Bharat Ratna- The Highest Civilian Award

Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award given to a civilian. It is awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, social, sports, and scientific achievements as well as public service. Bharat Ratna is known as the "Jewel of India" and the word Bharat Ratna comes from "The Devanagari script".

Bharat Ratna was instituted on 2nd January 1954. The award was originally limited to achievements in art, literature, science, and public service but the government extended the criteria to include any field of human endeavor in December 2011. Recommendations for the Bharat Ratna were made by the Prime minister to the president with a maximum of three nominees being awarded per year. As mentioned in article 18 (1) of the Indian Constitution the recipient can not use Bharat Ratna as a prefix or suffix to their name. However, a recipient can use the mentioned expression in their biodata, letterhead, visiting card, etc. The Bharat Ratna medal was produced at Kolkata's Alipore Mint along with other prestigious awards such as Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Param Veer chakra.

On conferment of the award the recipient of Bharat Ratna receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the president and Peepal- leaf shape medallion there is no monetary grant associated with the award. The first recipient of the Bharat Ratna was politician C. Rajagopalachari, Scientist CV Raman, and philosopher Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan who were honored in 1954. In 1956 Prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first individual to be honored post honorably. Most recently Indian government has announced the award to freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malariya (post honorably) and former Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. There is no return provision that Bharat Ratna should be awarded to Indian citizens only. A naturalized Indian citizen mother Teresa in 1980, and non-Indian Khan Abdul Ghaffar and Nelson Mandela in 1990 was the recipient of the award Bharat Ratna.