First in India updated

Following are first in India happenings

Male

The first President of Indian Republic Dr. Rajendra Prasad
The first Prime Minister of free India Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru
The first Indian to win Nobel Prize Rabindranath Tagore
The first President of Indian National Congress W.C. Banerjee
The first Muslim President of Indian National Congress Badruddin Tayyabji
The first Muslim President of India Dr. Zakir Hussain
The first British Governor General of India Lord William Bentinck(1833-1835)
The first British Governor General of Bengal Lord Warren Hasting(1774-1885)
The first British Viceroy of India Lord Canning
The first Governor General of free India Lord Mountbatten
The first and the last Indian to be Governor General of free India C. Rajgopalachari
The first man who introduced printing press in India James Hicky
The first Indian to join the I.C.S Satyendra Nath Tagore
India’s first man in Space Rakesh Sharma
The first Prime Minister of India who resigned without completing the full term Morarji Desai
The first Indian Commander-in-Chief of India General Cariappa
The first Chief of Army Staff Gen. Maharaj Rajendra Singhji
The first Indian Member of the Viceroy’s executive council S.P.Sinha
The first President of India who died while in office Dr. Zakhir Hussain
The first Muslim President of Indian Republic Dr. Zakhir Hussain
The first Prime Minister of India who did not face the Parliament Charan Singh
The first Field Marshal of India S.H.F. Manekshaw
The first Indian to get Nobel Prize in Physics C.V.Raman
The first Indian to receive Bharat Ratna award Dr. Radhakrishnan
The first Indian to cross English Channel Mihir Sen
The first Person to receive Jnanpith award Sri Shankar Kurup
The firs Speaker of the Lok Sabha Ganesh Vasudeva Mavalankar
The first Vice-President of India Dr. Radhakrishnan
The first Education Minister Abdul Kalam Azad
The first Home minister of India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel
The first Indian Air Chief Marshal S. Mukherjee
The first Indian Naval Chief Vice Admiral R.D. Katari
The first Judge of International Court of Justice Dr. Nagendra Singh
The first person to reach Mt. Everest without oxygen Sherpa Anga Dorjee
The first person to get Param Vir Chakra Major Somnath Sharma
The first Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen
The first person to receive Magsaysay Award Acharya Vinoba Bhave
The first person of Indian origin to receive Nobel Prize in Medicine Hargovind Khurana
The first Chinese traveller to visit India Fahein
The first person to receive Stalin Prize Saifuddin Kitchlu
The first person to resign from the Central Cabinet Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
The first person to receive Nobel Prize in Economics Amartya Sen
The first Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Hirala J. Kania
The first Indian Pilot J.R.D. Tata (1929)

Female

The first lady to become Miss World Rita Faria
The first woman judge in Supreme Court Mrs. Meera Sahib Fatima Bibi
The first woman Ambassador Miss C.B. Muthamma
The first woman Governor of a state in free India Mrs Sarojini Naidu
The first woman Speaker of a State Assembly Shanno Devi
The first woman Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi
The first woman Minister in a Government Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
The first woman to climb Mount Everest Bachhendri Pal
The first woman to climb Mount Everest twice Santosh Yadav
The first woman President of Indian National Congress Mrs Annie Besant
The first woman pilot in Indian Air Force Harita Kaur Dayal
The first woman Graduates Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu, 1883
The first woman Airline Pilot Durba Banerjee
The first woman Honours Graduate Kamini Roy, 1886
The first woman Olympic medal Winner Karnam Malleswari, 2000
The first woman Asian Games Gold Medal Winner Kamlijit Sandhu
The first woman Lawyer Cornelia Sorabjee
The first woman President of United Nations General Assembly Mrs Vijaya Laxmi Pandit
The first woman Chief Minister of an Indian State Mrs Sucheta Kripalani
The first woman Chairman of Union Public Service Commission Roze Millian Bethew
The first woman Director General of Police Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya
The first woman Judge Anna Chandy (She became judge in a district court in 1937)
The first woman Cheif Justice of High Court Mrs Leela Seth (Himachal Pradesh High Court)
The first woman Judge in Supreme Court of India Kumari Justice M. Fathima Beevi
The first woman Lieutenant General Puneeta Arora
The first woman Air Vice Marshal P. Bandopadhyaya
The first woman chairperson of Indian Airlines Sushma Chawla
The first woman IPS officer Mrs. Kiran Bedi
The first and last Muslim woman ruler of India Razia Sultan
The first woman to receive Ashoka Chakra Nirja Bhanot
The first woman to receive Jnanpith Award Ashapurna Devi
The first woman to cross English Channel Aarti Saha
The first woman to receive Nobel Prize Mother Teresa
The first woman to receive Bharat Ratna Mrs Indira Gandhi
The first woman to receive Jnanpith Award Ashpurna Devi

