Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh, Bhupen Hazarika awarded Bharat Ratna

The 2019 Bharat Ratna award has been bestowed upon former President Pranab Mukherjee, social worker Nanaji Deshmukh and singer Bhupen Hazarika.

• Nanaji Deshmukh and singer Bhupen Hazarika were awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously.

About Pranab Mukherjee:

• Pranab Mukherjee served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017.
• A veteran congressman, Pranab Mukherjee had held various key portfolios like Finance, Defence and External Affairs as Union Minister. 
• He is an outstanding statesman of the present time.
• Pranab Mukherjee was born in a Bengali family.
• Pranab Mukherjee earned an MA degree in Political Science and History and LL.B. from the University of Calcutta.
• He has also served as a Professor of Political Science at Vidyanagar College in West Bengal.
• Before entering Politics, he was working as a journalist with 'Desher Dak'.

About Nanaji Deshmukh:

• Nanaji Deshmukh laid great emphasis on education as a social worker.
• The first Saraswati Shishu Mandir was established by him at Gorakhpur in 1950.
• He was a member of RSS and also served as General Secretary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
• Nanaji Deshmukh took part in Jai Prakash Narayan movement during the Emergency. 
• He got elected as a member of Lok Sabha from Balrampur in 1977.
• He has also served as a nominated member of Rajya Sabha. 
• Nanaji was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1999.

About Bhupen Hazarika:

• Bhupen Hazarika was a playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam, widely known as Sudhakantha.
• He mainly wrote and sang in the Assamese language.
• His works were marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages.
• He also served as a channel to introduce the culture and folk music of Assam and Northeast India to Hindi cinema at the national level.

Question:

Q. The 2019 Bharat Ratna award has been bestowed upon which former President of India?
a. Shankar Dayal Sharma
b. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
c. Pranab Mukherjee
d. Dr. Rajendra Prasad