Firsts in India

FIRSTS IN GOVERNANCE:

First President of India:
Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1950-1962)

First Prime Minister of India:
Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964). The first term lasted till 1952 after which he was re-elected

First Vice President of India :
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

First Deputy Prime Minister of India:
Vallabhbhai Patel

First Prime Minister to be voted out of office:
Indira Gandhi (1977) when the Indian National Congress lost to the Janata Party

First Non-Congress government:
by Janata Party with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister (1977-1980)

First Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term (five years):
P. V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996

First Person outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to serve as Prime Minister for a full term (five years):
P. V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996

First Prime Minister from South India:
P. V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996

First Governor-General:
Warren Hastings

First British Governor-General:
Lord William Bentinck

First British Viceroy of India:
Lord Canning

First Governor General of Independent India:
Lord Mountbatten, 1947

First and Last Indian Governor-General of Indian Union:
C Rajagopalachari, 1948

First Chief Justice of India:
Justice Hiralal J Kania

First Indian ICS Officer:
Satyendranath Tagore, 1863

First Speaker of Lok Sabha:
Shri G.V. Mavlankar

First Finance Minister of Independent India:
Shri R.K.Shanmukhan Chettys

Presentation of First Budget after India’s Independence :
Shri R.K.Shanmukhan Chettys on Nov 26, 1947

First Sikh Prime Minister :
Manmohan Singh

First Muslim President :
Zakir Hussain (1967-1969)

First Sikh President :
Giani Zail Singh

First President to die in Office :
Dr. Zakir Hussain

First Prime Minister of India of resigned without completing his full term:
Morarji Desai

First Prime Minister who did not face the Parliament:
Charan Singh

First Chief Justice of Supreme Court to become President of India:
Justice M. Hidaytullah

First Sikh President :
Giani Zail Singh

First Education Minister :
Abul Kalam Azad

First Home Minister :
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

First Chief Election Commissioner:
Sukumar Sen

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FIRSTS IN DEFENCE:

First Commander-in-Chief of Free India:
General Sir Roy Bucher

First Indian Commander-in-Chief of Free India:
General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, 1949

First Chief of Air Staff:
Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst

First Indian Chief of Staff:
General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, 1947

First Indian Commander-in-Chief, IAF:
Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, 1954

First Chief of Naval Staff:
Vice Admiral R D Katari

First Field Marshal of India:
S. H. F. Manekshaw

First Person to receive Paramvir Chakra::
Major Somnath Sharma

First Cosmonaut:
Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, 1984

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FIRSTS IN NOBEL PRIZES:

First Nobel Prize winner:
Rabindranath Tagore for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913. He was also the firstAsian to get the prize.

First Nobel Prize in Physics:
C. V. Raman in 1930.

First Nobel Prize in Medicine:
Har Gobind Khorana in 1968. (India born US citizen)

First Nobel Peace Prize:
Mother Teresa in 1979. (Albanian nun, Indian citizen)

First Nobel Prize in Economics:
Amartya Sen in 1998

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FIRSTS IN AWARDS AND TITLES:

First Miss World:
Reita Faria in 1966

First Miss Universe:
Sushmita Sen in 1994

First Booker Prize:
Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997

First Bharat Ratna:
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari, and Dr C.V. Raman in 1954

First Foreigner to receive Bharat Ratna:
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

First Person to receive Stalin Prize:
Saifuddin Kitchlu

First Chevalier:
Sivaji Ganesan

First Person to receive Jnanpith Award:
Sri Shankar Kurup

First Dadasaheb Phalke Award:
Devika Rani in 1969

First Ashoka Chakra Award to a civilian (posthumous) :
D.K. Jatar, captain of the sabotaged plane Kashmir Princess, for “most conspicuous bravery, daring and self-sacrifice”

First Magsaysay Award:
Vinoba Bhave

First Winner of a major literary award in the United States:
Dhan Gopal Mukerji

First Ford Supermodel of the World (contest):
Bipasha Basu, 1996

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FIRSTS IN EXPLORATION:

First Person to reach the South Pole:
Col Jatinder Kumar Bajaj

First Woman to scale Mount Everest:
Bachendri Pal on May 23, 1984. She was the 5th woman in the world to scale the peak.

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FIRSTS IN FILM AND TV:

First Sound film:
Alam Ara, 1931

First Oscar winner:
Bhanu Athaiya for Best Costume Design for Gandhi (film) in 1982

First Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film:
Mother India in 1957

First National Film Award for cinema:
Shyamchi Aai in 1954

First Colorized film:
Mughal-e-Azam in 2004 (the original black-and-white version was released in 1960)

First Sponsored TV serial:
Hum Log, started in 1984, was also the first soap opera of India

First Actor to enact 10 roles:
Kamal Haasan

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FIRSTS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

First Hydroelectric plant:
On the Gaganachukki waterfall of the Sivasamudram Falls, Karnataka. Built in 1902.

First City to have electricity:
Bangalore, in 1906 (it was in fact the first city in Asia to have electricity)

First Man in space:
Rakesh Sharma aboard Salyut 7, on April 03, 1984. He was the 138th man in space world-wide.

First Woman in space:
Kalpana Chawla aboard Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87, on November 19,1997. She was a naturalized United States citizen, and represented the US during the event.

