Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards List: Quick Answer
53 people have received the Bharat Ratna, as of 7 November 2026. The latest batch was the record five recipients of 2024, and no Bharat Ratna was awarded in 2025 or 2026. The Padma Awards 2026, announced on 25 January 2026, totalled 131 awards — 5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri. Of the 53 Bharat Ratna recipients, 18 were honoured posthumously — counted from the † marks in the table below, not copied from any website's conflicting total.
🔥 Key Exam Takeaway: Bharat Ratna = 53 total (1954–2024). Padma 2026 = 131 (5-13-113). Padma 2025 was 139 (7-19-113) — never mix the two years. First Bharat Ratna batch (1954): C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, C. V. Raman. First posthumous: Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966). First woman: Indira Gandhi (1971). Youngest: Sachin Tendulkar, aged 40 (2014). Only sportsperson: Tendulkar. Only industrialist: J. R. D. Tata (1992).
This page owns the all-time lists; the 2026 roundup (Nobel, Oscars, Jnanpith and more) lives separately in the Awards and Honours 2026 list.
Bharat Ratna vs Padma Awards: the Order
India's civilian honours form one ladder with four rungs. The Bharat Ratna sits alone at the top; the three Padma awards follow in a fixed order. The Padma awards were instituted on the same day as the Bharat Ratna, 2 January 1954, and were split into the three present classes on 15 January 1955.
| Rank | Award | For |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (highest civilian) | Bharat Ratna | Exceptional service or performance of the highest order, in any field |
| 2 | Padma Vibhushan | Exceptional and distinguished service |
| 3 | Padma Bhushan | Distinguished service of a high order |
| 4 | Padma Shri | Distinguished service in any field |
Three rules apply to the whole ladder. The awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day (26 January) every year and conferred by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan, usually in March or April. They carry no money — the recipient gets a Sanad (certificate) and a medallion. And the award name cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to a person's name, because Article 18(1) of the Constitution bars the State from conferring titles; recipients may only write "Recipient of Bharat Ratna" or "Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President". Recommendations for the Bharat Ratna go from the Prime Minister to the President alone — there is no public nomination process. Padma nominations are invited from the public and governments, screened by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary, and then put to the Prime Minister and President. The standing guideline caps Padma Awards at 120 a year excluding posthumous and foreign-recipient awards — which is why totals like 131 and 139 are possible.
Latest Additions: Padma Awards 2026 and the 2024 Bharat Ratna Batch
The most recent civilian honours news is the Padma Awards 2026, announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 25 January 2026, on the eve of the 77th Republic Day. The list comprises 131 awards including 2 duo cases (a duo — two people honoured jointly, such as the Carnatic vocalist sisters Gayatri and Ranjani Balasubramanian — counts as one award, so 131 awards went to 133 people). 19 of the awardees are women, 6 are foreigners, NRIs, PIOs or OCIs, and 16 are posthumous.
The five Padma Vibhushan 2026 recipients were actor Dharmendra Singh Deol (posthumous), former Supreme Court judge K. T. Thomas, violinist N. Rajam, writer P. Narayanan, and former Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan (posthumous). Three of the five are from Kerala. Among the thirteen Padma Bhushan recipients were singer Alka Yagnik, actor Mammootty, banker Uday Kotak, tennis player Vijay Amritraj and advertising veteran Piyush Pandey (posthumous). The 113 Padma Shri recipients included cricketers Rohit Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur, actors R. Madhavan and Prosenjit Chatterjee, and hockey goalkeeper Savita Punia.
The last Bharat Ratna batch was announced in early 2024: Karpoori Thakur (posthumous), L. K. Advani, Chaudhary Charan Singh (posthumous), P. V. Narasimha Rao (posthumous) and M. S. Swaminathan (posthumous) — five in one year, a record, with four of the five posthumous. No Bharat Ratna was announced in 2025 or in 2026, so the total stays at 53. The Padma Awards are announced every year; the Bharat Ratna is not — 2021 and 2022 also passed with none, and the award was formally suspended in 1977–1980 and 1992–1995.
