The Bharat Ratna award is the highest civilian award in India, which is awarded for exceptional performances in any field. However, one cannot add this as a prefix or suffix to their names which is illegal. This award is referred by the Prime Minister and will be given by the President of India.
A total of 48 persons will be awarded with Bharat Ratna until 2024. This article brings you all the information related to Bharat Ratna which is the biggest civilian award in India.
Bharat Ratna 2024:
Bharat Ratna is the highest award that is given to any civilian in India upon their exceptional performance in any field. The issuance of the Bharat Ratna award was started in 1954. This award will be issued even after death and 17 out of 48 were awarded after their death until 2024.
In 2024 a total of 5 members have been awarded Bharat Ratna with one of them being awarded post-death. 2024 is the year which surpassed for highest Bharat Ratna awards honoured in a single year. Previously 1999 was the year with the highest number of honours with 4 awards being announced.
- Karpoori Thakur (Post-Death) (Politician and former CM of Bihar)
- Lal Krishna Advani (Politician and former Deputy PM)
- PV Narsimha Rao (Former PM)
- Chaudhary Charan Singh (Former PM)
- MS Swaminathan (Agricultural Scientist)
Karpoori Thakur:
Karpoori Thakur was popularly known as “Jan Nayak” with 49th person on the list of Bharat Ratna recipients. He was a great socialist alongside a politician who worked as CM of Bihar. He was born on 24th January 1924 and passed away on 17th February 1988. He has changed the way of politics in Bihar. The government has recognized his service in the politics of Bihar and is now awarded in 2024 after his death.
Lal Krishna Advani:
Lal Krishna Advani was a former Deputy Prime minister and home minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1999 – 2004. He was one of the founding members of the BJP party and has been with BJP since its establishment in 1980.
He was the longest-serving president of the BJP who was born on 8th November 1927. His persistent contribution towards the party brought him Bharat Ratna.
Venkata Narasimha Rao:
Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was a former prime minister and has been honoured with Bharat Ratna. He passed away in 2004 and served as Prime Minister from 1991 – 1996 for India. He was well known for his economic reforms and political legislation. He was represented as a Telugu leader when alive. He was born on 28th June 1921 and passed away on 23rd December 2004.
Chaudhary Charan Singh:
Chaudhary Charan Singh is also the former Prime minister and first CM of the Non-Congress party in UP. He will be conferred with the Bharat Ratna award in 2024 for his contribution towards farmers and the political system in the state. He was born on 23rd December 1902 and passed away on 29th May 1987.
Mankombu Sambasivan:
Mankombu Sambasivan is the 5th person on the agronomist list who is conferred with Bharat Ratna. He was known for his contributions to agriculture and the welfare of farmers. He was the one who changed Indian agriculture considering both food security and prosperity of the nation. He was born on 7th August 1925 and passed away on 28th September 2023.
Agronomists are the ones who are experts in the science of soil management and crop production.
Why 5 Bharat Ratna Instead Of 3:
Only 3 members will be awarded the Bharat Ratna award in a year but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no announcements regarding Bharat Ratna in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Bharat Ratna medal will be in the form of a leaf with 5.8 cm long, 4.7cm wide and 3.1 mm thick. It is a bronze medal with a sun shape in the middle by 1.6cm in diameter. On the other side, the medal will have an emblem and motto of the country written in Devanagari script.
First Bharat Ratna Award:
The first Bharat Ratna award was awarded to Rajagopalachari who was a politician, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was a philosopher and Scientist CV Raman in 1954. Sachin Tendulkar was the youngest civilian to receive the award at the Age of 40 years in 2014 and was known as a cricket legend. The oldest one to receive the award is Dhondo Keshav on his 100th birthday in 1958.
Bharat Ratna Benefits:
Once any civilian is awarded with Bharat Ratna, they will have some benefits from the government side. Though there is no cash prize to the awardees there are benefits that are more than equal to cash prize. The awardees will be receiving a medal, miniature and a certificate signed by the president of India.
- The awardees are free to travel in first class on Air India Flights and Railways.
- Honoured persons are eligible to participate in Parliament & positions that are equal to the 4th cabinet minister.
- They are eligible for Z Grade security from the government with expenses borne by the awardees themselves. Z-grade security is provided to the Prime Minister
- The Bharat Ratna awardees are VVIPs and State Guests when they are travelling between the states. They are eligible for all facilities of VVIPs and State Guests in any state of India.
- Indian Embassy provides the maximum facilities when the awardees travel to foreign countries.
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