List of Bharat Ratna Awards – Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred “in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order”, without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. Till date 48 awards have been given. There is no written provision that Bharat Ratna should be awarded to Indian citizens only. The award has been awarded to a naturalized Indian citizen, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa (1980) and to two non-Indians – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela (1990).
List of Bharat Ratna Awards and Awardees
| Year | Recipients | Field | State |
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari | Politician | Tamil Nadu |
| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Philosopher | Tamil Nadu | |
| C. V. Raman | Physicist | Tamil Nadu | |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Independence activist | Uttar Pradesh |
| M. Visvesvaraya | Engineer | Karnataka | |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | Independence activist | Uttar Pradesh | |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Freedom Fighter | Uttarakhand |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Social Reformer | Maharashtra |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Political Leader | West Bengal |
| Purushottam Das Tandon | Freedom Fighter | Uttar Pradesh | |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | Political Leader | Bihar |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain | Economist | Uttar Pradesh |
| Pandurang Vaman Kane | Education | Maharashtra | |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri (Posthumous) | Indian Politician | Uttar Pradesh |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi | Politician | Uttar Pradesh |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri | Freedom Fighter | Odisha |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj | Independence activist | Tamil Nadu |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa (Naturalized Citizen) | Social Reform | North Macedonia |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave (Posthumous) | Education | Maharashtra |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Non-Indian Citizen) | Independence activist | Pakistan |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran | Politician | Tamil Nadu |
| 1990 | B. R. Ambedkar | Jurist | Madhya Pradesh |
| Nelson Mandela (Non-Indian Citizen) | Revolutionist | South Africa | |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi (Posthumous) | Politician | Uttar Pradesh |
| Vallabhbhai Patel (Posthumous) | Politician | Gujarat | |
| Morarji Desai | Independence Activist | Gujarat | |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad (Posthumous) | Independence Activist | West Bengal |
| J. R. D. Tata | Entrepreneur | Maharashtra | |
| Satyajit Ray | Art | West Bengal | |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Independence Activist | Punjab |
| Aruna Asaf Ali (Posthumous) | Independence Activist | West Bengal | |
| A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | Scientist | Tamil Nadu | |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi | Vocalist | Tamil Nadu |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam | Independence activist | Tamil Nadu | |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan | Independence activist | Bihar |
| Amartya Sen | Economist | West Bengal | |
| Gopinath Bordoloi (Posthumous) | Independence activist | Assam | |
| Ravi Shankar | Musician | West Bengal | |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Singer | Maharashtra |
| Bismillah Khan | Musician | Bihar | |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Classical Vocalist | Karnataka |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao | Chemist | Karnataka |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Cricketer | Maharashtra | |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya (Posthumous) | Independence Activist | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee | Politician | West Bengal |
| Bhupen Hazarika (Posthumous) | Singer | Assam | |
| Nanaji Deshmukh (Posthumous) | Social Reformer | Maharashtra |