Bharat Ratna Recipients List: All 53 (1954–2024)
† marks a posthumous award. Counting the † marks in this table gives 18 posthumous recipients — the method used for the headline figure, because published counts disagree (14, 16, 17 and 18 all appear online). The table follows the standard recipient list (Ministry of Home Affairs list, as reproduced on Wikipedia's Bharat Ratna page); fields are shortened from the list's "Area of Contribution" column.
| Year | Recipient | Field |
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari | Politics |
| 1954 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Politics |
| 1954 | C. V. Raman | Science |
| 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Education & philosophy |
| 1955 | M. Visvesvaraya | Engineering |
| 1955 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Politics |
| 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Politics |
| 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Social work |
| 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Politics & medicine |
| 1961 | Purushottam Das Tandon | Politics |
| 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | Politics |
| 1963 | Zakir Husain | Politics |
| 1963 | Pandurang Vaman Kane | Indology |
| 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri † | Politics |
| 1971 | Indira Gandhi | Politics |
| 1975 | V. V. Giri | Politics |
| 1976 | K. Kamaraj † | Politics |
| 1980 | Mother Teresa | Social work |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave † | Social reform |
| 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | Politics |
| 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran † | Politics |
| 1990 | B. R. Ambedkar † | Law & social reform |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela | Politics |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi † | Politics |
| 1991 | Vallabhbhai Patel † | Politics |
| 1991 | Morarji Desai | Politics |
| 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad † | Politics & education |
| 1992 | J. R. D. Tata | Industry |
| 1992 | Satyajit Ray | Cinema |
| 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Politics |
| 1997 | Aruna Asaf Ali † | Politics |
| 1997 | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | Science |
| 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi | Music |
| 1998 | C. Subramaniam | Politics |
| 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan † | Social reform |
| 1999 | Amartya Sen | Economics |
| 1999 | Gopinath Bordoloi † | Politics |
| 1999 | Ravi Shankar | Music |
| 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Music |
| 2001 | Bismillah Khan | Music |
| 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Music |
| 2014 | C. N. R. Rao | Science |
| 2014 | Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket |
| 2015 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Politics |
| 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya † | Education |
| 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee | Politics |
| 2019 | Bhupen Hazarika † | Music |
| 2019 | Nanaji Deshmukh † | Social work |
| 2024 | Karpoori Thakur † | Politics |
| 2024 | L. K. Advani | Politics |
| 2024 | P. V. Narasimha Rao † | Politics & economics |
| 2024 | Chaudhary Charan Singh † | Politics |
| 2024 | M. S. Swaminathan † | Agricultural science |
Two names students often expect are absent for good reasons. Mahatma Gandhi never received the Bharat Ratna — the award began in 1954, six years after his death, and posthumous awards were only allowed from 1966. Subhas Chandra Bose was announced in 1992 but never conferred: the announcement was challenged in court, and in 1997 the Supreme Court treated it as cancelled. Bose is not counted in the 53.
Padma Vibhushan 2026: All 5
From the Ministry of Home Affairs press note of 25 January 2026 (PIB). State is the state or country given in the official list.
| Name | Field | State / Country |
|---|---|---|
| Dharmendra Singh Deol † | Art | Maharashtra |
| K. T. Thomas | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| N. Rajam | Art | Uttar Pradesh |
| P. Narayanan | Literature and Education | Kerala |
| V. S. Achuthanandan † | Public Affairs | Kerala |
Padma Bhushan 2026: All 13
From the same official list. Three of the thirteen were posthumous.
