Political & Constitutional Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First President of India | Dr. Rajendra Prasad | 1950 |
| First Vice President | Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | 1952 |
| First Prime Minister | Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | 1947 |
| First Deputy Prime Minister | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel | 1947 |
| First Woman President | Pratibha Patil (12th President) | 2007 |
| First Woman Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi | 1966 |
| First Dalit President | K.R. Narayanan (10th President) | 1997 |
| First Chief Justice of India | Justice H.J. Kania | 1950 |
| First Woman Supreme Court Judge | Justice M. Fathima Beevi | 1989 |
| First Woman Chief Justice of India | None yet (Justice B.V. Nagarathna expected in 2027) | – |
| First Lok Sabha Speaker | G.V. Mavalankar | 1952 |
| First Woman Lok Sabha Speaker | Meira Kumar (15th Speaker) | 2009 |
| First Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) | V. Narahari Rao | 1948 |
| First Attorney General | M.C. Setalvad | 1950 |
| First Chief Election Commissioner | Sukumar Sen | 1950 |
| First Indian Governor-General (post-independence) | C. Rajagopalachari | 1948 |
| First Viceroy of India (British era) | Lord Canning | 1858 |
| First Woman Governor of a State | Sarojini Naidu (United Provinces, now UP) | 1947 |
| First Woman Chief Minister | Sucheta Kripalani (Uttar Pradesh) | 1963 |
| First Chairman of the Planning Commission | Jawaharlal Nehru | 1950 |
| First Chairman of the Finance Commission | K.C. Neogy | 1951 |
| First Chairman of UPSC (Public Service Commission) | Sir Ross Barker | 1926 |
Science & Technology Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First Satellite | Aryabhata (launched from Kapustin Yar, USSR, on Kosmos-3M vehicle) | 1975 |
| First Satellite Launch Vehicle | SLV-3 (placed Rohini RS-1 in orbit from Sriharikota) | 1980 |
| First Nuclear Test | Pokhran-I / Smiling Buddha (implosion-type fission device, Pokhran Test Range) | 1974 |
| First Supercomputer | PARAM 8000 (developed by C-DAC, Pune) | 1991 |
| First Moon Mission | Chandrayaan-1 (discovered water molecules on lunar surface) | 2008 |
| First Lunar South Pole Landing | Chandrayaan-3 (lander Vikram, rover Pragyan; 4th country to soft-land on Moon) | 2023 |
| First Mars Mission | Mars Orbiter Mission / Mangalyaan (first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit) | 2013 |
| First Solar Mission | Aditya-L1 (reached Sun-Earth L1 point, 1.5 million km from Earth) | 2023 |
| First Nuclear Power Plant | Tarapur Atomic Power Station, Maharashtra | 1969 |
| First Indian in Space | Wg. Cdr. Rakesh Sharma (Soyuz T-11, Soviet Interkosmos programme) | 1984 |
| First Indian Woman in Space | Kalpana Chawla (Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-87) | 1997 |
| First Railway Line | Bombay (Bori Bunder) to Thane, 34 km, Great Indian Peninsula Railway | 1853 |
| First Telegraph Line | Calcutta to Diamond Harbour, 48 km | 1851 |
| First Metro Rail | Kolkata Metro (Esplanade to Bhowanipur, 3.4 km) | 1984 |
| First IIT | IIT Kharagpur (inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad) | 1951 |
| First Stock Exchange | Bombay Stock Exchange (oldest in Asia) | 1875 |
Defence Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First Aircraft Carrier | INS Vikrant (R11) (commissioned in Belfast; served in 1971 war) | 1961 |
| First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier | INS Vikrant (IAC-1) (built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd., commissioned at Kochi) | 2022 |
| First Nuclear Submarine | INS Arihant (SSBN, built under Advanced Technology Vessel Project) | 2016 |
| First Scorpene-class Submarine | INS Kalvari (S21) (built at Mazagon Dock Ltd., Mumbai, under Project 75) | 2017 |
| First Param Vir Chakra Recipient | Major Somnath Sharma (posthumous; Battle of Badgam, J&K, 3 Nov 1947) | 1950 (gazetted) |
| First Woman Fighter Pilots (IAF) | Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh (inducted into fighter squadron) | 2016 |
