Rashtrapati Awards used to be given by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

, in some cases the Prime Minister of India, for achievements in the field of sports, art, military, literature, cinema, culture, science and technology, or Scouting. The award-giving ceremony was conducted in the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

, the President's official residence. The awards were a part of the

Indian honours system The Indian honours system is the system of awards given to individuals for a variety of services to the Republic of India. The categories of awards are as follows: Civilian awards Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of Ind ...

. However, after gradual systematic categorizations over a period, the awards were made independent to the field of achievement. For example, from 1968 onwards, the

Directorate of Film Festivals The Directorate of Film Festivals in India was an organisation that initiated and presented the International Film Festival of India, the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama. Although the Directorate helped appoint members of the jury ...

completely took over its charge as the governing body for National Film Awards India. Before 1968, the award in the field of best acting in

Indian Cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

was given out as a Rashtrapati Award. Other examples are Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for sports, National Bravery Award,

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...

for literature, "Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman" (a presidential honour for young scholars below age 40 who have worked to bridge the ancient and the modern especially using IT).{{clarify, date=December 2016

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20100829092555/http://www.bsgindia.org/cir/rcir/2010rcir/2009awardeeslist2009.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20110601023609/http://www.abhyaasindia.com/downloads/indian%20honors.doc

*http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2008/jul/r2008071002.pdf Indian awards Scout and Guide awards