Bharat Ratna
| Particular | Details |
| Award Name | Bharat Ratna |
| Category | Highest Civilian Award of India |
| Instituted | 2 January 1954 |
| Awarded For | Exceptional service or performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour (including art, literature, science, public service, sports, etc.) |
| Eligibility | Any person irrespective of race, occupation, position or gender. Can also be awarded posthumously. |
| Number of Awards | Normally not more than three awards are conferred in a year. |
| Awarding Authority | President of India |
| Recommendation | Prime Minister recommends the names to the President. No formal nominations are invited. |
| Medal Shape | Peepal leaf |
| Material | Toned bronze |
| Obverse | Sun with the words “Bharat Ratna” in Devanagari |
| Reverse | State Emblem and the motto “Satyameva Jayate” |
| Ribbon | White ribbon worn around the neck |
| First Awarded | 1954 |
Important Facts
| Particular | Updated Information |
| First Bharat Ratna Awardees (1954) | C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr. C. V. Raman |
| First Posthumous Recipient | Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) |
| First Foreign Recipient | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) |
| First Woman Recipient | Indira Gandhi (1971) |
| First Naturalized Indian Recipient | Mother Teresa (1980) |
| First Sportsperson | Sachin Tendulkar (2014) |
| Youngest Recipient | Sachin Tendulkar (40 years) |
| First Industrialist | J. R. D. Tata (1992) |
| First Musician | M. S. Subbulakshmi (1998) |
Bharat Ratna Awardees (1954–2026)
| Year | Awardee(s) |
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr. C. V. Raman |
| 1955 | Dr. Bhagwan Das, Sir M. Visvesvaraya, Jawaharlal Nehru |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve |
| 1961 | Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, Purushottam Das Tandon |
| 1962 | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |
| 1963 | Dr. Zakir Husain, Pandurang Vaman Kane |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri (Posthumous) |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj (Posthumous) |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave (Posthumous) |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran (Posthumous) |
| 1990 | Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Posthumous), Nelson Mandela |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi (Posthumous), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Posthumous), Morarji Desai |
| 1992 | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Posthumous), J. R. D. Tata, Satyajit Ray |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda (Posthumous), Aruna Asaf Ali (Posthumous), A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi, C. Subramaniam |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan (Posthumous), Pandit Ravi Shankar, Amartya Sen, Gopinath Bordoloi (Posthumous) |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar, Ustad Bismillah Khan |
| 2009 | Pandit Bhimsen Joshi |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao, Sachin Tendulkar |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madan Mohan Malaviya (Posthumous) |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh (Posthumous), Bhupen Hazarika (Posthumous) |
| 2024 | L. K. Advani, Karpoori Thakur (Posthumous), P. V. Narasimha Rao (Posthumous), Chaudhary Charan Singh (Posthumous), M. S. Swaminathan (Posthumous) |