First 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 Radhakrishan
First Deputy Prime Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel
First Prime Minister to be voted out of Office India Ghandi (1977) when the Indian National Congress lost to he Janta Party.
First Sikh Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
First Sikh President Giani Zail Singh
First Non-Congress Government by Janta Party with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister (1977-1980)
First Prime Minster of India resigned without completing his full term Morarji Desai
First Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term(five years) P.V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 to May 16 1996
First Prime Minster from South India P.V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 to May 16 1996
First Governor-General Warren Hastings
First British Governor-General Lord William Bentick
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 to pass ICS Surendra Nath Banerjee
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 President to die in Office Dr. Zakhir Hussain
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 Education Minister Abul Kalam Azad
First Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
First Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen
First Minister to regin from Union Cabinet Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (1950)

First in Noble Prizes

First Noble Prize Winner Rabindranath Tagore for the Noble Prize in Literature, 1913.
 He was also the first Asian to get the Prize.
First Noble Prize in Physics C.V. Raman in 1930
First Noble Prize in Medicine Har Gobind Khorana in 1968. (Indian Born US Citizen)
First Noble Peace Prize Mother Teresa in 1979. (Albanian nun, Indian Citizen)
First Noble Prize in Economics Amartya Sen in 1998

First in Science and Technology

First Hydroelectric Plant On the Ganganachukki waterfall of the Sivasamudram Falls, Karnataka, built in 1902
First City to have electricity Banglore, in 1906 (it was in fact the first city 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 Women 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 Scienfific Expedition to Antarctica 1981
First Nuclear Reactor Tarapur, Maharashtra
First Genetically Modified Food Product in India Bt. Egg Plant Hybrid
First Satellite Aryabhatta, launched on April 19, 1975
First Satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services EDUSET
First Successfully Indigenous Launch Vehicle SLV-3
The first person in the world to land on the moon Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E Aldrin Jr of USA (Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon followed by Aldrin) - July 21, 1969
First man to enter space (or the world's first cosmonaut) Yuri Gagarin (Russian)
The first returnable space shuttle Colombia
The first disabled satellite repaired in space Solar Max
The first unmanned moon-buggy to explore surface of the moon Lunokhod-I (Russia)
The first unmanned spaceship to have soft-landed and lifted off from the moon to return to earth. Luna - 16 (Russia) (Sept. 21, 1970)
The first manned space vehicle to land on the moon Lunar Exploration Module (LEM) nick named "Eagle"
The first country to send men on the moon USA
The first to launch earth satellite or "artificial baby moon" Russia
The first woman cosmonaut of the world Valentina Tereshkova (Russian)
The first person to float in space Alexei Lenov (Russian)
The first American astronaut (and second person in the world) to float in space Edward White
The first country to launch a cosmic space rocket towards moon USSR
The first space rocket to hit the moon Lunik-II
The first spaceship in the world to sample moon's crust Surveyor-3 (USA)
The first space vehicle to soft-land on Moon Luna-9 (Russia)
The first space vehicle to orbite the moon Luna-10 (Russia)
The first space-craft to leave solar system Pioneer II
The first American manned spaceship to perform crew transfer in space Apollo-9 (USA)
The first manned spacehip to perform space flight round the moon Apollo-8 (USA)

First in Sports

First Olympic team medal Gold for Hockey at the 1928 Summer Olympics Amsterdam, beating the Nethherlands.
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 Olympic Helsinki.
First Person to swim across the English Channel Mihir Sen,
First Women to swim across the English Channel Mihir Sen, 1958
First Formula I race driver Narain Karthikeyan
First Formula I team Force India F1
First A1 GP race victory Narain Karthikeyan, Zhuhai, China, 2007
First Asian Games organised Delhi (1951)
First 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
First in TENNIS
First Tennis Grand Slam title Mahesh Bhupati (partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 1997 French Open
First Tennis Grand Slam win by a women Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the First round of 1998 Australian Open First Women in 4th round (higest 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 a bronze medal, the only medal that put India in the medal tally.
First Tennis Grand Slam Junior title by a women Sania Mirza (partnering with Russian Alisa Kleybanova) in the Doubles category of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.
First 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 Test Cricket cricket hat-trick Harbhajan Singh against Austrlia in March 2001
First Cricketer World Cup Championship Win At the 1983 Cricket World Cup
First Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in Test Cricket Sunil Gavaskar (he was the first in the world to achieve this feat.)
First Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket Sachin Tendulkar (he was the first in the world to achieve this feat.)
First Cricketer to score 75 Test and ODI centuries Sachin Tendulkar