| Name | Field | State / Country |
|---|---|---|
| Alka Yagnik | Art | Maharashtra |
| Bhagat Singh Koshyari | Public Affairs | Uttarakhand |
| Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy | Medicine | Tamil Nadu |
| Mammootty | Art | Kerala |
| Nori Dattatreyudu | Medicine | United States of America |
| Piyush Pandey † | Art | Maharashtra |
| S. K. M. Maeilanandhan | Social Work | Tamil Nadu |
| Shatavadhani R. Ganesh | Art | Karnataka |
| Shibu Soren † | Public Affairs | Jharkhand |
| Uday Kotak | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| V. K. Malhotra † | Public Affairs | Delhi |
| Vellappally Natesan | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| Vijay Amritraj | Sports | United States of America |
Padma Shri 2026: Selected Names (12 of 113)
The full 113-name list is in the PIB press note linked at the end of this page. The twelve below are the names most asked about: sportspersons, well-known artists, two duo cases, a foreign coach and the ISRO scientist on the list.
| Name | Field | State / Country |
|---|---|---|
| A. E. Muthunayagam | Science and Engineering | Kerala |
| Gayatri Balasubramanian and Ranjani Balasubramanian (Duo) | Art | Tamil Nadu |
| Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar | Sports | Punjab |
| Lars-Christian Koch | Art | Germany |
| Madhavan Ranganathan (R. Madhavan) | Art | Maharashtra |
| Praveen Kumar | Sports | Uttar Pradesh |
| Prosenjit Chatterjee | Art | West Bengal |
| Ramchandra Godbole and Suneeta Godbole (Duo) | Medicine | Chhattisgarh |
| Rohit Sharma | Sports | Maharashtra |
| Satish Shah † | Art | Maharashtra |
| Savita Punia | Sports | Haryana |
| Vladimer Mestvirishvili † | Sports | Georgia |
Two facts catch students out. First, the official serial numbers run from 19 to 131 (the Vibhushan and Bhushan names take 1–18), so "number 131" is the last Padma Shri name, not the 131st Shri recipient. Second, the duo cases mean 133 people but 131 awards — the award count is the exam answer.
Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards: Records and Firsts
| Record | Answer |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2 January 1954 (Bharat Ratna and Padma awards together) |
| First conferred | 1954 — Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan, C. V. Raman |
| Total recipients | 53 (as of 7 November 2026) |
| Posthumous recipients | 18 (counted from the † marks above) |
| First posthumous | Lal Bahadur Shastri, 1966 (statutes amended January 1966 to allow it) |
| First woman | Indira Gandhi, 1971 |
| Youngest | Sachin Tendulkar, aged 40, 2014 |
| Oldest | Dhondo Keshav Karve, awarded on his 100th birthday, 18 April 1958 |
| Only sportsperson | Sachin Tendulkar |
| Only industrialist | J. R. D. Tata, 1992 |
| Non-citizen recipients | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987, Pakistan) and Nelson Mandela (1990, South Africa); Mother Teresa (1980) was a naturalised Indian citizen |
| Most in one year | 5 in 2024 (4 posthumous); 4 in 1999; normally a maximum of 3 |
| Years with no Bharat Ratna | 2025 and 2026 (latest gap); also 2021–2022, and the suspension years 1977–1980 and 1992–1995 |
| Padma Awards 2026 | 131 (5 Vibhushan, 13 Bhushan, 113 Shri); 19 women, 6 foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16 posthumous, 2 duo cases |
| Padma Awards 2025 | 139 (7 Vibhushan, 19 Bhushan, 113 Shri); 23 women, 10 foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 13 posthumous, 1 duo case |
| Padma order | Bharat Ratna > Padma Vibhushan > Padma Bhushan > Padma Shri |
Common Mistakes in Bharat Ratna and Padma Questions
- Writing 139 for 2026. 139 is the Padma total for 2025 (7-19-113). For 2026 the total is 131 (5-13-113). The Padma Shri count, 113, is the same in both years — only the Vibhushan and Bhushan counts changed.
