Bharat Ratna is the most prestigious award given by Indian
government. Anyone with a great performance in any field is eligible for this
honor.
- The medal looks like a peepul leaf with “Bharat Ratna”
written on it in Devanagari script. An image of sun is also printed on it. The
back side of the award carries the state emblem and motto.
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| Bharat Ratna Medal |
- The award was started by formal President of India Rajendra
Prasad on 2nd January, 1954. At that time only the alive people were
eligible for their national service. Later these criteria were changed.
- The first person to receive Bharat Ratna was scientist C.V.
Raman and the first person to receive Bharat Ratna after death is Lal Bahadur
Shashtri.
- Rajiv Gandhi is the youngest receiver (after death, at age
47) of the award and Indira Gandhi is the youngest alive receiver (at age 54)
of the award.
- Vallabhbhai Patel is the eldest to receive (after death, at
age 116) the award and Gulzarilal Nanda is the eldest alive person to receive
(at age 99) the award.
- Among 41 awards given so far only 2 awards were given to
foreign citizen-Nelson Mandela (1990), Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987).
- Subhas Chandra Bose was awarded with Bharat Ratna
posthumously in 1992. But due to controversy (as there is no evidence of Subhas
Chandra Bose’s death) the award was withdrawn. It is the only incident in the
history of Bharat Ratna that an award was withdrawn.
