Draupadi Murmu / These 4 celebrities of the country were awarded the highest honour, tomorrow Advani will be given 'Bharat Ratna'

Draupadi Murmu: President Draupadi Murmu conferred the country's highest civilian award 'Bharat Ratna' to former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan and two-time Chief Minister of Bihar Karpoori Thakur at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday. Awarded (posthumously). The awards given to Rao, Singh, Thakur and Swaminathan were received by their family members. For former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, this honor was accepted from Murmu by his son PV Prabhakar Rao. For Chaudhary Charan Singh, his grandson and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary accepted the honor from the President. Swaminathan's daughter Nitya Rao and Karpoori Thakur's son Ramnath Thakur received the award from President Murmu.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani will be given this honor at his residence on Sunday. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party National President JP Nadda, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other dignitaries were present at the event. This year, apart from Rao, Singh, Thakur and Swaminathan, the government had announced to give Bharat Ratna award to veteran BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani.

Narasimha Rao was called 'Chanakya' of Indian politics.

Polyglot, politician and scholar, P. V. Narasimha Rao is known as the Chanakya of Indian politics, whose tenure as Prime Minister initiated far-reaching economic reforms in the country. He held the post of Prime Minister of the country from 1991 to 1996. He was the first Prime Minister of the country from a southern state. He was the first Congress leader from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to complete a five-year term as Prime Minister. He brought India out of the economic crisis in the early 1990s.

Rao was born on June 28, 1921 in a farming family in Wangara village in Karimnagar district of undivided Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana). He was educated at Osmania, Mumbai and Nagpur Universities, from where he obtained the degrees of BSc and LLB. Rao, a confidant of the Nehru-Gandhi family, had held important non-economic portfolios at the Center - External Affairs, Defense and Home Ministries - during different periods in the 1980s. He died on 23 December 2004 at the age of 83.

Chaudhary Charan Singh was born in a farmer family.

Chaudhary Charan Singh, a Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, served as Prime Minister between 28 July 1979 and 14 January 1980. He died in 1987. Charan Singh was born in 1902 in a middle-class farmer family in Noorpur, present-day Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. In 1929 he moved to Meerut and later joined the Congress. After the Congress split, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time in February 1970 with the support of the Congress Party.

However, President's rule was imposed in the state on 2 October 1970. Charan Singh served Uttar Pradesh in various positions and became famous as a tough leader who did not tolerate inefficiency, nepotism and corruption in administration. Charan Singh, a talented parliamentarian and pragmatist, is known for his eloquence and conviction. The RLD, led by Charan Singh's grandson Jayant Chaudhary, recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Swaminathan had changed the fate of farmers

Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan's contribution to agriculture was remarkable in that the country, which was dependent on American wheat to feed its people in the 1960s, was declared self-reliant in grain production in 1971. Swaminathan died on 28 September 2023 at the age of 98. He, along with American agronomist Norman Borlaug, introduced the cultivation of high-yielding genetic varieties of rice and wheat in India and the subcontinent. Swaminathan was awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987 for his work. As a plant geneticist, Swaminathan's research solved the problem of food insecurity and increased production, allowing small farmers to increase their income. Swaminathan dedicated his entire life to agriculture and improving the income of farmers.

Swaminathan's friends and colleagues affectionately addressed him as MS. His full name was Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan. In his long career, Swaminathan achieved what he had once advocated. He developed new varieties to ensure food security and worked shoulder to shoulder with farmers to ensure bumper yields. On August 7, 1925, in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, Dr. M.K. Born to Sambashivan and Parvathi Thangammai, Swaminathan played an important role in changing the direction of the agriculture sector at a time when farmers were dependent on old farming methods. A former Rajya Sabha member (2007–13), Swaminathan received 84 honorary degrees from universities across the world.

Karpoori Thakur was the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Bihar.

Thakur, popularly known as 'Jananayak', was the first non-Congress leader to be the Chief Minister of Bihar twice, from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. He played an important role in the struggle against social discrimination and inequality. Thakur, who has been a source of 'OBC' (Other Backward Class) politics in Bihar, was born on January 24, 1924 in the Nai community, one of the most backward sections of the society.

Thakur's commitment to affirmative action gave representation and opportunities to the poor, the oppressed, the exploited and the deprived sections of the country. His policies and reforms were instrumental in bringing significant changes in the lives of many people especially in the fields of education, employment and farmers' welfare. Thakur's tenure as Chief Minister is also remembered for implementing the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission under which reservation for backward classes was implemented in the state. Thakur died on 17 February 1988.