| First Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Test | Agni-V (range 5,400+ km; tested from Odisha) | 2012 |
Sports Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First Olympic Gold Medal | Indian Men’s Hockey Team (Amsterdam Olympics; captain Jaipal Singh Munda) | 1928 |
| First Individual Olympic Medal | K.D. Jadhav (bronze, wrestling, bantamweight, Helsinki Olympics) | 1952 |
| First Individual Olympic Gold Medal | Abhinav Bindra (10m air rifle shooting, Beijing Olympics) | 2008 |
| First Woman Olympic Medalist | Karnam Malleswari (bronze, weightlifting 69 kg, Sydney Olympics) | 2000 |
| First Cricket World Cup (ODI) | India defeated West Indies at Lord’s (captain Kapil Dev) | 1983 |
| First T20 Cricket World Cup | India defeated Pakistan at Johannesburg (captain M.S. Dhoni) | 2007 |
| First Indian to Swim English Channel (male) | Mihir Sen (Dover to Calais, 14 hrs 45 min; first Asian to do so) | 1958 |
| First Indian Woman to Swim English Channel | Arati Saha (Cape Gris Nez to Sandgate, 16 hrs 20 min; first Asian woman) | 1959 |
| First Indian Woman to Climb Mount Everest | Bachendri Pal | 1984 |
| First Arjuna Award Recipients | 20 sportspersons including Salim Durani, Dara Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa | 1961 |
| First Dronacharya Award Recipients | B.B. Bhagwat (wrestling), O.M. Nambiar (athletics), O.P. Bhardwaj (boxing) | 1985 |
Social & Cultural Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First Indian Nobel Laureate | Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize in Literature for Gitanjali; first Asian Nobel laureate) | 1913 |
| First Bharat Ratna Recipients | C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, C.V. Raman (three inaugural recipients) | 1954 |
| First Indian to Win an Oscar | Bhanu Athaiya (Best Costume Design for Gandhi, shared with John Mollo) | 1983 |
| First Woman IAS Officer | Anna Rajam Malhotra (1951 batch; first woman to clear the civil services exam) | 1951 |
| First Woman IPS Officer | Kiran Bedi (joined IPS, trained at National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie) | 1972 |
| First Census of India (non-synchronous) | Conducted across British India (not all princely states covered) | 1872 |
| First Synchronous Decennial Census | Conducted simultaneously across India on 17 February | 1881 |
| First Census of Independent India | Conducted under the Census of India Act, 1948 | 1951 |
Economic Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First Five Year Plan | Focused on agriculture and irrigation; modelled on Harrod-Domar model | 1951 |
| First Bank Nationalisation | 14 major private commercial banks nationalised on 19 July | 1969 |
| First Indian Company on NASDAQ | Infosys (listed ADRs on 11 March; first India-registered company on a US exchange) | 1999 |
| First Stock Exchange in Asia | Bombay Stock Exchange (founded as Native Share & Stock Brokers’ Association) | 1875 |
| First Post Office (British India) | Calcutta (established by East India Company) | 1727 |
| First Modern Postal Service | India Post Office Act, 1854 (uniform postage rates introduced by Lord Dalhousie) | 1854 |
State & Administrative Firsts
| First | Name / Detail | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First State Formed on Linguistic Basis | Andhra State (carved from Telugu-speaking districts of Madras; triggered by Potti Sreeramulu’s martyrdom) | 1953 |
| First Union Territory to Become a Full State | Himachal Pradesh (became 18th state of India on 25 January) | 1971 |
| First Territory Liberated from Portuguese Rule | Goa, Daman and Diu (Operation Vijay, 19 December 1961; Goa became 25th state in 1987) | 1961 |
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: First President/PM/CJI, first satellite/mission names, first Olympic medalists, first woman in various positions, bank nationalisation year, first linguistic state. Mains GS-1: Social reformers and their firsts, India’s scientific achievements and their impact, sports and nation-building.
