List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners

Bharat Ratna is the highest accolade for any civilian residing in India. This award was instituted on 2 January 1954, the accolade is awarded to the person for exceptional service irrespective of caste, creed, gender and religion. It is the highest honour for any civilian. The award was initially given to the personalities working in the field of arts, literature, science, and public services, but later amendments were made to include personalities that are doing exceptional work in any sector of human endeavour. The recipients of  Bharat Ratna receive a certificate and medallion from the President of India. 

The recommendations or nominees of the award are suggested by the serving Prime Minister of the country; there are only three personalities that are awarded Bharat Ratna every year. The first recipient of Bharat Ratna was the Nobel Laureate Dr Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman,  Governor-General of the Dominion of India, C. Rajagopalachari, second President and the First Vice President of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. There are 48 total Bharat Ratna winners out of which 16 individuals were awarded posthumously. The first posthumous recipient of Bharat Ratna was the former prime minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri, whereas the first recipient of Bharat Ratna was C.V Raman. 

The List of Bharat Ratna Recipients

The article mentions the list of the total recipients of the award including the name and brief description of the first Bharat Ratna winners, it also mentions the youngest Bharat Ratna winner, the list of the awarded people is mentioned below.

Bharat Ratna Winner of 1954

The Bharat Ratna was awarded to three people in the year of 1954, the first awardee of Bharat Ratna was, C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman. 

C. V. Raman

The full name of Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, he was a prominent personality in the field of science and technology, he received Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. He is best known for his discovery of the "Raman scattering", the theory that described the scattering of the light and the effects of scattering. Raman specifically worked in the field of atomic physics and electromagnetism.

C. Rajagopalachari

C. Rajagopalachari was an independent activist and lawyer. He was the last Governor-General of the Dominion of India. He also served as a chief minister of the Madras Presidency and Madras State. He served as a chief minister of the Madras Presidency from 1937 to 1939, later he served as the chief minister of the state of Madras in free India from 1952 to 1954. He was also the founder of the political party called Swatantra Party.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first vice president of free India, he served his term as Vice President from 1952 till 1962. He then served as the second president of the nation, he served his time from 1962 to 1967. He did exceptional work in the field of education reform, he fought for the right of education for the underprivileged.

Bharat Ratna Award Winners of 1955

The three-person that were awarded the accolade is, Bhagwan Das, M. Visvesvaraya, and Jawaharlal Nehru. 

Bhagwan Das

He was a freedom fighter. He also co-founded the prestigious institute of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith and, along with being it he was also a prominent educationist, he worked with Madan Mohan Malaviya for the foundation of Banaras Hindu University.

M. Visvesvaraya

He was also a civil engineer and Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. He was born on 15 September, is observed as "Engineer's Day" in India. He also served as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire.

Jawaharlal Nehru

He was a freedom fighter, he also was the first prime minister of the nation. He served the longest term as prime minister from 1947 to 1964.  He was also a prominent author, he wrote one of the most famous books of history entitled The Discovery of India.

List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners of 1957

The recipients of Bharat Ratna in 1956 were Govind Ballabh Pant. Brief summary of these personalities is given below.

Govind Ballabh Pant

He served as the first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1950 to 1954. Following his term as the chief minister, he served as Union Home Minister from 1955 to 1961.

List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners of 1958

Dhondo Keshav Karve

He was a prominent figure known as a social reformer and educator. Karve is nationally known for his contributions to women's education and the remarriage of Hindu widows. He is the founder of the Widow Marriage Association, established in 1883. Hindu Widows Home, which was established in 1896 and started Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University in 1916.

List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners of 1961

The recipients of Bharat Ratna were two people, Bidhan Chandra Roy, and Purushottam Das Tandon.

Bidhan Chandra Roy

Roy is referred to as a "Maker of Modern West Bengal." He was a physician, political leader, and social worker. He served as the second Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 to 1962. National Doctors' Day in India is celebrated on 1st November in remembrance of him.

Purushottam Das Tandon

He is often referred to as "Rajarshi". He served as speaker of the United Provinces Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1950.  He was a freedom fighter and worked extensively to claim Hindi as an official language.

List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners of 1962

Only Rajendra Prasad was awarded the Bharat Ratna in the year of 1962. He worked in a close association with Mahatma Gandhi in the non-cooperation movement for Indian independence. He was elected as the first President of India, he served as the president from 1950 to 1962.

List of Bharat Ratna winners of 1963

Two personalities were awarded the accolade, Zakir Husain and Pandurang Vaman Kane.

Zakir Husain

Husain was an Independence activist, he served as a Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from 1948 to 1956 and the Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962. He also served as the second Vice-President of India from 1962 to 1967, he also served as the third President of India from 1967 to 1969.

Pandurang Vaman Kane

He is best known for his literary work, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Kane is best known for his five-volume literary work, History of Dharmasastra: Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India. The book was published from 1930 to 1962. 

List of Bharat Ratna Winner of 1966

Lal Bahadur Shastri was the only person who was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1966. He served as the second Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966. One of his major political achievements includes that he led the country during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Recipients of Bharat Ratna of 1971

In the year 1971, the Bharat Ratna was awarded only to one person, Indira Gandhi, a brief summary about the former prime minister of India is mentioned below.

Indira Gandhi was the former Prime Minister of India, she was also the first female prime minister of the country. Indira Gandhi is famously known as the "Iron Lady of India". She served her term as prime minister from 1966 to 1977, she was again elected as prime minister from 1980 to 1984. The time during which Gandhi served as prime minister is considered as an important historical period, one of her major political stands was the support of the Bangladesh Liberation War which led to the formation of a new country, Bangladesh.

In conclusion, the first Bharat Ratna award winners were, C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. V. Raman. While discussing the personalities awarded it is important to note that the accolade has not been given in 2020 and 2021. In the year 2019, Bharat Ratna was awarded to three people, Nanaji Deshmukh, Pranab Mukherjee, and Bhupen Hazarika for their exceptional work. There are 48 total Bharat Ratna winners from 1954 till 2021.