First Test-tube baby:
Durga Agarwal, born 1978

First Scientific Expedition to Antarctica:
1981

First Nuclear Reactor:
Tarapur, Maharashtra

First Genetically Modified Food Product in India :
Bt. Egg plant Hybrid (Bt. — Bacilius Thuringiensis)

First Satellite :
Aryabhatta, launched on April 19, 1975

First Satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services :
EDUSET

First Successfully indigenous Launch Vehicle :
SLV-3

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FIRSTS IN SPORTS:

First Olympic team medal:
Gold for Hockey at the 1928 Summer Olympics Amsterdam, beating theNetherlands.

First Olympic individual medal (in British India):
Norman Pritchard, 1900

First Olympic individual medal:
Bronze by K. D. Jadhav for wrestling at the 1952 Summer OlympicsHelsinki.

First Person to swim across the English Channel:
Mihir Sen, 1958

First Woman to swim across the English Channel:
Arati Saha, 1959

First Formula 1 race driver:
Narain Karthikeyan

First Formula 1 team:
Force India F1

First A1 GP race victory:
Narain Karthikeyan, Zhuhai,China,2007

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FIRSTS IN CHESS:

First Chess Grandmaster:
Viswanathan Anand in 1988, at the age of 18.

First FIDE World Chess Champion:
Viswanathan Anand in December 2000.

First Undisputed World Chess Champion:
Viswanathan Anand in September 2007.

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FIRSTS IN TENNIS:

First Tennis Grand Slam title:
Mahesh Bhupathi (partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 1997 French Open.

First Tennis Grand Slam win by a woman:
Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the first round of the 1998 Australian Open

First Woman in the 4th round (highest as of 2008) of a tennis Grand Slam event:
Sania Mirza in the Singles category of the 2005 US Open.

First Tennis Grand Slam junior title:
Leander Paes in the Singles category of the 1990 Wimbledon Championship. He is also the only medal fetcher for India in the Atlanta Olympics. He won the a bronze medal the only medal that put India in the medal tally.

First Tennis Grand Slam junior title by a woman:
Sania Mirza (partnering with Russian Alisa Kleybanova) in the Doubles category of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.

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FIRSTS IN CRICKET:

First Cricket tournament:
The Bombay Triangular which later became the Bombay Quadrangular (1912-1936)

First Cricket test match:
Against England at Lord’s, June 25, 1932

First Cricket captain:
CK Nayudu for the 1932 tour of England

First Cricketer to score a century:
Lala Amarnath in 1933 against England in South Bombay

First Cricketer to score a triple century:
Vijay Hazare

First ODI cricket hat-trick:
Chetan Sharma in Reliance World Cup against New Zealand in 1987.

First Test cricket hat-trick:
Harbhajan Singh against Australia in March 2001

First Cricket World Cup championship win:
At the 1983 Cricket World Cup, England beating West Indies.

First Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket:
Sunil Gavaskar (he was first in the world to achieve this feat)

First Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in ODI cricket:
Sachin Tendulkar (he was first in the world to achieve this feat)

First Cricket Twenty20 world cup winner :
2007

First Cricketer to score 75 Test and ODI centuries :
Sachin Tendulkar

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FIRSTS IN WOMEN:

First Woman Prime Minister:
Indira Gandhi

First Woman Minister in a government:
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

First Woman Chief Minister of a State:
Sucheta Kripalani, 1963

First Woman Governor:
Sarojini Naidu

First Woman Central Minister:
Vijayalakshmi Pandit

First Woman Speaker of a State Assembly:
Shanno Devi

First Woman Indian National Congress President:
Annie Besant

First Woman President:
Pratibha Patil

First Woman Graduates:
Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu, 1883

First Woman Head of an Undergraduate Academic Institution:
Chandramukhi Basu, 1888

First Woman Honours Graduate:
Kamini Roy (1886)

First Woman Lawyer:
Cornelia Sorabjee

First Woman Judge:
Anna Chandy (She became judge in a district court in 1937)

First Woman Chief Justice of a High Court:
Mrs. Leela Seth (Himachal Pradesh High Court)

First Woman Judge in Supreme Court of India:
Kumari Justice M. Fathima Beevi

First Woman Physician:
Kadambini Ganguly, 1886

First Woman Airline Pilot:
Durga Banerjee

First Woman Olympic medal winner:
Karnam Malleswari, 2000

First Woman Asian Games gold medal winner:
Kamlijit Sandhu

First Woman IPS Officer:
Kiran Bedi

First Woman Nobel Prize winner:
Mother Teresa in 1979 (Albanian born Indian citizen)

First Woman Ambassador:
Miss C. B. Muthamma

First Woman to climb Mt. Everest Twice:
Santosh Yadav

First Woman President of Indian National Congress:
Annie Besant

First Woman Pilot in Indian Air Force:
Harita Kaur Dayal

First Woman President of the UN General Assembly:
Vijay Laxmi Pandit

First Woman Chairman of UPSC:
Roze Millian Bethew

First Woman Director General of Police:
Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya

First Woman Lieutenant General:
Puneeta Arora

First Woman Air Vice Marshal:
P. Bandopadhyaya

First Woman to receive Bharat Ratna:
Indira Gandhi

First Woman to receive Jnanpith Award:
Ashapurna Devi

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FIRSTS IN OTHERS:

First Wax statue of a living Indian:
Mahatma Gandhi at Madame Tussaud’s in 1939

First Exclusive internet magazine:
Bharat Samachar

First Miss India to participate in Miss Universe:
Indrani Rehman

First President of the Indian National Congress:
W C Bonnerjee, 1885

First Muslim President of the Indian National Congress:
Badruddin Tayyabji

First Judge of International Court of Justice:
Dr. Nagender Singh

First Graduate in Medicine:
Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty