The Maharashtra Bhushan is a highest civilian award presented annually by the Government of Maharashtra State in India.

When the Shivsena- BJP alliance came to power in 1995, it proposed to institute this award. The Maharashtra Bhushan was first awarded in 1996. It was initially conferred in every years in the fields of Literature, Art, Sport, and Science. Later the fields of Social Work, Journalism, and Public Administration and Health Services were included. The award is presented for outstanding achievement in their field.

Prize and selection

At present, the award carries a cash prize of ₹ 25 lakhs, a memento and citation. The winners are selected by a committee appointed of the Government of Maharashtra.

Recipients

The recipients of the Maharashtra Bhushan award are as follows

Year	Name	Image	Field	Ref.
1996	Purushottam Laxman Deshpande		Literature	[2]
1997	Lata Mangeshkar		Arts, Music	[3]
1998	Sunil Gavaskar		Sports
1999	Vijay Bhatkar		Science	[4]
2001	Sachin Tendulkar		Sports	[5]
2002	Bhimsen Joshi		Arts, Music	[6]
2003	Abhay and Rani Bang		Medical Services	[7]
2004	Baba Amte		Social Work	[8]
2005	Raghunath Anant Mashelkar		Science	[9]
2006	Ratan Tata		Public Administration	[10]
2007	R. K. Patil		Social Work	[11]
2008	Dr. Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari		Social Work	[12]
2008	Mangesh Padgaonkar		Literature	[13]
2009	Sulochana Latkar		Arts, Cinema	[14]
2010	Jayant Narlikar		Science	[15]
2011	Anil Kakodkar		Science	[16]
2015	Babasaheb Purandare		Literature	[17]
2021	Asha Bhosle		Arts, Music	[18]
2022	Appasaheb Dharmadhikari		Social Work
2023	Ashok Saraf		Arts, Cinema