In an interview to Samana newspaper, Thackeray said politicians have taken the sheen out of the country's highest civilian award by recommending names of people who do not deserve it.
Educationist Madan Mohan Malviya and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are the 44th and 45th distinguished personalities who have been conferred with the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.
The sporting fraternity bowed in admiration as India's pride, Sachin Tendulkar, walked into the sunset after a glorious 24-year-long international cricket career and welcomed the government's decision to confer him with the Bharat Ratna.
'Savarkar's opponents should spend two days in the (erstwhile) Andaman Cellular Jail to understand the hardships he was put through by the British'
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has joined in the Bharat Ratna debate saying her father and former India badminton star Prakash Padukone deserves the highest civilian award.
The award, which was announced after a gap of seven years, was presented to 87-year-old Joshi by an Additional Secretary of the Home Ministry.
The Madras high court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Union government to confer the Bharat Ratna on late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, saying it does not want to interfere in such matters.
Amid clamour for Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar, the government has modified rules to pave way for eligibility of sportspersons for the highest civilian award of the country. The new rules, providing for eligibility of persons excelling in fields other than art, literature, science and public service for Bharat Ratna, were notified on November 16, Sports Minister Ajay Maken told the media in New Delhi.
Indian hockey skipper Rajpal Singh said on Monday that Major Dhyan Chand deserved to be the first sportsperson in the country to be bestowed with the Bharat Ratna.
Having achieved the unique distinction of scoring the first double century in One-day internationals, Sachin Tendulkar is now on the threshold of becoming the first sportsperson to be conferred the Bharat Ratna. The Maharashtra government is all set to recommend the batting maestro for India's highest civilian award.
It is largely due to his vision and efforts that we have almost quadrupled our per capita milk availability in the last 40 years, points out Shailesh Dobhal.
The Union Home Ministry is looking into Sports Minister Ajay Maken's demand to include sports excellence as an area of recognition for the Bharat Ratna.
World chess champion Viswanathan Anand on Thursday joined the growing list of top athletes supporting the demand that iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar be conferred the Bharat Ratna -- the highest civilian honour in India.
"Mahatma Gandhi is the father of nation and people hold him in high esteem, beyond any formal recognition," the bench said. The issue of directing the government to award Bharat Ratna to the father of the nation was not a "justiciable issue", it said.
When Sachin Tendulkar bats, it's like an artist playing a 'raga' and the true legend of the game deserves the Bharat Ratna, legendary singer Asha Bhonsle said on Thursday.
Singhvi was speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry where the American ambassdor David Mulford, was presenting a more realistic picture of Indo-US relations.
The first Indian woman sportsperson to be decorated with the Padma Vibhushan, celebrated boxer MC Mary Kom on Sunday said she hopes to win the Bharat Ratna by winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Bharat Ratna is the country's highest civilian award.
JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari tells Rediff.com's Manu Shankar that hockey legend Dhyan Chand was more deserving of the Bharat Ratna than Sachin Tendulkar because he played without monetary gains and also suggested that the award be scrapped.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday asked why India's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, has not been conferred on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Noted educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was on Monday posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar said it would have been a "disappointing and wrong decision" on the part of the government if the Home Ministry officials had their way in not awarding the India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna to sportspersons.
The clamour may have been for Sachin Tendulkar, but the Sports Ministry has recommended hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand for the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civillian honour.
The Bharat Ratna for him comes nine years after the honour was bestowed on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The two leaders together spearheaded the journey of the Jana Sangh and then the BJP for over five decades.
Dhyan Chand should have got Bharat Ratna first, says Milkha Singh.
'Today's generation can learn from him how not to hurt anyone's sentiments at a time when many stand-up comedians deliberately set out to do so.'
As many as 730 doctors have succumbed to coronavirus infection during the second wave, according to data available by the Indian Medical Association in mid-June.
Rediff.com has compiled a list of some renowned personalities in the fray for Bharat Ratna. You decide whether they deserve the honour or not.
Cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar should not be honoured with the Bharat Ratna as the demand to give the award to filmstars and cricket players spoke of 'the low cultural level', Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju said on Saturday.
'If we can award Madan Mohan Malaviya who died in 1946, then why not the Mahatma who died in 1948?' 'Why not go a little further back in time and give the award to Rabindranath Tagore who died in 1941?' 'And should we mark Lokmanya Tilak's 100th death anniversary in 2020 by giving him a Bharat Ratna,' asks Amberish K Diwanji.
The calls for bestowing Sachin Tendulkar with the Bharat Ratna may have got louder after India's World Cup triumph but giving the country's highest civillian honour to the batting icon would require tweaking of the criteria that has been laid down for the coveted award.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj expressed disappointment over former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not getting the Bharat Ratna this year, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party was expecting it. She also said the sanctity of these awards should be maintained as even some failures have been conferred with the honour.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has said that master batsman Sachin Tendulkar should not play in the Indian Premier League if his name was under consideration for the country's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna and blamed the IPL for 'ruining' the sport.
World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, on Thursday, said it will be a great honour if he receives the Bharat Ratna but made it clear that he would never lobby for the coveted award or suggest any names.
Former national hockey player and Member of Parliament Dilip Tirkey on Sunday backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praise for Major Dhyan Chand and said the hockey wizard should be given Bharat Ratna-country's highest civilian award.
The only Indian to win an individual gold medal in Olympics, shooter Abhinav Bindra, has been recommended for the Bharat Ratna -- the country's highest civilian honour -- by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Legendary track and field sprinter Milkha Singh says hockey legend Dhyan Chand deserved the Bharat Ratna honour 'before anyone else', even as he proposed that cricket great Sachin Tendulkar be made the country's sports minister.
All family members will be happy if former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gets the Bharat Ratna, his niece Karuna Shukla has said.
Amid speculation that Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose may be named for the Bharat Ratna, a Congress leader on Sunday said Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram and Aligarh Muslim University founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan should also be given the country's highest civilian award.
The BJP hopes to deepen its support among backward castes, especially the Extremely Backward Classes, in Bihar following the announcement of Bharat Ratna for former chief minister Karpoori Thakur, a leader who enjoys admiration from backward satraps of various hues.
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