The Bharat Ratna is India’s highest civilian award. Here is a comprehensive list of Bharat Ratna awardees from 1954 to 2024, including their names, years of conferment, categories, and brief descriptions of their notable contributions:
List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners (1954 to 2024)
| Year | Name | Category | Brief Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari | Public Affairs | Last Governor-General of India; freedom fighter and statesman |
| 1954 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Education | First Vice-President and second President of India |
| 1954 | C. V. Raman | Science | Nobel Laureate in Physics; discovered the Raman Effect |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Literature & Education | Philosopher and educationist; co-founder of Kashi Vidyapith |
| 1955 | M. Visvesvaraya | Engineering | Eminent engineer; Diwan of Mysore; contributed to India’s infrastructure development |
| 1955 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Public Affairs | First Prime Minister of independent India |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Public Affairs | First Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh; Home Minister of India |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Social Work | Social reformer; advocated women’s education and widow remarriage |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Medicine & Public Affairs | Physician and second Chief Minister of West Bengal |
| 1961 | Purushottam Das Tandon | Public Affairs | Freedom fighter; advocate for Hindi as the national language |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | Public Affairs | First President of India; freedom fighter |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain | Education & Public Affairs | Third President of India; educationist and scholar |
| 1963 | Pandurang Vaman Kane | Literature | Indologist and Sanskrit scholar; authored “History of Dharmaśāstra” |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | Public Affairs | Second Prime Minister of India; known for promoting the White Revolution |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi | Public Affairs | First and only female Prime Minister of India |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri | Public Affairs | Fourth President of India; trade union leader |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj | Public Affairs | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; known for educational reforms |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa | Social Work | Catholic nun; founded the Missionaries of Charity |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave | Social Work | Advocate of nonviolence and human rights; leader of the Bhoodan Movement |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | Social Work | Freedom fighter; known as the “Frontier Gandhi” |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran | Public Affairs | Actor and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu |
| 1990 | B. R. Ambedkar | Public Affairs | Architect of the Indian Constitution; social reformer |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela | Public Affairs | Anti-apartheid revolutionary; President of South Africa |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | Public Affairs | Sixth Prime Minister of India |
| 1991 | Vallabhbhai Patel | Public Affairs | First Deputy Prime Minister; known as the “Iron Man of India” |
| 1991 | Morarji Desai | Public Affairs | Fourth Prime Minister of India |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad | Education & Public Affairs | First Minister of Education; freedom fighter |
| 1992 | J. R. D. Tata | Industry | Industrialist and philanthropist; pioneer of Indian aviation |
| 1992 | Satyajit Ray | Arts | Renowned filmmaker and author |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Public Affairs | Interim Prime Minister of India; labor leader |
| 1997 | Aruna Asaf Ali | Social Work | Freedom fighter; prominent in the Quit India Movement |
| 1997 | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | Science & Engineering | Aerospace scientist; later became the 11th President of India |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi | Arts | Renowned Carnatic vocalist |
| 1998 | Chidambaram Subramaniam | Public Affairs | Architect of India’s Green Revolution |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan | Public Affairs | Freedom fighter; leader of the Total Revolution movement |
| 1999 | Amartya Sen | Economics | Economist and philosopher; Nobel Laureate |
| 1999 | Gopinath Bordoloi | Public Affairs | First Chief Minister of Assam; freedom fighter |
| 1999 | Ravi Shankar | Arts | Sitar virtuoso and composer |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Arts | Legendary playback singer |
| 2001 | Bismillah Khan | Arts | Shehnai maestro |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Arts | Hindustani classical vocalist |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao | Science | Chemist; known for work in solid-state and structural chemistry |
| 2014 | Sachin Tendulkar | Sports | Cricketer; first sportsperson to receive Bharat Ratna |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Education & Public Affairs | Founder of Banaras Hindu University; freedom fighter |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Public Affairs | Former Prime Minister; poet and orator |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee | Public Affairs | Former President; held various key ministerial portfolios |
| 2019 | Nanaji Deshmukh | Social Work | Social activist; worked in education and rural development |
| 2019 | Bhupen Hazarika | Arts | Singer, composer, and filmmaker from Assam |
| 2024 | Karpoori Thakur (Posthumous) | Public Affairs | Former Chief Minister of Bihar; champion of social justice |
| 2024 | Lal Krishna Advani | Public Affairs | Senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party; former Deputy Prime Minister |
| 2024 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | Public Affairs | Former Prime Minister; initiated economic liberalization |
| 2024 | Chaudhary Charan Singh | Public Affairs | Former Prime Minister; advocated for farmers’ rights |
| 2024 | M. S. Swaminathan | Science & Agriculture | Agricultural scientist; known as the father of India’s Green Revolution |