The award of a lifetime
I was recently going through the list of Bharat Ratna awardees and was surprised at a few things that crossed my mind as I scrolled down those big names. First, the qualification for a few people to have been awarded a Bharat Ratna was like this... "interim prime minister", "sixth president", etc... Is becoming prime minister or president an eligibility for a Bharat Ratna? This might be an easy question to evade by telling that the work they have done during their respective terms is what qualifies them to be a recipient of the prestigious Bharat Ratna. Second, there are only 3 awardees from the actual list of 41 winners that are living today - Dr. Abdul Kalam, Lata Mangeshkar and Prof. Amartya Sen. Many people have been awarded in the same year as their death, or a few years (2-3 years) before their death. Why would the committee realize that the individual is actually a "Ratna" so very late and so close to their death? I am only talking of the major...