- Writing 14 or 16 posthumous Bharat Ratnas. Both figures circulate on coaching sites. Counting the posthumous markers in the recipient list gives 18. The 14-figure counts miss the 1990s and 2024 posthumous awards.
- Counting Subhas Chandra Bose among the 53. Bose was announced in 1992 but the award was never conferred and the announcement was cancelled in 1997. He is not a recipient.
- Saying Mahatma Gandhi received the Bharat Ratna. He did not. The award did not exist in his lifetime, and posthumous awards were only allowed from 1966.
- Calling the Padma Shri the highest civilian award. The Bharat Ratna is the highest; the Padma Shri is the fourth rung. The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award.
- Saying the first Bharat Ratna was awarded in 1955. One encyclopaedia infobox says "first award 1955", but the award was instituted on 2 January 1954 and the first three recipients were honoured in 1954. Exam answers use 1954.
- Treating duo cases as two awards. In 2026 there were 131 awards for 133 people. If a question asks how many Padma Awards were conferred, the answer is 131.
- Saying Dharmendra received the Bharat Ratna. Dharmendra Singh Deol received the Padma Vibhushan (posthumous) in 2026, not the Bharat Ratna.
- Calling Satyajit Ray's 1992 award posthumous. Ray was alive when the award was announced in January 1992; he died in April 1992. The recipient list does not mark him posthumous.
- Assuming the Bharat Ratna is annual. It is not. The government is under no duty to announce it every year — 2025 and 2026 both passed without one, while the Padma Awards are announced every Republic Day.
How to Remember the Bharat Ratna and Padma Lists (Memory Tricks)
- "5-13-113" — the Padma 2026 split. Say it as a phone number: five, thirteen, one-thirteen. The 2025 split was "7-19-113": the Shri count stayed the same, the other two fell.
- "Three R's of 1954" — the first three recipients all have R-names: Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan, Raman.
- "53 minus 18 is 35" — 53 recipients, 18 posthumous, so 35 were alive when honoured.
- "2024: two PMs, one deputy PM, one CM, one scientist" — P. V. Narasimha Rao and Charan Singh (prime ministers), L. K. Advani (deputy prime minister), Karpoori Thakur (Bihar chief minister), M. S. Swaminathan (scientist). Four of the five were posthumous; Advani is the exception.
- "R-V-B-S, biggest to smallest" — Ratna, Vibhushan, Bhushan, Shri. If a question asks for the second-highest civilian award, the answer is the second letter: Vibhushan.
- "Shastri 66, Indira 71, Tendulkar 40" — first posthumous (1966), first woman (1971), youngest age (40). Three numbers, three firsts.
Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards Questions with Answers (Practice Set)
Q1. As of November 2026, how many people have received the Bharat Ratna in total? (a) 48 (b) 51 (c) 53 (d) 55 Answer: (c) 53. The latest recipients are the five of 2024; none was added in 2025 or 2026.
Q2. Who was the first person to be given the Bharat Ratna after his death? (a) K. Kamaraj (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri (c) Vallabhbhai Patel (d) B. R. Ambedkar Answer: (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri, in 1966. The statutes were amended in January 1966 to permit posthumous awards so that Shastri could be honoured.
Q3. At what age did Sachin Tendulkar receive the Bharat Ratna, and in which year? (a) 38, 2013 (b) 40, 2014 (c) 42, 2015 (d) 39, 2012 Answer: (b) 40, in 2014. He is the youngest recipient and the only sportsperson on the list.
Q4. How many Padma Awards were announced for 2026, and how were they split? (a) 139: 7, 19, 113 (b) 131: 5, 13, 113 (c) 120: 5, 15, 100 (d) 131: 7, 11, 113 Answer: (b) 131: 5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan, 113 Padma Shri. Option (a) is the 2025 split.
