Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of India government. It was instituted in 1954 and the first Bharat Ratna award was given to C. Rajgopalachari for distinguished services to the nation. On the eve of republic day i.e. 26th January., 2020 it was announced to give the following persons:
1. Pranab Mukherjee (1935-
Former President (13th) of India from 2012 until 2017. He is a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and has held several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India. He has become the fifth president to receive Bharat Ratna. Other presidents received this awards are Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain and V V Giri. Thus he joined this elite list. He has been awarded for his distinguished services to the nation. Before electing as the President of India, he was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012. He is fondly known as ‘Pranab Da’.
2. Nanaji Deshmukh (1916-2010)
He
was a social activist from India. He was
one of the founder member of Bhartiya Jan Sangh. He had rendered the great services in the fields of
health, education and rural self-reliance. He was credited with establishing the first Saraswati Shishu Mandir at
Gorakhpur in 1950. He was associated with RSS from 1928 to till his death. He
is also known for starting a chain of RSS-inspired school throughout India. He
was given Padma Vibhusan in the year 1999. Government of India conferred on him
Bharat Ratna posthumously for his great services to the nation.
3. Bhupen Hazarika (1926-2011)
Posthumously awarded for Bharat Ratna, Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam. He was popular known as Sudhakantha. He was appointed as a member of the Prasar Bharati Board in 2003.This man of multi-dimensional personality has also received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987), Padma Shri (1977), and Padmabhushan (2001). For his distinguished service to cinema he was also awarded with Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1992.
Padma Awards
Padma awards are given for the distinguished service to the individual. These awards are the one of the highest civilian awards and announced every year on the Republic Day. Padma awards are decided by the committee constituted by the Prime Minister of India. Anyone can nominate for these awards, means self-nomination can also be made.
Padma awards are given in the following categories:
1. Padma Vibhusan (2020): Following seven persons were awarded with this prestigious award:
1. Shri George Fernandes (Posthumous) – Public Affairs
2. Shri Arun Jaitley (Posthumously) – Public Service
3. Sir Anerood Jugnauth GCSK – Public Affairs
4. Smt. M. C. Mary Kom – Sports
5. Shri Chhannulal Mishra – Art
6. Smt. Sushma Swaraj (Posthumous)
– Public Affairs
7.
Sri Vishveshateertha Swamiji Sri Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi
(Posthumous) – Spiritualism
Padma Bhushan (2020): 116 persons were awarded with this prestigious award:
1. Shri M. Mumtaz Ali (Sri M) – Others-Spiritualism
2. Shri Syed Muazzem Ali(Posthumous)- Public Affairs
3. Shri Muzaffar Hussain Baig- Public Affairs
4. Shri Ajoy Chakravorty- Art
5.Shri Manoj Das- Literature and Education
6. Shri Balkrishna Doshi- Others-Architecture
7. Ms. Krishnammal Jagannathan- Social Work
8. Shri S. C. Jamir- Public Affairs
9. Shri Anil Prakash Joshi- Social Work
10. Dr. Tsering Landol- Medicine
11. Shri Anand Mahindra- Trade and Industry
12. Shri Neelakanta Ramakrishna Menon (Posthumously)- Public service
13. Shri Manohar Parrikar (Posthumously)- Public Affairs
14. Prof. Jagdish Sheth- Literature and Education
15. Ms. P.V Sindhu – Sports
16. Shri Venu Srinivasan- Trade and Industry
Padma Shree (2020):
Following 118 persons were awarded with this prestigious award:
1. Guru Shashadhar Acharya – Art
2. Dr. Yogi Aeron- Medicine
3. Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal- Trade and Industry
4. Shri Jagdish Lal Ahuja- Social Work
5.Kazi Masum Akhtar- Literature and Education
6.Ms. Gloria Arieira- Literature and Education
7.Khan Zaheerkhan Bakhtiyarkhan- Sports
8.Dr. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay- Medicine
9.Dr. Sushovan Banerjee- Medicine
10.Dr. Digambar Behera- Medicine
11.Dr. Damayanti Beshra- Literature and Education
12.Shri Pawar Popatrao Bhaguji- Social Work
13.Shri Himmata Ram Bhambhu- Social Work
14.Shri Sanjeev Bikhchandani- Trade and Industry
15.Shri Gafurbhai M. Bilakhia- Trade and Industry
16.Shri Bob Blackman- Public Affairs
