New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred the Bharat Ratna Award to five eminent personalities, including two former Prime Ministers.
The country’s highest civilian honour was awarded to former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
The honour to BJP veteran LK Advani will be conferred at his residence.
The awards bestowed upon Rao, Singh, Thakur, and Swaminathan were accepted by their family members. Son of former Prime Minister Rao, P V Prabhakar Rao received the award from the President on behalf of his father.
Jayant Chaudhary, Singh’s grandson and the President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), accepted the honour from the President.
Swaminathan’s daughter Nitya Rao and Thakur’s son Ram Nath Thakur received the award from the President.
Among various dignitaries, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the ceremony. This year, the government announced five Bharat Ratna awards, including one for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
Karpoori Thakur served as chief minister from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. MS Swaminathan, the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’ in India, was an agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator, and humanitarian. Swaminathan also held administration positions in various agricultural research laboratories. He served as the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and International Rice Research Institute.
PV Prabhakar Rao, son of former PM PV Narasimha Rao, received Bharat Ratna conferred to his father. Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was a lawyer and a towering Congress leader in undivided Andhra Pradesh, who became the 9th Prime Minister of India. He ruled the country between 1991 and 1996. In 1991, when India was facing a foreign reserves crisis, Narasimha Rao’s government brought about the three big-ticket economic reforms — globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation.
RLD chief Jayant Singh received Bharat Ratna conferred to former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh. Chaudhary Charan Singh started his political career with the Congress. However, he quit the Congress in 1967 and became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time after being elected as the leader of Samyukta Vidhayak Dal coalition. Chaudhary Charan Singh took oath as Prime Minister on July 28, 1979 but soon resigned.
