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 BesantFirst Woman Pilot in Indian Air Force: Harita Kaur DayalFirst Woman President of the UN General Assembly: Vijay Laxmi PanditFirst Woman Chairman of UPSC: Roze Millian BethewFirst Woman Director General of Police: Kanchan Chaudhary BhattacharyaFirst Woman Lieutenant General: Puneeta AroraFirst Woman Air Vice Marshal: P. BandopadhyayaFirst Woman to receive Bharat Ratna: Indira GandhiFirst Woman to receive Jnanpith Award: Ashapurna Devi___________________________________________________

 

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

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