Bharat Ratna 2019

What to now?

• Former president Pranab Mukherjee was conferred with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India. The award was also conferred on Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika posthumously.
• Born on 11 December 1935, Mukherjee served as president between 2012 and 2017. Fondly known as ‘Pranab Da’, he has been a senior leader in the Congress and had held several ministerial portfolios.
• Deshmukh was a Sangh Parivar veteran, founder member of the Janata Party and one of the seniormost members of the Bharatiya Janata Party. A social activist, Nanaji played an important role in carrying out social restructuring programme in over 500 villages of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He passed away on February 27, 2010 in Chitrakoot, at the age of 93.
• Hazarika (1926-2011) was a singer and filmmaker, popularly known as Sudhakantha. He was born in Sadiya, Assam. Known for his flawless baritone and his trademark Nepali cap, he was respected nationwide, as a great balladeer and also came to be known as the ‘Bard of the Brahmaputra’.
• A poet and a lyricist, Hazarika also penned songs, which although written and sung in Assamese, have been known to have a universal appeal, stepped in themes of humanity and communal harmony.
• Hazarika lent his voice to the film “Gandhi To Hitler”, where he sang Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan ‘Vaishnav jan’. For his mammoth body of work and contribution to Indian cinema, he received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1975), Padmashri (1997), Padmabhushan (2001), and posthumously, the Padma Vibhushan (2012), among other awards.
• Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder of Banaras Hindu University Madan Mohan Malviya were given the award by the Narendra Modi government in 2015.

Bharat ratna

• The Bharat Ratna(Jewel of India) is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India.
• Instituted in 1954, the award is conferred “in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order”, without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.
• The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services, but the government expanded the criteria to include “any field of human endeavour” in December 2011.
• The recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President, with a maximum of three nominees being awarded per year.
• Recipients receive a Sanad(certificate) signed by the President and a peepal-leaf–shaped medallion; there is no monetary grant associated with the award. Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.
• The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were politician  Rajagopalachari, philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and scientist C. V. Raman, who were honoured in 1954.
• Since then, the award has been bestowed upon 45 individuals, including 12 who were awarded posthumously.
• The original statutes did not provide for posthumous awards but were amended in January 1955 to permit them.
• Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first individual to be honoured posthumously.
• In 2014, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, then aged 40, became the youngest recipient; while social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve was awarded on his 100th birthday.
• Though usually conferred on India-born citizens, the Bharat Ratna has been awarded to one naturalised citizen, Mother Teresa, and to two non-Indians, Pakistan national Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and former South African President Nelson Mandela..

Background:-

• On 2 January 1954, a press communiqué was released from the office of the secretary to the President announcing the creation of two civilian awards—Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, and the three-tier Padma Vibhushan, classified into “Pahela Warg” (Class I), “Dusra Warg” (Class II), and “Tisra Warg” (Class III), which rank below the Bharat Ratna.
• On 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest of the three, followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.
• There is no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens. It has been awarded to a naturalised Indian citizen, Mother Teresa in 1980, and to two non-Indians, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Pakistan in 1987 and the former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1990. 
• The award was briefly suspended twice in its history^. The first suspension occurred after Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister in 1977. His government withdrew all personal civil honours on 13 July 1977^. The suspension was rescinded on 25 January 1980, after Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister.
• The civilian awards were suspended again in mid-1992, when two Public-Interest Litigationswere filed, one in the Kerala High Court and another in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, challenging the “constitutional validity” of the award. The awards were reintroduced by the Supreme Court in December 1995, following the conclusion of the litigation.

Specifications

• The original 1954 specifications of the award was a circle made of gold 1³⁄₈ inches (35 mm) in diameter with a centred sun burst design on the obverse side. The text “Bharat Ratna”, in Devanagari Script, is inscribed on the upper edge in silver gilt with a wreath set along on the lower edge. A platinum State Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the national motto, “Satyameva Jayate” (Truth alone triumphs) in Devanagari Script, inscribed in silver-gilt on the lower edge.
• A year later, the design was modified. The current medal is in the shape of a peepal leaf, approximately 2 ⁵⁄₁₆ inches (59 mm) long, 1 ⁷⁄₈ inches (48 mm) wide and ¹⁄₈ inch (3.2 mm) thick and rimmed in platinum. The embossed sun burst design, made of platinum, on the obverse side of the medal has a diameter of ⁵⁄₈ inch (16 mm) with rays spreading out from ⁵⁄₆ inch (21 mm) to ¹⁄₂ inch (13 mm) from the center of the Sun.
• The words “Bharat Ratna” on the obverse side remained the same as the 1954 design as did the emblem of India and “Satyameva Jayate” on the reverse side. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) white ribbon is attached to the medal so it can be worn around the neck. In 1957, the silver-gilt decoration was changed to burnished bronze.
• The Bharat Ratna medals are produced at Alipore Mint, Kolkata along with the other civilian and military awards like Padma Vibushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Param Veer Chakra.

(Award & Honour)(Indian express)

Pic courtesy:The Indian Express