On behalf of the French President Bhattacharjee, 82, was conferred the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) honour here late last evening by French Ambassador Francois Richier.
Accepting the award Bhattacharjee said there was need "to learn the fearlessness of Gandhi."
"The fearlessness of Gandhi was different. His was made of love and compassion. I remember his room, his doors were always open. One hardly had to take an appointment to meet him.
"This honour comes in recognition of Bhattacharjee's remarkable work for promoting peace, solidarity, culture, education, and development through her commitment to perpetuating the memory and legacy of her grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi," a statement by the Embassy said.
Also Read
The daughter of late Devadas Gandhi and the late Lakshmi Devadas Gandhi, is the widow of the late Jyoti Prasad Bhattacharjee, a leading economist.
For the past 28 years, she has been working for the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, founded by Mahatma Gandhi in memory of his wife to serve needy women and children of rural India.
Some noted Indian recipients of this honour in the past include Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta, Shahrukh Khan, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Aishwarya Rai, Raghu Rai, Ebrahim Alkazi, Habib Tanveer, and Upamanyu Chatterjee.