1992 | He was an industrialist and aviation pioneer in India. He started the country’s first airline named Air India. He established many institutes like Tate Institute of Fundamental Research, TCS, Tate Motors, etc. |
| Satyajit Ray (West Bengal) | 1992 | He is credited to bring Indian Cinema to world recognition. His first film as director was Pather Panchali in 1955. He was awarded the country’s highest cinema award named Dadasaheb Phalke Award. |
| Gulzarilal Nanda (Punjab) | 1997 | He served two times as the interim PM of India and two times as the deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission. He raised the labor issues on a national platform. |
| Aruna Asaf Ali (West Bengal) * | 1997 | She became the first Mayor of Delhi in the post-independence period. She was actively involved in the Quit India Movement in 1942. |
| A.P.J Abdul Kalam (Tamil Nadu) | 1997 | He is recognized as the Missile Man of India. He contributed to the development of launch vehicle technology, ballistic missiles, etc. He became the country’s 11th President. His major works include Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds, India 2020, etc. |
| M. S. Subbulakshmi (Tamil Nadu) | 1998 | She was a classical vocalist in Carnatic music. She is recognized as the Queen of Songs. She became the first musician of India to be awarded the Ramon Magsaysay for her public charity works. |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam (Tamil Nadu) | 1998 | He is well known for his contribution to Green Revolution in India. He contributed to the International Rice Research Institute of Manila, Philippines. |
| Jayaprakash Narayan (Bihar) * | 1999 | He is recognized as the Loknayak (People’s Leader). He launched the Total Revolution Movement/ JP Movement against the congress government. |
| Amartya Sen (West Bengal) | 1999 | He is Nobel Laureate in Economic Science. He contributed to welfare economics, social justice in economics, social choice theory, etc. |
| Gopinath Bordoloi (Assam) * | 1999 | He was elected to be the first chief minister of Assam. He is recognized as the Lokapriya in Assam for his dedication to Assam’s development. |
| Ravi Shankar (Uttar Pradesh) | 1999 | He is recognized as the world’s best exponent of Hindustani Classical Music. He also received the Grammy Award. |
| Lata Mangeshkar (Maharashtra) | 2001 | She is recognized as the Nightingale of India, Voice of Millennium, and Queen of Melody. She was awarded the country’s highest cinema award Dadasaheb Phalke Award. |
| Bismillah Khan (Uttar Pradesh) | 2001 | He is a celebrated classical shehnai player. He is credited to highlight the shehnai instrument in Indian music. He became the third classical musician who received the Bharat Ratna Award. |
| Bhimsen Joshi (Karnataka) | 2009 | He was a great exponent of Hindustani classical music. He was a disciple of recognized Kirana Gharana. He was well known for his Khyal genre of singing style. |
| C. N. R. Rao (Karnataka) | 2014 | He is an eminent chemist who contributed much to solid-state and structural chemistry. He received many awards like Marlow Medal, Hughes Medal, Royal Medal, India Science Award, etc. |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Maharashtra) | 2014 | He is recognized as the Master Blaster in cricket history. He debuted in the international cricket match at the age of 16 years. He is the only batsman to score more than 30,000 runs in entire forms of international cricket matches. |
| Madan Mohan Malaviya (Uttar Pradesh) * | 2015 | He was the founder of the Banaras Hindu University and Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. He is recognized as the Mahamana. |
| Atal Bihari Bajpayee (Madhya Pradesh) | 2015 | He was elected to be PM of India three times. He was also awarded the best parliamentarian award in 1994. He was also a great poet. |
| Pranab Mukherjee (West Bengal) | 2019 | He was elected to be the 13th President of India and 14th & 15th Leader of the Lok Sabha. In 2020, he died due to COVID-19. |
| Nanaji Deshmukh (Maharashtra) * | 2019 | His real name was Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh. He contributed to education, rural self-reliance, and health. He served as the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. |
| Bhupen Hazarika (Assam) * | 2019 | He is recognized as the Sudhakantha (Nectar-throated). He was an eminent filmmaker, poet, lyricist, playback singer, and musician. |