"There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go.
 For me, India is such a place.
When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."

- Keith Bellows (Editor-in-chief, National Geographic Society)

"Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient and modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another...But mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood..... Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This, many other nations have taught; but India for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist... Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live....!"

- Swami Vivekananda

"She (India) has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim ... her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity. From Persia to the Chinese sea, from the icy regions of Siberia to Islands of Java and Borneo, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales, and her civilization!"

- Sylvia Levi (French Scholar)

Bharat Ratna Awardees

• Late Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi in 2008 : Karnataka 

• Kumari Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar in 2001 : Maharashtra

• Late Ustad Bismillah Khan in 2001 for contribution in the field of Arts : Uttar Pradesh

• Prof. Amartya Sen in1999 for Literature & Education : United Kingdom

• Lokpriya Gopinath (posth.) Bordoloi in1999, for Public Affairs : Assam

• Loknayak Jayprakash (Posth.) Narayan in 1999 for Public Affairs: Bihar 

• Pandit Ravi Shankar in 1999 for his contribution in the field of Arts : United States

• Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam in 1998 for Public Affairs : Tamil Nadu

• Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi in 1998 for her contribution in the field of Arts : Tamil Nadu 

• Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in 1997 for his contribution in the field of Science and Engineering : Delhi 

• Smt. Aruna Asaf (Posth.) Ali in 1997 for her contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Delhi 

• Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda in 1997 for his contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Gujarat 

• Shri JRD Tata in 1992 for his contribution in the field of Trade & Industry : Maharashtra 

• Shri Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in 1992 for his contribution in Public Affairs : West Bengal 

• Shri Satyajit Ray in 1992 for his contribution in the field of Arts : West Bengal 

• Shri Morarji Ranchhodji Desai in 1991 for his contribution in Public Affairs : Gujarat 

• Shri Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 for his contribution in Public Affairs : Delhi 

• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1991 for his contribution in Public Affairs : Gujarat 

• Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedakr in 1990 for his contribution in Public Affairs : Maharashtra 

• Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in 1990 for his contribution in Public Affairs : South Africa 

• Shri Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran in 1988 for contribution in Public Affairs : Tamil Nadu 

• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1987 for contribution in the field of Social Work : Pakistan 

• Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1983 for contribution in the field of Social Work : Maharashtra 

• Mother Teresa in 1980 for contribution in the field of Social Work : West Bengal

• Shri Kumaraswamy Kamraj in 1976 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Tamil Nadu 

• Shri V.V. Giri in 1975 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Orissa 

• Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1971 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Uttar Pradesh 

• Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Uttar Pradesh 

• Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane in 1963 for contribution in the field of Social Work : Maharashtra 

• Dr. Zakir Hussain in 1963 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Andhra Pradesh 

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1962 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Bihar 

• Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy in 1961 for contribution in the Field of Public Affairs: West Bengal 

• Shri Purushottam Tandon in 1961 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Uttar Pradesh 

• Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve in 1958 for contribution in the field of Social Work : Maharashtra 

• Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant in 1957 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Uttar Pradesh 

• Dr. Bhagwan Das in 1955 for contribution in Literature & Education : Uttar Pradesh 

• Shri Jawaharlal Nehru in 1955 for contribution in the field of Public Affairs : Uttar Pradesh 

• Dr. M. Vishweshwariah in 1955 for contribution in the field of Civil Service : Karnataka 

• Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari in 1954 for contribution in Public Affairs : Tamil Nadu 

• Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman in 1954 in Science & Engineering: Tamil Nadu 

• Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan in 1954 for contribution in Public Affairs : Tamil Nadu

List Courtesy : ndtv.com