Q5. Which two people were honoured posthumously with the Padma Vibhushan in 2026? (a) Dharmendra and K. T. Thomas (b) Dharmendra and V. S. Achuthanandan (c) P. Narayanan and N. Rajam (d) Shibu Soren and Piyush Pandey Answer: (b) Dharmendra Singh Deol and V. S. Achuthanandan. Shibu Soren and Piyush Pandey were posthumous Padma Bhushan recipients, not Vibhushan.
Q6. Who was the first woman to receive the Bharat Ratna? (a) Mother Teresa (b) M. S. Subbulakshmi (c) Indira Gandhi (d) Lata Mangeshkar Answer: (c) Indira Gandhi, in 1971. Mother Teresa (1980) was the first woman from social work, but not the first woman overall.
Q7. Which of these people has NOT received the Bharat Ratna? (a) A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (b) Verghese Kurien (c) C. N. R. Rao (d) Bhimsen Joshi Answer: (b) Verghese Kurien. Kalam (1997), C. N. R. Rao (2014) and Bhimsen Joshi (2009) are all on the list; Kurien received all three Padma awards, but never the Bharat Ratna.
Q8. Which is the second-highest civilian award in India? (a) Bharat Ratna (b) Padma Shri (c) Padma Bhushan (d) Padma Vibhushan Answer: (d) Padma Vibhushan. The Bharat Ratna is the highest; the Padma Vibhushan comes next, then the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.
Q9. In which year were five Bharat Ratnas awarded, the highest number in one year? (a) 1999 (b) 2019 (c) 2024 (d) 1991 Answer: (c) 2024. Four of the five were posthumous. In 1999 four were awarded; 1991 and 2019 saw three each.
Q10. Which cricketer received the Padma Shri in 2026, and for which state is he listed? (a) Virat Kohli, Delhi (b) Rohit Sharma, Maharashtra (c) Jasprit Bumrah, Gujarat (d) R. Ashwin, Tamil Nadu Answer: (b) Rohit Sharma, listed for Maharashtra, in Sports. Harmanpreet Kaur, the women's team captain, also received the Padma Shri in 2026, listed for Punjab.
Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards FAQs
How many Bharat Ratna awards have been given in total?
53, as of 7 November 2026. The first three were conferred in 1954 and the latest five in 2024. None was awarded in 2025 or 2026.
Who was the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna?
Three people were honoured together in 1954: C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman.
How many Padma Awards were given in 2026?
131: 5 Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri, announced on 25 January 2026. The list included 2 duo cases, so 133 people were named.
What is the difference between the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan?
The Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award; the Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest. The Bharat Ratna is recommended by the Prime Minister to the President and is not awarded every year, while the Padma awards are announced every Republic Day through the Padma Awards Committee process.
Can a foreigner receive the Bharat Ratna?
Yes. There is no citizenship requirement. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Pakistan (1987) and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1990) received it as non-citizens, and Mother Teresa received it in 1980 as a naturalised Indian citizen.
Does the Bharat Ratna come with prize money?
No. The recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion, with certain courtesies such as treatment as a state guest and a diplomatic passport, but no monetary grant.
Where can I see the full list of all 113 Padma Shri winners for 2026?
In the Ministry of Home Affairs press note of 25 January 2026 on the Press Information Bureau website, which lists all 131 names with fields and states. The searchable all-time Padma list is at padmaawards.gov.in.
Related topics: revise Awards and Honours 2026 list, First in India list, National Symbols of India, President of India list 1950 to 2026, Important Days list 2026 and National Sports Awards 2025 list next.
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Sources: Wikipedia "Bharat Ratna" (recipient list, citing the Ministry of Home Affairs "List of recipients of Bharat Ratna (1954–2019)"; posthumous count of 18 re-counted from the list's own markers at drafting); Ministry of Home Affairs press note "Padma Awards 2026 announced", 25 January 2026, via PIB (PRID 2218547) for the full 131-name list and split; PIB "Padma Awards 2025 announced", 25 January 2025 (PRID 2096285) for the 139 total and 7-19-113 split. As of 7 November 2026.