Complete list of Bharat Ratna Awardees

S.No Name Birth / death Awarded Notes Indian state or country 1. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1888–1975 1954 Second President, First Vice President, Philosopher. Tamil Nadu 2. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari 1878–1972 1954 Last Governor-General, Freedom Fighter. Tamil Nadu 3. C. V. Raman 1888–1970 1954 Nobel-prize winning Physicist Tamil Nadu 4. Bhagwan Das 1869–1958 1955 Philosopher, Freedom Fighter Uttar Pradesh 5. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya 1861–1962 1955 Civil Engineer Karnataka 6. Jawaharlal Nehru 1889–1964 1955 First Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter, Author. Uttar Pradesh 7. Govind Ballabh Pant 1887–1961 1957 Freedom Fighter, Home Minister Uttar Pradesh 8. Dhondo Keshav Karve 1858–1962 1958 Educationist, Social Reformer Maharashtra 9. B. C. Roy 1882–1962 1961 Physician, Politician West Bengal 10. Purushottam Das Tandon 1882–1962 1961 Freedom Fighter, Educationalist. Uttar Pradesh 11. Rajendra Prasad 1884–1963 1962 First President, Freedom Fighter, Jurist Bihar 12. Zakir Hussain 1897–1969 1963 Former President, Scholar. Andhra Pradesh 13. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1880–1972 1963 Indologist and Sanskrit scholar Maharashtra 14. Lal Bahadur Shastri 1904–1966 1966 Posthumous, Second Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter Uttar Pradesh 15. Indira Gandhi 1917–1984 1971 Former Prime Minister Uttar Pradesh 16. V. V. Giri 1894–1980 1975 Former President, Trade Unionist. Andhra Pradesh 17. K. Kamaraj 1903–1975 1976 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu 18. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) 1910–1997 1980 Naturalized Indian citizen, Nobel Laureate (Peace, 1979). West Bengal 19. Acharya Vinoba Bhave 1895–1982 1983 Posthumous, Social Reformer, Freedom Figher. Maharashtra 20. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 1890–1988 1987 First non-citizen, Freedom Fighter. Pakistan 21. M. G. Ramachandran 1917–1987 1988 Posthumous, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu, Actor. Tamil Nadu 22. B. R. Ambedkar 1891–1956 1990 Posthumous, Architect-Indian Constitution, Leader of Buddhist people of India Maharashtra 23. Nelson Mandela b. 1918 1990 Second non-citizen and first non-Indian, Leader of Anti-Apartheid movement. South Africa 24. Rajiv Gandhi 1944–1991 1991 Posthumous, Former Prime Minister New Delhi 25. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel 1875–1950 1991 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, First Home Minister of India. Gujarat 26. Morarji Desai 1896–1995 1991 Former Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter. Gujarat 27. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1888–1958 1992 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Educator. West Bengal 28. J. R. D. Tata 1904–1993 1992 Industrialist and philanthropist. Maharashtra 29. Satyajit Ray 1922–1992 1992 Legendary Indian Film Director West Bengal 30. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam b. 1931 1997 Former President, Scientist. Tamil Nadu 31. Gulzarilal Nanda 1898–1998 1997 Freedom Fighter, former Prime Minister. Punjab 32. Aruna Asaf Ali 1908–1996 1997 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter. West Bengal 33. M. S. Subbulakshmi 1916–2004 1998 Classical singer. Tamil Nadu 34. Chidambaram Subramaniam 1910–2000 1998 Freedom Fighter, Minister of Agriculture(Father of Green revolution). Tamil Nadu 35. Jayaprakash Narayan 1902–1979 1998 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Social Reformer. Uttar Pradesh 36. Ravi Shankar b. 1920 1999 Classical sitar player. west bengal 37. Amartya Sen b. 1933 1999 Nobel Laureate (Economics, 1998), Economist. West Bengal 38. Gopinath Bordoloi 1890–1950 1999 Posthumous, freedom fighter Assam 39. Lata Mangeshkar b. 1929 2001 Play back singer. Maharashtra 40. Ustad Bismillah Khan 1916-2006 2001 Classical Maestro Uttar Pradesh

Note : No one was awarded the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007