India: Country's top civilian award Bharat Ratna now on for excellence in any field

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour will now onwards be the criterion for award of Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. The new rules, providing for eligibility of persons excelling in fields other than the present listed areas of art, literature, science and public service, were notified on November 16, India's Sports Minister Ajay Maken told reporters here Thursday. "I wrote a letter to Home Minister on April 15. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have very kindly agreed now to change the norm. "Instead of the fields of art, literature, science and public services, now on ... for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour Bharat Ratna could be awarded," Maken said. He said the decision has paved the way for any sportsperson to get the Bharat Ratna award. The move comes amid a clamour for conferring the Bharat Ratna on Sachin Tendulkar for his outstanding contribution to cricket. "For me as a sports minister this is one of the biggest days of Indian sport and next biggest day I think will be the day when any sportsperson is named as an awardee of Bharat Ratna," Maken said. Reacting to a question on conferring of the highest civilian order on Tendulkar and the legendary Indian hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, the Minister said the two names from the sports category that struck in his mind is "the wizard of hockey Major Dhyan Chand and our run machine Sachin Tendulkar." "Both of them I think should be top contenders but there are many other contenders for Bharat Ratna award if it is given to a sportsperson. Ultimately, the decision has to be taken by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister takes the decision and recommend it to the President," he said. Instituted in 1954, recommendations for the Bharat Ratna award are made by the Prime Minister himself to the President. The number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a year. On conferment of the award, the recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion. So far, 41 people have been conferred with Bharat Ratna. The first three who received the prestigious award were scientist C V Raman, first and only Indian governor general of independent India C Rajagopalachari and philosopher statesman S Radhakrishnan in 1954. There is no written provision that Bharat Ratna should be awarded to Indian citizens only. The award has been conferred to a naturalised Indian citizen Mother Teresa (1980) of the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity fame and to two non-Indians - Pashtun leader and a Gandhi ally during the freedom struggle Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and South Africa's Nelson Mandela (1990). Legendary vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was the last recipient of the award in 2009. Former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Morarji Desai, former presidents Rajendra Prasad and A P J Abdul Kalam, playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, economist Amartya Sen, sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar, Carnatik musician M S Subbulakshmi, industrialist J R D Tata, and free India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel are among the other recipients of the Bharat Ratna. PTI