m. s. subbulakshmi was the first indian woman to be honoured with bharat ratna.
m. s. subbulakshmi was the first indian woman to be honoured with bharat ratna.
who was the first indian woman to be honoured with bharat ratna?
m. s. subbulakshmi
the first recipients of the bharat ratna were politician c. rajagopalachari, philosopher sarvepalli radhakrishnan, and scientist c. v. raman, who were honoured in 1954. since then, the award has been bestowed upon 48 individuals, including 14 who were awarded posthumously. the original statutes did not provide for posthumous awards but were amended in january 1955 to permit them. former prime minister lal bahadur shastri became the first individual to be honoured posthumously. in 2014, cricketer sachin tendulkar, then aged 40, became the youngest recipient; while social reformer dhondo keshav karve was awarded on his 100th birthday. though usually conferred on india-born citizens, the bharat ratna has been awarded to one naturalised citizen, mother teresa, and to two non-indians, pakistan national khan abdul ghaffar khan and former south african president nelson mandela. on 25 january 2019, the government announced the award to social activist nanaji deshmukh (posthumously), singer-music director bhupen hazarika (posthumously) and to former president of india pranab mukherjee.
bharat ratna
although there is no formal nomination process, recommendations for the award can only be made by the prime minister to the president with a maximum number of three nominees being awarded per year. however, in 1999, four individuals were awarded the honour. the recipient receives a "sanad" (certificate) signed by the president and a medallion without any monetary grant. 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 honoured with the award. the holders of the bharat ratna rank seventh in the indian order of precedence.
bharat ratna