As of November 2014, how many Prime Ministers of India had been conferred with the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award?

Introduction / Context:
The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of India and is given for exceptional service in any field of human endeavour. Several former Prime Ministers of India have been honoured with this award. This question tests whether you can recall the correct count of such Prime Ministers as of a specific cut off date, November 2014. It combines knowledge of national awards with knowledge of political history.

Given Data / Assumptions:

The question asks for the number of Prime Ministers who had received the Bharat Ratna up to November 2014, not including later years.

We assume awareness of which leaders served as Prime Minister and which among them were awardees before that date.

The options are four consecutive numbers, so careful counting is required.

Concept / Approach:
To answer this, we need to list Prime Ministers who were Bharat Ratna recipients by that date. Up to November 2014, the following Prime Ministers had been honoured: Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi and Gulzarilal Nanda. Each of these leaders served as Prime Minister at some point and received the Bharat Ratna in different years. Counting these names gives a total of six. It is important to stop at November 2014 and not include later awardees announced after that date.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: List the Prime Ministers known to have received the Bharat Ratna before the end of 2014. Step 2: Jawaharlal Nehru received the award in the 1950s. Step 3: Lal Bahadur Shastri received it posthumously in the 1960s. Step 4: Indira Gandhi was honoured in the early 1970s. Step 5: Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi were conferred the award in the early 1990s. Step 6: Gulzarilal Nanda, who served twice as acting Prime Minister, was also awarded the Bharat Ratna in the 1990s. Step 7: Counting these names, we have six Prime Ministers or acting Prime Ministers who had received the award by November 2014.

Verification / Alternative check:
A useful check is to compare with later data. After November 2014, additional Prime Ministers, such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were announced for the Bharat Ratna. If you see higher totals in recent sources, remember that the question restricts you to November 2014. By deliberately excluding award announcements from late 2014 and beyond, you return to the count of six Prime Ministers who had already been conferred the award by that time.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
4: This would imply that only the earliest four awardee Prime Ministers are counted, which ignores later recipients such as Morarji Desai and Gulzarilal Nanda.
5: This number would still leave out one of the Prime Ministers who had been honoured by the 1990s, so it is too low.
7: This number is higher than the correct count for November 2014 and reflects confusion with later award announcements that occurred after that cut off date.

Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to mix up different time frames. Many competitive exam questions specify a cut off year or date, and candidates sometimes answer based on the latest information they have seen instead of the time bound data in the question. Another pitfall is failing to count acting Prime Ministers who also received the award. To avoid these errors, carefully read the time frame mentioned in the question and systematically list names before counting. For awards and honours, a small personal list of important recipients can be very helpful for revision.

Final Answer:
As of November 2014, a total of 6 Prime Ministers of India had been conferred with the Bharat Ratna.