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

Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket last year, is the first sportsman to be bestowed with the honour. Prof Rao is the third scientist after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam, to be conferred with the honour.

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