Bharat Ratna Awards: First Three Recipients, Bharat Ratna Winners 2022

First Three Recipients of Bharat Ratna

The First Three Recipients of the Bharat Ratna award were honored in 1954. C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, and Sir C.V. Raman were the first three Bharat Ratna award recipients.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari: Bharat Ratna Award Recipient

• He was an Indian statesman, author, lawyer, and forerunner in the Indian struggle for independence.
• Rajagopalachari served as India’s final governor general before it became a republic in 1950. Additionally, he was the first governor-general born in India; all previous occupants were British nationals.
• The Swatantra Party was created by Rajagopalachari. He strongly supported disarmament and world peace and fiercely opposed the deployment of nuclear weapons.
• Throughout his life, he also picked up the moniker “Mango of Salem.”

Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan: Bharat Ratna Award Recipient

• He was a politician and philosopher from India who served as the country’s second president from 1962 to 1967, as well as its first vice president from 1952 to 1962.
• Radhakrishnan, one of the most eminent scholars of comparative philosophy and religion of the 20th century, held the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religion and Ethics at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1952 and the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta from 1921 to 1932.
• Advaita Vedanta served as the foundation for Radhakrishnan’s philosophy, which reinterpreted this tradition for a modern audience.

Sir C.V. Raman: Bharat Ratna Award Recipient

• He was an Indian physicist who specialized in light scattering. He and his student K. S. Krishnan found using a spectrograph; they created that light deflected through a transparent material change in wavelength and frequency.
• Later, the Raman effect or Raman scattering referred to this phenomenon, a previously unidentified kind of light scattering that they named “modified scattering.”
• Raman was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any field of science when he was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.

What is Bharat Ratna?

The Bharat Ratna is India’s highest civilian honor. The accolade, which was founded on January 2, 1954, is bestowed in recognition of “excellent service/performance of the highest level,” regardless of the recipient’s race, occupation, status, or sex. The government changed the requirements for the award in December 2011 to include “any sector of human endeavor,” when it had previously only been presented for achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public service.

Bharat Ratna Winners List 2022 PDF

Only three Bharat Ratna awardees may be honored each year, as recommended by the Prime Minister to the President. The recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) bearing the President’s signature and a medallion in the form of a peepal leaf.

Bharat Ratna Award Winners: Highlights

There have been 48 people who have received the Bharat Ratna award since 1954, including 14 posthumous recipients. The table listed some important facts, like the first Bharat Ratna winners, foreign recipients, etc., below.

Important Facts about Bharat Ratna Winners
Name of Bharat Ratna Award Recipient	Year	Details about Bharat Ratna Winners
C. Rajagopalachari C. V. Raman Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1954	First Recipient of Bharat Ratna Governor-General of the Dominion of India and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Second President and First Vice President of India
Mother Teresa	1980	Anglo-Indian Nun
Abdul Ghaffar Khan	1987	Pakistani Educationist (Foreign Recipient)
Nelson Mandela	1990	South African President (Foreign Recipient)
Lata Mangeshkar	2001	Indian Playback Singer
Sachin Tendulkar	2014	Youngest Recipient and the only sportsperson on the list

Bharat Ratna Award List 2022

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award that the Government of India gives. It has been given to three people every year since its inception in 1954. There have been a few instances where the awards were canceled. The year 2022 was such an instance as well.

No Bharat Ratna awards were given in 2022, but 128 Padma awards were given.

List of Bharat Ratna Award Recipients (Year Wise)

Below is a tabulated and comprehensive list of Bharat Ratna Awardees, along with their achievements explained briefly;

Bharat Ratna Awardees	Brief Description	Year
C. Rajagopalachari	Indian politician, lawyer, independence activist, writer, statesman, and historian, Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India and the only person of Indian descent to hold this post.	1954
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Indian statesman and philosopher. 1st Vice President of India	1954
C. V. Raman	Indian physicist who made out a path-breaking contribution to the field of light scattering. Nobel Laureate(Physics)	1954
Bhagwan Das	A member of the Central Legislative Assembly of British India and an Indian Theosophist	1955
M. Visvesvaraya	Civil Engineer and Statesman	1955
Jawaharlal Nehru	A prominent figure in the Indian struggle for independence, 1st Prime Minister of India	1955
Govind Ballabh Pant	Indian freedom fighter An architect of modern India	1957
Dhondo Keshav Karve	A prominent social reformer in India in the field of women’s empowerment and welfare	1958
Bidhan Chandra Roy	An outstanding Indian physician, philanthropist, educationist, freedom fighter, and politician Also served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 1948	1961
Purushottam Das Tandon	An important freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh, India. He has put great effort into making Hindi one of the Official languages of India.	1961
Rajendra Prasad	1st President of India, an Eminent figure in the Indian Independence Struggle	1962
Zakir Husain	3rd President of India	1963
Pandurang Vaman Kane	Indologist and Sanskrit scholar	1963
Lal Bahadur Shastri	2nd Prime Minister of India	1966
Indira Gandhi	The only female Prime Minister of India, the Iron Lady of India	1971
V. V. Giri	4th President of India	1975
K. Kamaraj	A leader from the Indian National Congress	1976
Mother Teresa	An Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic missionary and nun	1980
Vinoba Bhave	An Indian advocate of human rights and nonviolence	1983
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	A Pashtun independence activist	1987
M. G. Ramachandran	An Indian filmmaker, actor, and politician who was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.	1988
B. R. Ambedkar	An Indian jurist, politician, economist, and social reformer who was a part of the Dalit Buddhist movement Father of the Indian Constitution	1990
Nelson Mandela	A South African political leader, revolutionary, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa Was inspired by Gandhi’s teachings of Ahimsa	1990
Rajiv Gandhi	An Indian politician who was the 6th Prime Minister of India	1991
Vallabhbhai Patel	The First Deputy Prime Minister of India The iron man of India	1991
Morarji Desai	An eminent Indian independence activist 4th Prime Minister of India	1991
Abul Kalam Azad	An Indian scholar, freedom fighter, and an experienced leader of the Indian National Congress	1992
J. R. D. Tata	Chairman of Tata Group Steelman of India	1992
Satyajit Ray	Indian filmmaker, music composer, screenwriter, graphic artist, author, and lyricist	1992
Aruna Asaf Ali	An Indian independence activist First Mayor of Delhi	1997
Gulzarilal Nanda	Indian politician and economist who specialized in labor issues	1997
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam	Missile Man of India Gifted Scientist and visionary	1997
M. S. Subbulakshmi	Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu	1998
Chidambaram Subramaniam	An Indian Independence activist and politician	1998
Jayaprakash Narayan	Indian independence activist, socialist, theorist, and political leader	1999
Amartya Sen	Indian philosopher and economist	1999
Gopinath Bordoloi	1st Chief Minister of Assam	1999
Ravi Shankar	An Indian musician and composer of Hindustani classical music	1999
Lata Mangeshkar	Indian music director and playback singer	2001
Bismillah Khan	Indian musician is known for popularizing the Shehnai	2001
Bhimsen Joshi	Indian vocalist from Karnataka	2009
C. N. R. Rao	Presently, the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India	2014
Sachin Tendulkar	Former captain of the Indian Cricket team and one of the greatest batsmen in the world of Cricket.	2014
Madan Mohan Malaviya	An Indian politician and educationist	2015
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Indian politician, poet, and statesman. He served three terms as the PM of India	2015
Pranab Mukherjee	13th President of India	2019
Nanaji Deshmukh	Social Activist	2019
Bhupen Hazarika	An Indian playback singer, musician, lyricist, singer, poet, and film-maker from Assam	2019

