Since 2003, the Union government provides free air travel facility to Bharat Ratna recipients, highest civilian honour in the country.
Economist Amartya Sen flew free of cost in Air India executive class 21 times between 2015-19.
And he is the only Bharat Ratna recipient to avail this facility.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003 extended the free executive class air travel facility to all Bharat Ratna recipients for lifetime.
Only other Bharat Ratna recipients alive are: singer Lata Mangeskar, scientist C N R Rao and sportsperson Sachin Tendulkar.
Total 48 people have been awarded Bharat Ratna awards, including 14 posthumous.
India Today got the information about Sen’s air travel in India using RTI.
Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour in the country. Sen was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1999. In 1998, he won the Nobel prize in Economics.
