President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred the country's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao. Mr Mukherjee presented the honours at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Masterblaster Tendulkar who retired from international cricket last year, is the first sportsman to be bestowed with the honour. Talking to media after receiving the award, Tendulkar said, he feels proud to be born in India and he will dedicate the honour to his mother.

Prof Rao is the third scientist after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam, to be conferred with the honour. Prof Rao is a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry and has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books.

AIR Correspondent reports, Tendulkar and Prof. Rao have joined the select list of 41 eminent personalities who have been conferred with the award that is given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order since it was instituted in 1954.

This year's Bharat Ratna was announced after a gap of four years with Hindustani music doyen Bhimsen Joshi being the last recipient in 2009.