Which President Got Bharat Ratna?

There have been 48 awardees of the esteemed Bharat Ratna Awards. There have 6 Indian presidents who have got Bharat Ratna.

The list of Presidents of India who got the Bharat Ratna is given below:

President of India	Year of Award
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1954
Rajendra Prasad	1962
Zakir Hussain	1963
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	1997
Dr V V Giri	1975
Pranab Mukherjee	2019

Indian President Bharat Ratna Facts

• Which Indian Presidents Have Presented the Bharat Ratna to Each Other? – Madan Mohan Malaviya & Atal Bihari Vajpayee is one such pair of Indian presidents who have presented the Bharat Ratna to each other.
• The Second Indian President to Get Bharat Ratna – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second President of India to receive the Bharat Ratna after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

History of Bharat Ratna Award

The formation of the three-tiered Padma Vibhushan, divided into classes or warg that rank just below Bharat Ratna, was announced in a press release from the President’s office on January 2, 1954. The Padma Vibhushan was split into three awards on January 15, 1955; the highest of the three is the Padma Vibhushan. It is then followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.

• The Bharat Ratna does not require that awardees be Indian nationals. Mother Teresa, a naturalized Indian citizen, received it in 1980. It has also been given to non-Indians: Pakistan’s Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1987 and South African President Nelson Mandela in 1990.
• The first musician to get the honor was M. S. Subbulakshmi of Tamil Nadu. At age 40, Sachin Tendulkar became the honor’s youngest recipient and first sportsperson. On April 18, 1958, Dhondo Keshav Karve celebrated his 100th birthday by receiving this honor.
• Twice throughout its existence, the award’s suspension was only temporary. After Morarji Desai took office as the country’s 4th prime minister in 1977, the first suspension occurred. On January 25, 1980, when Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister, the suspension was lifted.
• After two Public-Interest Litigations contesting the “constitutional legitimacy” of the awards were filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the Kerala High Court in the middle of 1992, the civilian awards were once more put on hold. After the litigation, the Supreme Court restored the awards in December 1995.

Key Facts about Bharat Ratna Award

These are some key facts about the coveted Bharat Ratna Award;

• The original statute announced in January 1954 did not include the idea of giving this honor to a deceased recipient.
• Finally, a provision for posthumous awards was incorporated into the illustrious award’s legislation in January 1966.
• In 1954, the first Bharat Ratna was given to Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, and Sir C.V. Raman.
• The first sportsperson and youngest recipient of the Bharat Ratna Award are Sachin Tendulkar.
• Bronze is used to cast the medallion. It is shaped like a pipal tree leaf with a sunburst in the middle, and Bharat Ratna is inscribed below it.
• The Indian flag is engraved on the reverse, and Satyameva Jayate is written there in Devanagari script. A white ribbon is used for sashing the medallion around the neck.
• The prize carries no financial endowment.
• The award was formerly limited to literature, arts, science, and public service achievements. However, in 2011, the Indian government broadened the criteria to include “any sphere of human endeavor.”
• There is no specific rule stating that only citizens of India may receive the Bharat Ratna.
• The Indian government recently changed the requirements for athletes to be eligible for the Bharat Ratna.
• The Prime Minister recommends candidates for Bharat Ratna to the President.
• A single year may only have a maximum of three awards given out overall.
• Subhash Chandra Bose received the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1992. Subhash Chandra Bose’s family refuses to accept the honor because there isn’t any conclusive proof of his passing.

UPSC Notes
Cabinet and Council of Ministers	White Revolution in India
1857 Revolt Leaders	Lucknow Pact 1916
Constitution of India	Dadasaheb Phalke Awards
Types of Crops in India	Tughlaq Dynasty