The Centre on Friday conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on former president and Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, and posthumously to social activist Nanaji Deshmukh and musical icon Bhupen Hazarika.
Congratulating the Bharat Ratna awardees, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Nanaji Deshmukh for his contribution to the society and remembered the songs and music of Bhupen Hazarika. He also described Pranab Mukherjee as an outstanding statesman. “He has served the nation selflessly and tirelessly for decades,” PM Modi said, “leaving a strong imprint on the nation's growth trajectory. His wisdom and intellect have few parallels. Delighted that he has been conferred Bharat Ratna.”
Mukherjee took oath on July 25, 2012 as the 13th President of India, crowning a political career that spanned five decades of service to the nation. He has the rare distinction of having served at different times as Foreign, Defence, Commerce and Finance Minister. Mukherjee was elected to the Rajya Sabha five times from 1969, and twice to the Lok Sabha from 2004. He was a member of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy making body of the party, for 23 years.
Social activist Nanaji played an important role in implementing social restructuring programmes in over 500 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Born in Kadoli in Maharashtra's Parbhani district on October 11, 1916, Deshmukh was a Sangh Parivar veteran, founder member of the Janata Party and one of the senior-most members of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was an active participant of the Bhoodan Movement launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, and also extended his support to freedom fighter Jayaprakash Narayan's call for 'Total Revolution' against then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Nanaji was elected to Lok Sabha from Balrampur constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
Singer, music composer, actor, journalist, music director, lyricist and filmmaker Bhupen Hazarika was born in 1926 in Sadiya, Assam. At the age of 10, he wrote his first song and sang it in the film Joymoti directed by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. Academically inclined, he had a PhD in Mass Communication from Columbia University, and also received the Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University to study the use of educational project development through cinema.
He leaned towards tribal and balladeer traditions and is often called the Bard of Brahmaputra. Central government last conferred the Bharat Ratna to more than one person in 2015 — to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and posthumously to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.
Four people received award in 1999 — Amartya Sen for his work in welfare economics, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi and Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan for social work and Pandit Ravi Shankar for his contribution in the field of arts.
ROLL OF HONOUR
- Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh and folk singer Teejan Bai among those conferred Padma Vibhushan
- Padma Bhushan for ex-Cisco CEO John Chambers, MP Sukhdev Dhindsa among others
- Late actor Kader Khan, theatre veteran Dinyar Contractor conferred Padma Shri
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 "Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh and Bhupen Hazarika")
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