17.Ms. Indira P. P. Bora- Art
18.Shri Madan Singh Chauhan- Art
19. Ms. Usha Chaumar- Social Work
20 Shri Lil Bahadur Chettri- Literature and Education
21.Ms. Lalitha & Ms. Saroja Chidambaram (Duo)*- Art
22. Dr. Vajira Chitrasena- Art
23.Dr. Purushottam Dadheech- Art
24. Shri Utsav Charan Das- Art
25.Prof. Indra Dassanayake(Posthumous)- Literature and Education
26. Shri H. M. Desai- Literature and Education
27. Shri Manohar Devadoss- Art
28. Ms. Oinam Bembem Devi- Sports
29. Ms. Lia Diskin Social- Work
30.Shri M. P. Ganesh- Sports
31. Dr. Bangalore Gangadhar- Medicine
32. Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar- Science and Engineering
33. Shri Barry Gardiner- Public Affairs
34. Shri Chewang Motup Goba- Trade and Industry
35. Shri Bharat Goenka- Trade and Industry
36.Shri Yadla Gopalarao- Art
37.Shri Mitrabhanu Gountia- Art
38.Ms. Tulasi Gowda- Social Work
39.Shri Sujoy K. Guha- Science and Engineering
40. Shri Harekala Hajabba- Social Work
41.Shri Enamul Haque Others-Archaeology
42.Shri Madhu Mansuri Hasmukh- Art
43. Shri Abdul Jabbar(Posthumous)- Social Work
44. Shri Bimal Kumar Jain- Social Work
45.Ms. Meenakshi Jain- Literature and Education
46. Shri Nemnath Jain- Trade and Industry
47. Ms. Shanti Jain- Art
48. Shri Sudhir Jain- Science and Engineering
49.Shri Benichandra Jamatia- Literature and Education
50. Shri K. V. Sampath Kumar & Ms. Vidushi Jayalakshmi K.S.(Duo)*- Literature and Education-Journalism
51.Shri Karan Johar – Art
52. Dr. Leela Joshi- Medicine
53. Ms. Sarita Joshi- Art
54.Shri C. Kamlova- Literature and Education
55. Dr. Ravi Kannan R.- Medicine
56. Ms. Ekta Kapoor- Art
57.Shri Yazdi Naoshirwan Karanjia- Art
58. Shri Narayan J. Joshi Karayal- Literature and Education
59.Dr. Narindar Nath Khanna- Medicine
60.Shri Naveen Khanna- Science and Engineering
61. Shri S. P. Kothari- Literature and Education
62.Shri V. K. Munusamy Krishnapakthar- Art
63. Shri M. K. Kunjol- Social Work
64. Shri Manmohan Mahapatra (Posthumous)- Art
65. Ustad Anwar Khan Mangniyar- Art
66. Shri Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal- Science and Engineering
67.Shri Munna Master- Art
68. Prof. Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra- Literature and Education
69. Ms. Binapani Mohanty- Literature and Education
70.Dr. Arunoday Mondal- Medicine
71. Dr. Prithwindra Mukherjee- Literature and Education
72. Shri Sathyanarayan Mundayoor- Social Work
73. Shri Manilal Nag- Art
74.Shri N. Chandrasekharan Nair- Literature and Education
75.Dr. Tetsu Nakamura(Posthumous)- Social Work
76. Shri Shiv Datt Nirmohi- Literature and Education
77. Shri Pu Lalbiakthanga Pachuau- Literature and Education-Journalism
78.Ms. Moozhikkal Pankajakshi- Art
79. Dr. Prasanta Kumar Pattanaik- Literature and Education
80. Shri Jogendra Nath Phukan- Literature and Education
81.Ms. Rahibai Soma Popere- Others-Agriculture
82. Shri Yogesh Praveen- Literature and Education
83.Shri Jitu Rai- Sports
84.Shri Tarundeep Rai- Sports
85. Shri S. Ramakrishnan- Social Work
86.Ms. Rani Rampal- Sports
87. Ms. Kangana Ranaut- Art
88. Shri Dalavai Chalapathi Rao- Art
89.Shri Shahbuddin Rathod- Literature and Education
90.Shri Kalyan Singh Rawat- Social Work
91.Shri Chintala Venkat Reddy- Others-Agriculture
92.Smt. (Dr.) Shanti Roy- Medicine
93. Shri Radhammohan & Ms. Sabarmatee (Duo)*- Others-Agriculture
94. Shri Batakrushna Sahoo- Others-AnimalHusbandry
95. Ms. Trinity Saioo- Others-Agriculture
96. Shri Adnan Sami- Art
97.Shri Vijay Sankeshwar- Trade and Industry
98.Dr. Kushal Konwar Sarma- Medicine
99.Shri Sayed Mehboob Shah Qadri alias Sayedbhai- Social Work
100. Shri Mohammed Sharif- Social Work
101. Shri Shyam Sunder Sharma- Art
102.Dr. Gurdip Singh- Medicine
103. Shri Ramjee Singh- Social Work
104. Shri Vashishtha Narayan Singh(Posthumous)- Science and Engineering
105. Shri Daya Prakash Sinha- Art
106.Dr. Sandra Desa Souza- Medicine
107.Shri Vijayasarathi Sribhashyam- Literature and Education
108.Smt. Kalee Shabi Mahaboob & Shri Sheik Mahaboob Subani(Duo)*- Art
109. Shri Javed Ahmad Tak- Social Work
110.Shri Pradeep Thalappil- Science and Engineering
111. Shri Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi- Literature and Education
112.Shri Robert Thurman- Literature and Education
113.Shri Agus Indra Udayana- Social Work
114. Shri Harish Chandra Verma- Science and Engineering
115.Shri Sundaram Verma- Social Work
116.Dr. Romesh Tekchand Wadhwani- Trade and Industry
117.Shri Suresh Wadkar- Art
118. Shri Prem Watsa- Trade and Industry