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Vajpayee and Malviya get Bharat Ratna.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and late educationist Madan Mohan
Malviya (posthumously) have been chosen for Bharat Ratna- countrys highest civilian
award.

It was announced by the press communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

About Madan Mohan Malviya:

He was born on December 25, 1861 and was an educationist and politician notable for
his role in Indias freedom struggle. He was popularly known Mahaman.
He is founder of Asias largest residential university Banaras Hindu University.
He was President of Indian National Congress in 1909 and 1918.
He is also remembered for his stellar role in the Independence movement and his
espousal of Hindu nationalism.
He is considered as one of the initial leaders of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha and
died in 1946.

About Atal Bihari Vajpayee

He was born on 25th December 1924. He is an Indian statesman who was
the11th Prime Minister first for 13 days in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. Notably
he is the first PM from outside the Congress party to serve a full five-year term.
He is amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh which later
became known as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He was parliamentarian for over 4 decades and was elected to the Lok Sabha for 9
times, and 2 to the Rajya Sabha.
He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Janta
Government headed by Morarji Desai i.e. from 1977-79.
 In 2009, he retired from active politics due to health concerns.
Recently, Union government had announced to observe his birthday as Good
Governance Day.

About Bharat Ratna

It is Indias highest civilian award given to citizens for their exceptional work for
theadvancement of art, literature and science, and public service.
In December 2011, government had changed the criteria for including
sportspersonfor this award thus added category for performance of highest order in
any field of human endeavour.
It was instituted in the year 1954.
The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister himself to
the President. No formal recommendations for this are necessary.
The recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion.
It does not carry any monetary grant.
Till date 45 people have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna since its
inception(Including Madan Mohan Malviya and A. B. Vajpayee).
The last awardee were scientist Prof C.N.R. Rao and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

List of Bharat Ratna Recipients:

Year Name of Laureates Notes

1954 C. Rajagopalachari Independence activist, last and only Indian Governor-
General of India
C. V. Raman Nobel laureate physicist (1930)
Sarvepalli Philosopher, Indias first Vice-President (195262), and
Radhakrishnan second President (196267)
1955 Visvesvaraya Civil engineer, statesman and Diwan of Mysore (1912
18)
Jawaharlal Nehru Independence activist, author, and first Prime
Minister of India (194764)
1957 Govind Ballabh Pant Independence activist, first Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh(195054)
1958 Dhondo Keshav Karve Social Reformer
1961 Bidhan Chandra Roy Physician-Surgeon and second Chief Minister of West
Bengal (194862)
Purushottam Das Independence activist, educator
Tandon
1962 Dr. Rajendra Prasad Independence activist, lawyer, first President of India
(195062)
1963 Zakir Hussain Independence activist, second Vice-President of India
(196267), and third President of India (196769)
Pandurang Vaman Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
Kane
1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri Independence activist and third Prime Minister of India
(196466); (Posthumous recipient)
1971 Indira Gandhi Former Prime Minister of India (196677, 198084)
1975 V. V. Giri Trade unionist, first Acting President of India, and fourth
President of India (196974)
1976 K. Kamaraj Independence activist and former Chief Minister of
Tamil Nadu (195457, 195762, 196263;
(Posthumous recipient)
1980 Mother Teresa Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and
Nobel peace prize laureate (1979); (Naturalized citizen
recipient)
1983 Vinoba Bhave Independence activist, social reformer, and Ramon
Magsaysay Award laureate (1958); (Posthumous
recipient)
1987 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Independence activist; (1st Non-Indian Citizen
Khan recipient)
1988 M. G. Ramachandran Film actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
(197780, 198084, 198587); (Posthumous recipient)
1990 B. R. Ambedkar Chief architect of the Indian Constitution and social
reformer; (Posthumous recipient)
Nelson Mandela Leader of the Anti- Movement in South Africa and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1993); (2nd Non-Indian
citizen recipient)
1991 Rajiv Gandhi Ninth Prime Minister of India (198489); (Posthumous
recipient)
Sardar Vallabhbhai Independence activist and first Deputy Prime Minister of
Patel India (194750); (Posthumous recipient)
Morarji Desai Independence activist and sixth Prime Minister of India
(197779);
1992 Abul Kalam Azad Independence activist; (Posthumous recipient)
J. R. D. Tata Industrialist and philanthropist
Satyajit Ray Filmmaker
1997 Gulzarilal Nanda Independence activist and two times interim Prime
 Minister of India
Aruna Asaf Ali Independence activist; (Posthumous recipient)
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Aerospace and Defense Scientist, eleventh President of
India (200207)
1998 M. S. Subbulakshmi Carnatic classical vocalist
Chidambaram Independence activist and former Minister of
Subramaniam Agriculture of India (196466)
1999 Jayaprakash Narayan Independence activist and social reformer;
(Posthumous recipient)
Ravi Shankar Hindustani classical Sitar player
Amartya Sen Nobel laureate economist (1998)
Gopinath Bordoloi Independence activist, first Chief Minister of
Assam (194650); (Posthumous recipient)
2001 Lata Mangeshkar Playback singer
Bismillah Khan Hindustani classical Shehnai player
2009 Bhimsen Joshi Hindustani classical vocalist
2013 C.N.R. Rao Chemist
Sachin Tendulkar Cricketer
2014 Madan Mohan Malaviya Educationist and politician (President of Indian National
Congress (INC) in 1909, 1918); (Posthumous recipient)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Former Prime Minister of India (1996), (1998), (1999-
2004), poet

Points to be noted:

There are total 12 Posthumous recipients of Bharat Ratna.

Two Non-Indians recipients.(Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Nelson
Mandela)
One Naturalised Citizen to receive the Bharat Ratna. (Mother Teresa)
Six are former Prime-Ministers.(Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri,
Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Morarjee Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee)
Five former President of India. (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr. Rajendra
Prasad, Zakir Hussain, V.V Giri, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam)
Maximum four Bharat Ratna were awarded in year 1999.