History of the Bharat Ratna.

Bharat Ratna

The Rupblic of India's highest civilian award.

History

Bharat Ratna is the Republic of India's highest civilian award.

Until 2011, the official criteria for awarding the Bharat Ratna stipulated it was to be conferred "for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order."

In December 2011, the Government of India modified the criteria to allow sportspersons to receive the award; since then, the award may be conferred "for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour."

Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for the award. The recommendations for an award of the "Bharat Ratna" are made by the Prime Minister of India to the President of India; a maximum of three awards may be made in a given year.

The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank 7th in the Indian order of precedence; however, the honour does not carry a monetary grant. The honour does not confer any pre- or post-nominal titles or letters; recipients are constitutionally prohibited from using the award name as a title or post-nominal. However, if they desire, recipients may state they are Bharat Ratna awardees in their curriculum vitae, on letterheads or on business cards.

The order to establish the award was given by first president of the Republic of India on 2 January 1955. The original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for posthumous awards [ and this perhaps explains why the decoration was never awarded to India's father of nation Mahatma Gandhi ], though this provision was added in the January 1966 statute Subsequently, there have been twelve posthumous awards, including the award to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn.

The award was briefly suspended from 13 July 1977 to 26 January 1980.

There is no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens.

Bharat Ratna has been one award to a naturalised Indian citizen, Mother Teresa [ 1980 ], and to two non-Indians,  Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan  [ 1987 ] and Nelson Mandela [ 1990 ].

The awarding of this honour has frequently been the subject of litigation questioning the constitutional basis of such.

Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest person alive at the time of receiving the award [ at the age of 40 ].

Dhondo Keshav Karve is the eldest person alive at the time of receiving the award  [ age 100 ] and

Vallabhbhai Patel is the eldest overall   [ posthumously at the age of 75 ].