Swaminathan, Rao, Singh to get Bharat Ratna

Swaminathan, Rao, Singh to get Bharat Ratna

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Bharat Ratna:

• It is the highest civilian award, Instituted on 2^nd January 1954.
• The first recipients of it were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan; and C. V. Raman, who were honoured in 1954.
• Till date, 53 individuals, including 18 posthumously.
• The original statutes did not provide for posthumous awards but were amended in January 1966 to permit them to honor.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri, the first individual to be honored posthumously.
• Discontinued: It was suspended from July 1977 to January 1980 and for a second time from August 1992 to December 1995.
• Controversy: In 1992, the government’s decision to confer the award posthumously on Subhas Chandra Bose. But it was opposed by those who had refused to accept the fact of his death, including some members of his extended family. Following a 1997 Supreme Court decision, the press communique announcing Bose’s award was cancelled; it is the only time when the award was announced but not conferred.
• It has been conferred on India-born citizens, one naturalized citizen, Mother Teresa, and on two non-Indians: Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela.
• Criterion: The award is conferred in recognition of “exceptional service/performance of the highest order”, without distinction of race, occupation, position or gender.
• The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services, but the Government of India expanded the criteria to include “any field of human endeavour” in December 2011.
• Although there is no formal nomination process, recommendations for the award are made by the Prime Minister to the President.
• The recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a peepal leaf-shaped medallion with no monetary grant associated with the award.

Constitutional validity:

• Usage of the title ‘Bharat Ratna’ as a prefix by the awardee is exempt from Article 18 (1) of the Constitution, as per the Supreme Court’s precedent in Balaji Raghavan/S.P. Anand v. Union of India in 1995.
• Additionally, recipients may either use the expression “Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President” or “Recipient of Bharat Ratna Award” to indicate that they have been honored with the award.
• With official announcements, recipients are announced and registered in The Gazette of India, a publication released by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Urban Development used for official government notices.
• Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.

2024 Bharat Ratna:

This year’s tally of five Bharat Ratna awardees, one more than the four announced in 1999, is the highest that has ever been announced in a single year. Four of the five awards announced this year are posthumous.

Exceptional service of 2024 awardees-

Karpoori Thakur: Socialist, Politician from Bihar served two time CM and introduced reservation in state jobs.

L.K. Advani : From Delhi, 7th deputy PM , longest serving opposition member in Loksabha, founder of political party BJP

P.V. Narsimha Rao : Lawyer, Politician from Telangana and 9th PM ,first PM from South India and introduced Liberal i.e. LPG reforms in Indian economy

Chaudhary Charan Singh : From U.P. state , 5th PM , Indian independence role, Politician known as “Champion of India’s peasants”, founder of Lokdal political party

M.S. Swaminathan : From Tamilnadu , agronomist, geneticist, administrator and father of Green revolution in India and made Self-reliant in food grains through HYVs seeds of wheat and rice and technology in agriculture.