Bharat Ratna: Some Reflections

The Bharat Ratna, or the `Gem of India', is our country's highest civilian award. Instituted in the year 1954, the Bharat Ratna is conferred "for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature and Science", and "in recognition of public service of the highest order".

Since its inception, the Bharat Ratna has been conferred on 41 dignitaries who distinguished our national life. (The award for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was later withdrawn following the controversy whether he is still alive or not). Mother Teresa got the award as a naturalized Indian citizen whereas two other non-Indians have been bestowed the honour: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1987 and Nelson Mandela in 1990.

There is a widespread assumption that political compulsions have often been a determining factor in the choice of the awardees. The awards were given posthumously 11 times: while some received it soon after their demise, some others got it much later after their death. The Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who died in 1950, was conferred the Bharat Ratna 41 years later in 1991! Gopinath Bordoloi who also died in 1950 was conferred the honour posthumously in 1999. Dr. Ambedkar received the honour in 1990, thirty-six years after his death while Jayaprakash Narayan, who died in 1979, got it in 1998. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was given the award in 1992, thirty-four years after his death!

A look at the forty names will tell you that most of the recipients were those in public life who influenced our national life in varied ways. The first to receive the Bharat Ratna was none other than Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, followed by C. Rajagopalachari and C.V. Raman. In the illustrious genre of freedom fighters and national leaders are: Pt. Nehru, Pt. Pant, Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Bhagwan Dass, Zakir Husain, Dr. B.C. Roy, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Vinoba Bhave, Gulzari Lal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, V.V. Giri, K. Kamaraj, M.G. Ramachandran, et al. Three members of the Nehru family ' Pt. Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi ' received the honour. Dr. M. Visweswarayya, Dr. D.K. Karve, Dr. P.V. Kane, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Prof. Amartya Sen have been illustrious recipients of this prestigious award. C. Subramaniam, J.R.D. Tata and Satyajit Ray enhanced the prestige of the award by receiving this honour, so did M.S. Subbulakshmi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.

As can only be expected, controversies have bogged the Bharat Ratna for long. There are names that we all think should be there but are missing while at least some choices are debatable. Every year, there are campaigns to canvas for X, Y or Z. Some `leaders' have gone on record asking, if A and B could be given, why not us, are our contributions any less, as if in a detergent campaign! Yet others or their cronies have gone to court seeking redressal of their grievances! A few have questioned why foreign nationals should be conferred India's highest civilian award. Some murmurs have also been around as to why artistes, musicians, film personalities, etc. should be given the award when there are separate national awards for these categories. Quite a few protests have been voiced, insinuating that political compulsions ' read vote bank politics ' have decided choices of the awardees from time to time.

On the contrary, a welcome suggestion has been made that we should go beyond the political realm and honour those who brought glory to the country by their tireless services in diverse fields, those who brought a smile on the faces of many Indians, those who made a difference to the lives of millions of average Indians, those who made us proud of being Indians, those who proved to the world and to their own countrymen as well that we are capable of taking on the best in the world. The man behind the Green Revolution, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, the guiding spirit of the White Revolution, Dr. Verghese Kurien, the architect of the Konkan Railways and the Delhi Metro, E. Sreedharan, are some who would add luster to the Bharat Ratna by any standards. There are also those who have created wealth for the nation, and those who brought laurels to the country by their pioneering work in various fields like agriculture, education, environment, medicine, industry, science and technology, information technology, literature, spiritualism, etc. The suggestion goes that by honouring them, we will only be gratefully acknowledging their multifaceted contributions to the country. (Please feel free to make your own suggestions about prominent Indians who should be honoured with the Bharat Ratna.)

Some forty odd years ago, President John Kennedy spoke eloquently while signing a Proclamation conferring the Honorary Citizenship of the United States of America on Sir Winston Churchill thus: "By adding his name to our rolls, we mean to honour him ' but his acceptance honours us far more. For no statement or proclamation can enrich his name now ' the name Sir Winston Churchill is already legend." We have amongst us Indians several such living legends who will enrich the Bharat Ratna once we confer the nation's highest civilian honour on them. It may be argued that they are legends in their own lifetime, but as a grateful nation, it is essential that we honour them and place on record our profound appreciation of their significant achievements and contributions. To leave them out will not belittle either their stature or their status but it will be in the fitness of things that we accord them the highest honour of the land.

An aside ' one conspicuous name missing from the roll of the Bharat Ratna is that of the Father of the Nation! For that matter, the one, acknowledged as the greatest man of the Twentieth Century, also did not get the Nobel Prize! Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is no less a Mahatma for these aberrations, though!