India Honours System

India : Honours and decorations

Gallantry
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Param Vir Chakra:
The Param Vir Chakra is an Indian military decoration given for valour in combat operations. It is India's highest military honor. The name is sometimes abbreviated as PVC. It literally means 'Wheel (or Cross) of the Ultimate Brave' (Sanskrit: Param, Ultimate; Vir (Pronounced veer), Brave; Chakra, Wheel, or its western equivalent, Cross). Equivalent awards in the United States are the Medal of Honor and the Victoria Cross in the United Kingdom.

The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is the highest gallantry award for officers and other enlisted personnel of all military branches of India for the highest degree of valour or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. It may be awarded posthumously and, indeed, most of the awards have been posthumous.

The PVC was established on 26 January 1950, by the President of India, with effect from 15 August 1947, and presently it is the second highest award of the government of India after Bharat Ratna (amendment in the statute on 26 January 1980 resulted in this order of wearing).

Ashoka Chakra:
Ashoka Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self sacrifice away from the battle field. It maybe awarded to civilians as well as well as military personnel. It may be awarded posthumously. It is the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra.

Maha Vir Chakra:
The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) is the second highest military decoration in India and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It may be awarded posthumously.

Kirti Chakra:
Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Maha Vir Chakra. It is second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards; it comes after Ashoka Chakra and before Shaurya Chakra.

Vir Chakra:
Vir Chakra is an Indian gallantry award presented for acts of bravery in the battle field. To denote this award, the awardees can append the letters Vr.C. to their name. It is third in precedence in the war time gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

Shaurya Chakra:
Shaurya Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, sometimes posthumously. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Vir Chakra. It is third in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards and comes after Ashoka Chakra and Kirti Chakra.

Civilian
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National Service:
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Bharat Ratna:
Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order." Unlike knights, holders of the Bharat Ratna carry no special title nor any other honorifics, but they do have a place in the order of precedence. Bharat Ratna roughly translates as 'Gem of India'.

While there was no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens, this seems to have been the general assumption. There has been one award to a naturalized Indian citizen — Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa (1980); and two to non-Indians — Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and Nelson Mandela (1990). The awarding of this honour though, has frequently been the subject of litigation questioning the constitutional basis of such state awards.

Padma Vibhushan:
The Padma Vibhushan is India's second highest civilian honour. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India.

It was established on January 2, 1954. It follows the Bharat Ratna and precedes the Padma Bhushan. It is awarded to recognize exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field, including government service. The award was briefly suspended from July 13, 1977 to January 26, 1980.

Padma Bhushan:
The Padma Bhushan is an Indian civilian decoration established on January 2, 1954 by the President of India. It stands third in the hierarchy of civilian awards, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Sri. It is awarded to recognize distinguished service of a high order to the nation, in any field.

Padma Shri:
Padma Shri (also spelled Padma Shree, Padma Sree and Padma Sri) is an award given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in any sphere of activity including Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Games, Sports etc. (The word "Padma" (Hindi) means "Lotus".) It stands fourth in the hierarchy of civilian awards after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. On its obverse, the words "Padma" and "Shri", in Devanagari, appear above and below the lotus flower.

Literary:
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Jnanpith Award:
The Jnanpith Award is the highest literary honour conferred in the Republic of India. It is presented by the Jnanpith Trust, which is largely owned by the Jain family, publishers of The Times of India. The award carries a cheque for Rs. 500,000, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Vagdevi. The award was instituted in 1961. Its first recipient was Malayalam writer G Shankara Kurup in 1965. An Indian citizen who writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for the honour.
Its name is taken from Sanskrit jnāna-pīṭha = "knowledge-seat".

Sports:
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Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award is India’s highest sporting honour. It was instituted from the year 1991-92 in the memory of Late Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India. The award carries a medal and a scroll of honour apart from a cash component.

The award honours either an individual sportsperson or a sports team for outstanding performance in the sports disciplines included in any of Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as Billiards & Snooker, Cricket and Chess in a year.

Typically, performances from 1 April of a year to 31 March of the next year are taken into consideration for the award. A selection committee of people affiliated to sports is constituted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports for selecting the awardee every year.

A key difference from the Arjuna award is that the Arjuna award is given to the best sportsperson in each sport every year, where as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna is given to the best sportsperson across all the sports disciplines in that year. Khel Ratna literally means "Sporting Gem" in Hindi.

Arjuna Award:
The Arjuna awards were instituted in 1961 by the government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 300,000, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a scroll.

Over the years the scope of the award has been expanded and a large number of sportspersons who belonged to the pre-Arjuna Award era, were also included in the list. Not only that the number of disciplines for which the award was to be given was also increased to include indigenous games and also in the physically handicapped category.

Dronacharya Award:
Dronacharya Award is an award presented by the government of India for excellence in sports coaching. The award comprises of a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a scroll of honour and a cash component. The award was instituted in 1985. As the best sportsperson award is named Arjuna Award, it is appropriate that the coaching award is named after Dronacharya, as he was the Guru of Arjuna.

The winners of this award in 2005 were Mr. Arvind Savur for Billiards & Snooker, Ms. Sunita Sharma for Cricket (incidentally the first woman cricket coach to get the award) and Mr. Cyrus Poncha for Squash.

Movies:
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Dadasaheb Phalke Award:
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is an annual award given by the Indian government for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema.

The award for a particular year is given during the end of the following year along with the National Film Awards.Some well known ones are :

# 1989 - Lata Mangeshkar, singer
# 1990 - A. Nageswara Rao, actor
# 1994 - Dilip Kumar, actor
# 1995 - Rajkumar, actor
# 1996 - Sivaji Ganesan, actor
# 1998 - B.R. Chopra, director, producer
# 2000 - Asha Bhosle, singer
# 2001 - Yash Chopra, director, producer
# 2002 - Dev Anand, actor, director, producer
# 2003 - Mrinal Sen, director
# 2004 - Adoor Gopalakrishnan, director

Others:
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Gandhi Peace Prize:
The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded annually by the government of India for outstanding work and contribution to social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.

Recipients have included Nelson Mandela, John Hume, Baba Amte, Vaclav Havel, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Shri Ramakrishna Mission (in 1999, received by its president Swami Ranganathananda) and the International Red Cross.

For more info : India Honours System