From C Rajagopalachari To Former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, Here’s A List of Recipients of Bharat Ratna
Prominent socialist leader and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur. (File image: X)
The Bharat Ratna award has been conferred on 49 people so far, of which 17 were awarded posthumously
Socialist leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur will be conferred Bharat Ratna posthumously. The announcement from the President’s office comes a day before the birth anniversary of the late leader.
Thakur was popularly known as Jan Nayak. He served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 (Socialist Party/Bharatiya Kranti Dal), and from December 1977 to April 1979 (Janata Party).
The Bharat Ratna is India’s highest civilian award. It was instituted in the year 1954, and is awarded to people for their exceptional public service and performance of the highest order in any field like literature, science and art.
The Bharat Ratna award has been conferred on 49 people so far, of which 17 were awarded posthumously.
Bharat Ratna Winners From 1954 to 2023
Bharat Ratna Award Recipients | Year |
| Karpoori Thakur (politician) – Bihar | 2023 |
| Nanaji Deshmukh (social activist) – Maharashtra | 2019 |
| Bhupen Hazarika (playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, and film-maker) – Assam | |
| Pranab Mukherjee (politician) – West Bengal | |
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee (politician) – Madhya Pradesh | 2015 |
| Madan Mohan Malaviya (Scholar and educational reformer) – Uttar Pradesh | |
| Sachin Tendulkar (cricketer) – Maharashtra | 2014 |
| CNR Rao (chemist and professor) – Karnataka | |
| Bhimsen Joshi (Hindustani classical vocalist) – Karnataka | 2009 |
| Bismillah Khan (Hindustani classical shehnai player) – Uttar Pradesh | 2001 |
| Lata Mangeshkar (playback singer) – Maharashtra | |
| Ravi Shankar (sitar player) – Uttar Pradesh | 1999 |
| Gopinath Bordoloi (Independence activist) – Assam | |
| Amartya Sen (economist) – West Bengal | |
| Jayaprakash Narayan (Independence activist, social reformer) – Bihar | |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam (Independence activist) – Tamil Nadu | 1998 |
| MS Subbulakshmi (Carnatic classical vocalist) – Tamil Nadu | |
| A P J Abdul Kalam (Aerospace and defence scientist) – Tamil Nadu | 1997 |
| Aruna Asaf Ali (Independence activist) – West Bengal | |
| Gulzarilal Nanda (Independence activist) – Punjab | |
| Satyajit Ray (Filmmaker) – West Bengal | 1992 |
| JRD Tata (Industrialist) – Maharashtra | |
| Abdul Kalam Azad (Independence activist) – West Bengal | |
| Morarji Desai (Independence activist) – Gujarat | 1991 |
| Sadar Vallabhbhai Patel (Independence activist) – Gujarat | |
| Rajiv Gandhi (politician) – Uttar Pradesh | |
| Nelson Mandela (anti-apartheid activist) – South Africa | 1990 |
| B R Ambedkar (Social reformer) – Maharashtra | |
| M G Ramachandran (actor turned politician) – Tamil Nadu | 1988 |
| Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Independence activist) – Pakistan | 1987 |
| Vinoba Bhave (Independence activist, social reformer) – Maharashtra | 1983 |
| Mother Teresa (Catholic nun) – West Bengal | 1980 |
| K Kamaraj (politician) – Tamil Nadu | 1976 |
| V V Giri (Independence activist) – Odisha | 1975 |
| Indira Gandhi (politician) – Uttar Pradesh | 1971 |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri (Independence activist) – Uttar Pradesh | 1966 |
| Pandurang Vaman Kane (Indologist and Sanskrit scholar) – Maharashtra | 1963 |
| Zakir Husain (Independence activist and education philosopher) – Andhra Pradesh | |
| Rajendra Prasad (Independence activist, lawyer, statesman, and scholar) – Bihar | 1962 |
| Purushottam Das Tandon (Independence activist) – Uttar Pradesh | 1961 |
| Bidhan Chandra Roy (physician, political leader, philanthropist, educationist, and social worker) – West Bengal | |
| Dhondo Keshav Karve (Social reformer and educator) – Maharashtra | 1958 |
| Govind Ballabh Pant (Independence activist) – Uttarakhand | 1957 |
| Jawahar Lal Nehru (Independence activist and author) – Uttar Pradesh | 1955 |
| M Visvesvaraya (Civil engineer, statesman, and Diwan of Mysore) – Karnataka | |
| Bhagwan Das (Independence activist, philosopher, and educationist) – Uttar Pradesh | |
| CV Raman (physicist) – Tamil Nadu | 1954 |
| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (philosopher and politician) – Tamil Nadu | |
| C Rajagopalachari (statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activist) – Tamil Nadu |