First in Awards and Titles

First Miss World Reita Faria in 1966
First Miss Universe Susmita Sen in 1994
First Booker Prize Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997
First Bharat Ratna Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishan, C. Rajagopalachari, and Dr. C.V. Raman in 1954
First Foreigner to receive Bharat Ratna Khan Abdul Ghaffar
First Person to receive Stalin Prize Saifuddin Kitchlu
First Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan
First Person to receive Jnapith Award Shri 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
First Indian recipient of 'Oscar Award' Bhanu Athaiya

First in Defense

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 Marshall Sir Thomas Elmhirst
First Indian Chief of Staff Air Marshall Subroto Mukerjee, 1954
First Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral R D Katari
First Field Marshall of India S.H.F. Manekshaw
First Person to receive Paramvir Chakra Major Somnath Sharma
First Cosmonaut Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, 1984
First Atomic Submarine of India INS Chakra
First Medium Range Missile Agni
First Indian Missile Prithvi (Striking range - 250 kms)
India's First Nuclear Centre Tarapur

First in Film and TV

First Sound Film Alam Ara, 1931
First Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya for the 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 entact 10 roles Kamal Haasan

First Heads of States (World)

The first President of the USA George Washington
The first Prime Minister of Great Britain Walpole
The first President of the Chinese Republic (1912) Sun Yat-Sen
The first Chairman of the Central Government of the People's Republic of China formally established in Peking in October, 1949 Mao Tse-tung
The first Governor-General of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah
The last king of France Louis Philippe
The first ever woman Prime Minister of a country in the world Mrs S. Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka)
The first woman to become Prime Minster of a country twice Mrs S. Bandaranaike
First Visitors, Invaders
The first European invader on Indian Soil Alexander the Great
The first European to visit China Marco Polo
The first Chinese pilgrim who came to India Fa-hein
The first British Prime Minister to visit India Harold Macmillan
The first President of the USA to visit India D. Eisenhower
The first Soviet Prime Minister to visit India V.I. Bulganin

First in World

Chairman of Peoples Republic of China Mao-Tse-Tung
President of the Chinese Republic Dr. Sun Yat Sen
President of USA George Washington
Chinese Traveller to India Fahein
Foreign Invader to India Alexander the Great
Person to reach South Pole Amudsen
Person to reach North Pole Robert Pearey
Person in Space Yuri Gagarin
Person on Moon Neil Armstrong
Lady to Climb Mount Everst Junko Taibei
European to visit China Marco Polo
Place where atom bomb was dropped Hiroshima
Man to walk in Space Alexei Leonov
Women cosmonaut in Space Valentina Tereshkova
Woman Prime Minister of a country Mrs. Srimavo Bhandarnaike
Women President of a country Maria Estela Peron
First north-south crossing of Australia Burke, Robert O'Hana (1860-1861)
First sea journey around the world Magellan

First in Others

First Wax statue of a Living Indian Mahatma Gandhi at Madame Tussaud's in 1939
First Chinese pilgrim to Visit India Fa-hien
First Exclusive internet magazine Bharat Samachar
First Miss India to participate in Miss Universe Indrani Rehman
First President of Indian National Congress W.C. Bannerjee, 1885
First Muslim President of the Indian National Congress Badruddin Tayyabji
First Judge in International Court of Justice Dr. Nagender Singh
First Graduate in Medicine Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chukerbutty
India's First University Nalanda University
India's First Open University Andhra Pradesh Open University
India's First Lok Sabha Member to be elected with a record maximum number of votes P.V.Narasimha Rao
First Indian to reach Antarctica Lt. Ram Charan
First British to Visit India Hawkins
First Test tube baby of India Indira (Baby Harsha)
First Post Office Opened in India Kolkata(1727)

Last Updated: 08 Mar 2016