Introduction
Bharat Ratna - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country. The Bharat Ratna is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The award was originally confined to the arts, literature, science, and public services, as per the 1954 regulations. The article Bharat Ratna Awards 2019 presents the list of Bharat Ratna Awards winners for the year 2019. The 2019 Bharat Ratna award has been bestowed upon former President Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh and singer Bhupen Hazarika.
Winners
- Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (born 11 December 1935) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017.
- He is a Bharat Ratna awardee, awarded in 2019 by President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind.
- In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee has been a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and has occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012.
- Pranab Mukherjee was born in a Bengali family.
- Pranab Mukherjee earned an MA degree in Political Science and History and LL.B. from the University of Calcutta.
- He has also served as a professor of Political Science at Vidyanagar College in West Bengal. Before entering Politics, he was working as a journalist with ‘Desher Dak’.
- Nanaji Deshmukh laid great emphasis on education as a social worker.
- The first Saraswati Shishu Mandir was established by him at Gorakhpur in 1950.
- He was a member of RSS and also served as general secretary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
- Nanaji Deshmukh took part in Jai Prakash Narayan movement during the Emergency.
- He got elected as a member of Lok Sabha from Balrampur in 1977. He has also served as a nominated member of Rajya Sabha. Nanaji was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
- Bhupen Hazarika was a playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam, widely known as Sudhakantha.
- He mainly wrote and sang in the Assamese language. His works were marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages.
- He also served as a channel to introduce the culture and folk music of Assam and Northeast India to Hindi cinema at the national level.