List of Bharat Ratna Award Winners

1.Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari-(1954)

Indian political leader, the first and the only

governor-general of independent India.

2.Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman-(1954)

Indian physicist, the recipient of the

Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930

3.Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan-(1954)

Philosopher, scholar and statesman,

president of India from 1962 to 1967

4.Dr. Bhagwan Das-(1955)

Independence activist, author

5.Shri Jawaharlal Nehru-(1955)

Independence activist, author,

first prime minister of independent India.

6.Dr. Mokshagundam Vivesvaraya-(1955)

Civil engineer, Diwan of Mysore

7.Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant-(1957)

Independence activist,

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister

8.Dr. Dhonde Keshav Karve-(1958)

 Indian social reformer and educator

9.Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy-(1961)

Physician, Chief Minister of West Bengal

10.Shri Purushottam Das Tandon-(1961)

Independence activist, educator

11.Dr. Rajendra Prasad-(1962)

First president of the Republic of India.

A lawyer-turned-journalist, also

president of the Indian National Congress

12.Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane-(1963)

Indologist and Sanskrit scholar

13.Dr. Zakir Hussain-(1963)

Scholar, third President

14.Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri-(1966)

Posthumous Award: independence activist,

 third Prime Minister

15.Smt. Indira Gandhi-(1971)

Fourth Prime Minister

16.Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri-(1975)

Trade unionist and fourth President

17.Shri Kumaraswamy Kamraj-(1976)

Posthumous Award: independence activist,

Chief Minister of Madras State

18.Mother Teresa, (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu)-(1980)

Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity

19.Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave-(1983)

Posthumous Award: social reformer,
independence activist

20.Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan-(1987)

First non-citizen, independence activist

21.Shri Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran-(1988)

Posthumous Award: film actor,
 Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

22.Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedakr-(1990)

Posthumous Award: architect of the
Indian Constitution, politician, economist, and scholar

23.Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela-(1990)

Second non-citizen and first non-Indian recipient,

 Leader of the Anti-Apartheid movement

24.Shri Morarji Ranchhodji Desai-(1991)

Independence activist, fifth Prime Minister

25.Shri Rajiv Gandhi-(1991)

Seventh Prime Minister

26.Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel-(1991)

Posthumous Award: independence activist,

 first Home Minister

27.Shri Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata-(1992)

Industrialist and philanthropist

28.Shri Maulana Abul Kalam Azad-(1992)

Posthumous Award: independence activist,
first Minister of Education

29.Shri Satyajit Ray-(1992)

Filmmaker

30.Shri (Dr.) Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam-(1997)

Aeronautical engineer, eminent defence scientist,

Dr. Kalam was India's eleventh president.

31.Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali-(1997)

Posthumous Award: independence activist

32.Shri Gulzari Lal N-(1997)

Independence activist, second Prime Minister

33.Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam-(1998)

Chidambaram Subramaniam  was an Indian statesman,

Freedom fighter, state minister,
 central minister and governor.

34.Smt. Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi-(1998)

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi

 Also known as M.S.,
she was a renowned Carnatic vocalist.

35.Prof. Amartya Sen-(1999)

Distinguished economist and philosopher,

awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his seminal work

 in welfare economics

36.Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi-(1999)

Posthumous Award: independence activist,

Chief Minister of Assam

37.Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan-(1999)

Posthumous Award: Indian political leader and
theorist, leader of socio-political mass-movements
 in Gujarat and Bihar

38.Pandit Ravi Shankar-(1999)

Sitar player

39.Kumari Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar-(2001)

Legendary Indian playback singer;

sang for more than 2,000 Indian films.

40.Ustad Bismillah Khan-(2001)

(birth March 21, 1916, Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, in

Dumraon, Bihar; death Aug. 21, 2006, Varanasi).

41.Pandit Bhimsen Joshi-(2008)

(birth. Feb. 14, 1922, Gadag, Dharwad, Karnataka),

His full name is Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi.