Civilian Awards of India

What are Civilian Awards?

• Civilian Awards are conferred to people with outstanding achievements in their field of work.
• These awards are presented to the respective recipients by the President of India on Republic Day.
• The inception year of these Civilian awards is 1954.

History and Relevance

• The Government of India instituted two civilian awards – Bharat Ratna & Padma Vibhushan in 1954.
• The latter had three classes namely Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg.
• These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri vide Presidential Notification issued on January 8, 1955.

Types of Civilian Awards

• Civilian Awards are categorized according to the degree of honour. The Civilian awards conferred are –
  • • • 1. Bharat Ratna- 1st degree of honour
        2. Padma Vibhushan- 2nd degree of honour
        3. Padma Bhushan- 3rd degree of honour
        4. Padma Shri- 4th degree of honour

Bharat Ratna

• • Bharat Ratna is the Highest Civilian Award in India. It is the most prestigious civilian award in India given in the field of art, literature, science, and public services for exceptional service or performance of the highest order. However, the government expanded the criteria to include “any field of human endeavour” in December 2011.
  • There is no official process to propose people for this award. The Prime Minister of India who has the authority to nominate and recommend the name of people to the President of India.
  • It was introduced on 2 January 1954 by Rajendra Prasad, the then prime minister of India.
  • The first recipients to receive Bharat Ratna include C. Rajagopalachari, Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1954.

Design of Bharat Ratna

• • • The award has the shape of a peepal leaf which is made of toned bronze. It measures 5.8 cm in length, 4.7 cm in breadth, and has a thickness of 3.1 mm.
    • The front side of this medal displays the words “Bharat Ratna” which are written in Devanagari (Hindi) language, and it is also embossed with an image of the sun that measures 16 mm in diameter. On its opposite side, you can see the Indian emblem and motto “Satyamev Jayate”.
    • The rim, sun, and emblem of India are made up of platinum. The medal is worn around the neck while it is awarded to a recipient, so a two-inch ribbon is attached to the medal.

Padma Vibhushan

• • Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in India. This is awarded to people with distinguished accomplishments in the field of Arts, Literature, Science, Public Services etc.
  • This award has a circular shape with a geometric pattern superimposed on the circle and is toned bronze.

Design of Padma Vibhushan

• • • This circular-shaped award is made of bronze and have geometric pattern.
    • Its diameter is 4.4 cm, with a thickness of 0.6 mm.
    • In the centre of the circle, a lotus flower is embossed. The word “Padma” and “Vibhushan” are inscribed above and below the lotus flower in Devanagari Script.
    • On its reverse side, the national emblem on which “Satyamev Jayate” has been embossed.
    • The inscriptions, geometric pattern, and boundaries are made up of bronze, whereas the rest of the embossing is made up of white gold.
    • A dark purple coloured ribbon is attached to the award as it is also worn around the neck.

Padma Bhushan

• • This is the third highest civilian award in India and is conferred to people with achievements for service in any field including service rendered by Government servants including doctors and scientists, but exclude those working with the public sector undertakings.
  • This award has a similar design to the Padma Vibhushan. All the embossing is done in gold.

Design of Padma Bhushan

• • • It is also a circular-shaped award which is made of bronze.
    • In the centre of the circle, a lotus flower is embossed. The word “Padma” and “Bhushan” are inscribed above and below the lotus flower in Devanagari Script.
    • On its reverse side, the national emblem on which “Satyamev Jayate” has been embossed.
    • Besides this, burnished bronze is used in the making of words, geometric pattern, and the border, while the rest of the medal is made of yellow gold.
    • It is provided with a white striped purple ribbon.

Padma Shri

• • Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award. This award is conferred to people for achievements in any field including the service rendered by the Government employees.

Design of Padma Shri

• • • In this medal, the geometric pattern is given on both sides of the medal, which makes it different from the other Padma medals.
    • The shape of the award is the superimposition of a geometric pattern on the circle.
    • The words “Padma” and “Shri” are embossed above and below the lotus flower in the centre.
    • All the embossing is done in stainless steel and the periphery is furnished in bronze.
    • A white-grey striped purple coloured ribbon is attached to it.

 

So, this is all about the post on the National Civilian Awards of India (Complete List). If you want to read more notes on Awards and Honors – Click Here.

In the Next Post (Click Here), we will learn about the Bharat Ratna Award – Highest Civilian Award of India.

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