Explainer: All about the Bharat Ratna & Padma Awards
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 6, 2019
Government
of India confers four different civilian awards. Here is an explainer on what
they are, who are they given to and award trends so far.
Civilian awards are conferred by the Government of India to honour and recognise thecontributions of Indian citizens in various fields. The highest civilian awardin India is the Bharat Ratna. This is followed by Padma Vibhushan, PadmaBhushan and Padma Shri in the same order. These awards are announced on the eveof Republic Day every year. No distinction is made on grounds of religion,race, gender or sex. The awards are conferred by the President of India inceremonial functions held at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.
Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award conferred
in India
Bharat
Ratna was constituted in 1954. This awardis conferred to individuals as a ’recognition of their exceptional service/
performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour.’ This isthe highest civilian award that is conferred by the Government. Earlier, thosewho contributed towards advancement of science, art and literature, and publicservice were given prominence. However, this was later extended to any field ofhuman endeavour.
A maximum of only three Bharat Ratnas can be conferred
annually
For Bharat Ratna,recommendations are made by the Prime Minister to the President. There is noformal recommendation for this award. The recipients of the award receive acertificate signed by the President of India, called ‘Sanad’ along with amedal. No monetary grant is awarded. The maximum number of Bharat Ratna awardsthat can be conferred in a year is three.
Of the total 48 Bharat Ratnas conferred till date,
only five recipients were female
A total of 48awards have been conferred till 2019. In 1954, Nobel Laureate Sir C V Raman,India’s first Vice President Dr S Radhakrishnan, and founder of SwatantrataParty C Rajagopalachari were conferred with Bharat Ratna. They were the first recipients of the award. Former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was the firstfemale recipient of this honour. She was conferred with the award in 1971. Tilldate, only five women have received this award. Mother Teresa, Lata Mangeshkar,M S Subbalakshmi and Aruna Asaf Ali are the other female recipients.
Nobel Peace Prizewinner, Nelson Mandela, often referred to as the ‘Gandhi of South Africa’, KhanAbdul Gaffar Khan of Pakistan, who is widely known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, andMother Teresa are the only three Non- Indian citizen recipients. However,Mother Teresa became a naturalised citizen. Though Amartya Sen & PanditRavi Shankar are of Indian origin, they were given the award as being Citizenof UK & USA respectively.
In 2019, formerPresident, Pranab Mukherjee, Bhupen Hazarika and Nanaji Dheshmukh wereconferred with the award.
Bharat Ratna awardees are extended certain benefits
and facilities
As per the HomeMinistry’s table
of precedence, the recipients ofBharat Ratna are at 7A. This means that the recipients of Bharat Ratna areabove state chief ministers and governors in protocols for official functionsoutside their respective state. They are also issued a diplomatic passport.
Factly’s earlierstory on benefits extended to Bharat Ratna recipients is available here.
Padma awards were renamed in 1955
Until 1955, BharatRatna and Padma
Vibhushan were the two civilian awardsinstituted by the Indian government. Padma Vibhushan had three categories-Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg. However, since 1955, these awards wererenamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma
Shri. These awards have been announcedsince then every year except during 1978, 1979 and 1993 to 1997.
Government servants except doctors and scientists are
not eligible for Padma awards
Padma Vibhushan isawarded for ‘exceptional and distinguished service’ while Padma
Bhushan is awarded for ‘distinguishedservice of a high order’. Padma Shri is awarded for ‘distinguished service’. Theawards will be conferred to those who have distinguished themselves in theirrespective fields such as Art, Literature, Education, Social Work, Science,Public Affairs, Medicine, Engineering and any other field. There must be anelement of public service in the achievements of the person who is beingnominated for these awards. Government servants including those working inPublic Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are not eligible for the awards except fordoctors and scientists.
Padma awards committee received almost 50,000
recommendations in 2019
The Ministry ofHome Affairs invites recommendations online every year between 01 May and 15 September. Thousands of recommendationsare received from various sources such as ministries, institutes, ministers,MPs as well as private individuals. These are placed before the Padma
Awards Committee.  A total of 49,992 recommendations were received by the committee in 2019.
Prime Minister constitutes the Padma awards committee
Padma AwardsCommittee for 2019 was headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes HomeSecretary, Secretary to the President and four to six other eminentpersonalities. The committee then makes recommendations on the basis of lifetime achievements of the nominees. There is no rigid criterion for selection.However, the committee is supposed to look for public service achievements ofthe nominees and not just their excellence in the field.
On selection ofcandidates, investigating bodies of the government verify the candidates inorder to check whether their character and past actions are honest andlegitimate. Finally, the list is sent to the Prime Minister and President forapproval. The names of awardees are published in the Gazette of India.
Only a maximum of 120 Padma awards can be conferred
each year
The Padma Awardeesare given a certificate and a medal (and a replica). They are not given anygrant and do not get the benefits like Bharat Ratna awardees. A maximum of only120 awards can be conferred each year excluding those conferred posthumouslyand those awarded to foreigners.
112 Padma awards were given in 2019 of which 21 were
for women
A total of 112 awards including 4 Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushan and 94 Padma Shri awards were approved by the President in 2019. Only 21 of them (19%) were female and 1 was transgender. Around 11 awardees were Foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and OCIs. As of 2019, 24% of all Padma awards conferred to sportspersons were conferred to cricketers.
Three awards weregiven posthumously. Usually, the awards are not conferred posthumously. Only insome highly deserving cases, if the demise is recent, the government confersthe award.
To confer a higherPadma Award, a minimum period of five years should have been completed sincethe receipt of the previous award. Relaxations are made in exceptional cases.
Factly had earlier
analysed the Padma awards data to concludethat more Padma Shri awards are conferred during election years to the Lok Sabha.