Bharat Ratna awardees need not be Indian
The awardees of the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award instituted in 1954, need not be Indian. Till now, it has been awarded to one naturalised citizen, Mother Teresa (in 1980), and to two non-Indians, Pakistan national Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (in 1987) and former South African President Nelson Mandela (in 1990). 