Republic Day Honours and Awards

Bharat Ratna and other National Honours and Awards

Bharat Ratna and other national honours and awards are presented on the Republic Day in recognition of exceptional and distinguished services of high order in any field. From 1993 to 1996, the country's highest civilian awards such as Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri were not presented on the Republic Day. The decision not to present the civilian awards in 1994 was taken in view of the petitions pending in various courts questioning the advisability of conferring of such awards and the Supreme Court's stay proceedings on those petitions. These awards were restored by the Supreme Court in December 1995. Bharat Ratna : The award is given for exceptional work for the advancement of art, literature and science, and in recognition of public service of the highest order. The decoration is in the form of a peepal leaf, about 5.8 cm long, 4.7 cm wide and 3.1 mm thick. It is of toned bronze. On its obverse is embossed a replica of the sun, 1.6 cm in diameter, below which the words ''Bharat Ratna" are embossed in Hindi. On the reverse are State emblem and the motto, also in Hindi. The emblem, the sun and the rim are of platinum. The inscriptions are in burnished bronze. The first three recipients of Bharat Ratna were Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari and Dr. C. V: Raman in 1954, while Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the first- foreigner to be honoured with this award in 1987