Facts Corner – Knowledgepedia
Political & Constitutional:
- First President: Rajendra Prasad (1950-1962, served two terms)
- First PM: Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964, longest-serving PM)
- First CJI: H.J. Kania (served 1950-1951, died in office)
- First CEC: Sukumar Sen (served 1950-1958; oversaw first two general elections)
- First Attorney General: M.C. Setalvad (served 1950-1963, longest-serving AG)
- C. Rajagopalachari: last Governor-General (1948-1950), also first Indian-born to hold the post
- Sarojini Naidu: first woman Governor (UP, 1947-1949), known as “Nightingale of India”
- Justice B.V. Nagarathna: expected to become first woman CJI in September 2027
Science & Technology:
- Aryabhata satellite: launched 19 April 1975 from USSR; named after ancient Indian mathematician
- SLV-3: project director was A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
- Pokhran-I (1974): code name “Smiling Buddha”; made India 6th nuclear state
- Pokhran-II (1998): code name “Operation Shakti”; five nuclear tests under PM Vajpayee
- Chandrayaan-3: made India 4th country to soft-land on Moon (after USSR, USA, China)
- Mangalyaan: cost only Rs 450 crore (~$74 million), less than the budget of the film Gravity
- PARAM 8000: developed by C-DAC in response to US denial of Cray supercomputer to India
- Kolkata Metro (1984): first rapid transit system in South Asia
- First railway: 16 April 1853; three locomotives named Sindh, Sultan, and Sahib
Defence:
- INS Vikrant (1961): played crucial role in 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
- INS Vikrant (2022): largest warship built in India; 45,000 tonnes
- INS Arihant: completes India’s nuclear triad (land, air, sea-based nuclear deterrence)
- Major Somnath Sharma: died at age 24 defending Srinagar Airport (3 Nov 1947)
- Agni-V: solid-fueled, three-stage missile; range 5,400+ km
Sports:
- India won 6 consecutive Olympic hockey golds (1928-1956); 8 golds total
- K.D. Jadhav: bronze at 1952 Helsinki Olympics; never received a Padma award
- Abhinav Bindra: scored 10.8 in final shot to win gold with total 700.5
- Kapil Dev: 175 not out vs Zimbabwe in 1983 World Cup; match-turning innings
- Mihir Sen (1958): first Asian to swim the English Channel
- Arati Saha (1959): first Asian woman to swim the English Channel; awarded Padma Shri in 1960
Social & Cultural:
- Tagore (1913): first non-European Nobel laureate; composed national anthems of India and Bangladesh
- Anna Rajam Malhotra: 1951 IAS batch; first woman Secretary to Government of India
- Kiran Bedi (1972): first Indian woman to head UN Police Division
- First Bharat Ratna (1954): C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan, and C.V. Raman simultaneously
Other Relevant Facts:
- Rakesh Sharma’s famous words from space to PM Indira Gandhi: “Saare Jahan Se Achha”
- Kalpana Chawla died in Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February 2003 (STS-107)
- India has never had a woman CJI in 75+ years of the Supreme Court’s existence
- IIT Kharagpur (1951): established at the site of Hijli Detention Camp used by British
- Bank nationalisation (1969): 14 banks with deposits over Rs 50 crore each
- BSE (1875): oldest in Asia; market cap exceeded $5 trillion in 2024
- Andhra State (1953): first linguistic state; Potti Sreeramulu died after 56-day hunger strike
- First Five Year Plan (1951-1956): allocated Rs 2,069 crore; focused on agriculture, irrigation, and power
Sources: PIB, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Supreme Court of India, ISRO, Indian Olympic Association
