BHARAT RATNA

Honouring outstanding individual exited in the olden times. A civil recongnition or army recognition from the ruler was considered the best honour one can ever get. This not only brought wealth and fame, but also a prestigious place in the kings court.

Honouring soldiers for their matchless bravery and war deeds that brought fame or victory to the country is supposed to be the forerunner for the civilian awards. Civilian awards, in olden times, were given to mainly for exemplary performances in arts, sports, culture or civil services.

Today most of the nations honour their citizens and non-citizens for their contribution to the society. The "GEORGE CROSS" of united kingdom, The "PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM" of united states America, "THE HILAL-E-IMTIAZ" of pakstian, the "JAMEO DE ORO" of spain and "GRAND CROSS" of italy are some of the awards. Most of the nations do recognice and honour great personalities with their highest national award even if they are not a citizen of their country. The best recent example is Mongolia honouring Guru Shri Shri Ravi Shankar with "POLE STAR" , Mongolias highest civilian award.

After India attained independence, the government of India decided to honour its citizens with civilian awards. Thus came into existence the prestigious " BHARAT RATNA " in 1954. Other civilian awards instituted by the Government of India were padmavibushan, padmabhushan and padmashri. Bharat Ratna is awarded for the highest degree of national service.

The initial rules framed by government of India did not carry a provision for honouring individuals posthumously. But, this flaw was immediatly removed in 1955. Bharat Ratna, like many other civilian awards, is awarded to non-citizens too, thus making it clear that this is an honour for contribution to the human kind as a whole. We have honoured Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and Nelson Mendela with this award.

The Bharat Ratna medallion is a toned bronzae pipal leaf design, WWhich is two and five-sixteenth inches in length and seven-eighth inches at its greatest breadth and one-eight of an inch in thickness. The stem of the pipal leaf is kept downwards. The centre of the pipal leaf has the picture of the sun and the words "BHARAT RATNA" written in Hindi.This award is worn around the neck using an oval suspender.

Since its inception, the Government of India honoured 41 individuals with this award. During the period July 1977 to january 1980 none were honoured with this award as during that time, the Government had decided to suspend awarding Bharat Ratna. Any one honoured with this award is honourably addressed with the title " BHARAT RATNA" preceding their name as a symbol of respect to the individual who received the award and to the award itself.