Bharat Ratna Award Winners List 2019

Bharat Ratna Award

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour, given for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature and Science, and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order.

The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the Hindi legend "Bharat Ratna" above and a floral wreath below. The reverse was to carry the state emblem and motto. It was to be worn around the neck from a white ribbon.

The provision of Bharat Ratna was introduced in 1954. The first ever Indian to receive this award was the famous scientist, Chandrasekhara  Venkata Raman (1954). Since then, many dignitaries, each a whiz in varied aspects of their career has received this coveted award.

The following are the 48 recipients of the Bharat Ratna Award till Sep, 2019:-

Name of Awardee	Year	Country/state	Field
Nanaji Deshmukh	2019	Maharashtra	Social Work
Bhupen Hazarika	2019	Assam	Arts
Pranab Mukherjee	2019	West Bengal	Public Affairs
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	2015	Madhya Pradesh	Public Affairs
Madan Mohan Malaviya	2015	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Sachin Tendulkar	2014	Maharashtra	Sports
C. N. R. Rao	2014	Karnataka	Science & Eng.
Pt.  Bhimsen Joshi	2009	Karnataka	Arts
Lata Mangeshkar	2001	Maharashtra	Arts
Late. Ustad  Bismillah Khan	2001	Uttar Pradesh	Arts
Prof. Amartya Sen	1999	UK	Lit. & Education
Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (Posth.)	1999	Assam	Public Affairs
Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan (Posth.)	1999	Bihar	Public Affairs
Pt. Ravi Shankar	1999	United States	Arts
Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam	1998	Tamil Nadu	Public Affairs
Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi	1998	Tamil Nadu	Arts
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	1997	Delhi	Science & Eng.
Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali (Posth.)	1997	Delhi	Public Affairs
Shri  Gulzari Lal Nanda	1997	Gujarat	Public Affairs
Shri  J. R. D. Tata	1992	Maharashtra	Trade & Industry
Shri  Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	1992	West Bengal	Public Affairs
Shri  Satyajit Ray	1992	West Bengal	Arts
Shri  Morarji Desai	1991	Gujarat	Public Affairs
Shri  Rajiv Gandhi	1991	Delhi	Public Affairs
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	1991	Gujarat	Public Affairs
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedakr	1990	Maharashtra	Public Affairs
Dr. Nelson Mandela	1990	South Africa	Public Affairs
Shri Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran	1988	Tamil Nadu	Public Affairs
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	1987	Pakistan	Social Work
Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave	1983	Maharashtra	Social Work
Mother Teresa	1980	West Bengal	Social Work
Shri Kumaraswamy  Kamraj	1976	Tamil Nadu	Public Affairs
Shri  V.V. Giri	1975	Orissa	Public Affairs
Smt. Indira Gandhi	1971	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Shri  Lal Bahadur Shastri	1966	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane	1963	Maharashtra	Social Work
Dr. Zakir Hussain	1963	Andhra Pradesh	Public Affairs
Dr. Rajendra Prasad	1962	Bihar	Public Affairs
Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy	1961	West Bengal	Public Affairs
Shri Purushottam Das Tandon	1961	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve	1958	Maharashtra	Social Work
Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant	1957	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Dr. Bhagwan Das	1955	Uttar Pradesh	Lit. & Education
Pt.  Jawaharlal Nehru	1955	Uttar Pradesh	Public Affairs
Dr.  M. Vishweshwariah	1955	Karnataka	Civil Service
Shri  Chakravarti Rajagopalachari	1954	Tamil Nadu	Public Affairs
Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman	1954	Tamil Nadu	Science & Eng.
Dr.  Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan	1954	Tamil Nadu	Public Affairs

It is also not mandatory that Bharat Ratna be awarded every year.