The announcement coincides with his exit from the cricketing scene; Sachin becomes the youngest recipient of the prestigious Bharat Ratna.
Cricketing legend Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket on Saturday, and was the "first" in many cricket records, will set another record, when he becomes the first Indian sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna award.
The Bharat Ratna, which is the country's highest civilian honour, has been presented to only 41 people since 1954, the year of its establishment. Also, the award was announced after a gap of 4 years, the last award being presented to Bhimsen Joshi in 2009.
Interestingly, Sachin Tendulkar will be the youngest person to receive the honour.
The award comes at a "perfect time", as many say, as the "Master Blaster" retires from all forms of cricket. The player, who has been associated with the sport for 24 years, and has been personally called a great player by another legend, Don Bradman, received an emotional farewell on 15th November, at his home ground in Mumbai.
Social media networks were flooded with #ThankYouSachin tags, which were trending on Twitter and Facebook.
The man, who has an unmatchable record of "100 hundreds", fell short of a century in his last match. However, fans cheered as he left the field for the last time.
Later, Sachin made an emotional speech and ended it with a vote of thanks to all his fans. He said, "Sachinnn... Sachinn will reverberate in my ears till I stop breathing... Goodbye".
Tendulkar happens to be the 7th Maharashtrian to be conferred with the Bharat Ratna. Dhondo Karve, Pandurang Kane, Vinoba Bhave, B R Ambedkar, Lata Mangeshkar and Bhimsen Joshi are the other Maharashtirans who have been presented with the award.
Sachin Tendulkar will be the 43rd recipient of this award, along with scientist C N R Rao, who has also been announced as the 42nd awardee.