In a landmark series of announcements, the Indian government revealed on Friday its decision to bestow the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award, upon three distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to various fields within the country. Among the esteemed recipients are former Prime Ministers Chaudhary Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao, as well as Dr MS Swaminathan. Their remarkable achievements in agriculture, farmers' welfare, nation-building, and economic reforms have earned them this prestigious honour. Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter to personally announce the conferral of the Bharat Ratna upon these personalities.
The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was established by former President Rajendra Prasad on January 2, 1954. The inaugural Bharat Ratna recipients in 1954 were Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Sir CV Raman, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Initially, the concept of awarding it posthumously was absent from the original statute. However, in January 1966, provisions for posthumous awards were added to the prestigious accolade. Notably, Sachin Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna, also earning the distinction of being the youngest recipient of the award.
Bharat Ratna Awardees (1954-2024)
53 individuals have been honoured with the prestigious Bharat Ratna award for their noteworthy contributions to society. The following is a comprehensive list of all the recipients who have received this esteemed award.
| Year | Recipients |
| 1954 | C Rajagopalachari |
| 1954 | Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1954 | CV Raman |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das |
| 1955 | M Visvesvaraya |
| 1955 | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy |
| 1961 | Purushottam Das Tandon |
| 1962 | Dr Rajendra Prasad |
| 1963 | Dr Zakir Husain |
| 1963 | Pandurang Vaman Kane |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi |
| 1975 | VV Giri |
| 1976 | K Kamaraj |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa |
| 1983 | Acharya Vinoba Bhave. |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan |
| 1988 | MG Ramachandran |
| 1990 | BR Ambedkar |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi |
| 1991 | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel |
| 1991 | Morarji Desai |
| 1992 | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
| 1992 | JRD Tata |
| 1992 | Satyajit Ray |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda |
| 1997 | Aruna Asaf Ali |
| 1997 | Dr APJ Abdul Kalam |
| 1998 | MS Subbulakshmi |
| 1998 | Chidambaram Subramaniam |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan |
| 1999 | Amartya Sen |
| 1999 | Gopinath Bordoloi |
| 1999 | Pandit Ravi Shankar |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar |
| 2001 | Ustad Bismillah Khan |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi |
| 2014 | CNR Rao |
| 2014 | Sachin Tendulkar |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2019 | Nanaji Deshmukh |
| 2019 | Bhupen Hazarika |
| 2024 | Karpoori Thakur |
| 2024 | Lal Krishna Advani |
| 2024 | Chaudhary Charan Singh |
| 2024 | PV Narasimha Rao |
| 2024 | Dr MS Swaminathan |
