List of firsts in India

Awards and Titles

• Miss World: Reita Faria in 1966
• Miss Universe: Sushmita Sen in 1994
• Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997
• Bharat Ratna: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari, and Dr C.V. Raman in 1954
• Chevalier: Sivaji Ganesan
• Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Devika Rani in 1969
• 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"
• Magsaysay Award: Vinoba Bhave
• Winner of a major literary award in the United States: Dhan Gopal Mukerji
• Ford Supermodel of the World (contest): Bipasha Basu, 1996

Nobel Prize

• Nobel Prize winner: Rabindranath Tagore for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913. He was also the first Asian to get the prize.
• Nobel Prize in Physics: C. V. Raman in 1930.
• Nobel Prize in Medicine: Har Gobind Khorana in 1968. (India born US citizen)
• Nobel Peace Prize: Mother Teresa in 1979. (Albanian nun, Indian citizen)
• Nobel Prize in Economics: Amartya Sen in 1998

Defence

• Commander-in-Chief of Free India: General Sir Roy Bucher
• Indian Commander-in-Chief of Free India: General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, 1949
• Chief of Air Staff: Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst
• Indian Chief of Staff: General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, 1947
• Commander-in-Chief, IAF: Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, 1954
• Chief of Naval Staff: Vice Admiral R D Katari
• Cosmonaut: Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, 1984

Exploration

• Person to reach the South Pole: Col Jatinder Kumar Bajaj
• Woman to scale Mount Everest: Bachendri Pal on May 23, 1984. She was the 5th woman in the world to scale the peak.

Film and TV

• Sound film: Alam Ara, 1931
• Oscar winner: Bhanu Athaiya for Best Costume Design for Gandhi (film) in 1982
• Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film: Mother India in 1957
• National Film Award for cinema: Shyamchi Aai in 1954
• Colorized film: Mughal-e-Azam in 2004 (the original black-and-white version was released in 1960)
• Sponsored TV serial: Hum Log, started in 1984, was also the first soap opera of India
• Actor to enact 10 roles: Kamal Haasan

Governance

• President: Rajendra Prasad (1950-1962)
• Prime Minister: Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964). The first term lasted till 1952 after which he was re-elected
• Deputy Prime Minister: Vallabhbhai Patel
• Prime Minister to be voted out of office: Indira Gandhi (1977) when the Indian National Congress lost to the Janata Party
• Non-Congress government: by Janata Party with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister (1977-1980)
• Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term (five years): P. V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996
• 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
• Prime Minister from South India: P. V. Narasimha Rao, June 21, 1991 – May 16, 1996
• Governor-General: Warren Hastings
• Governor General of Independent India: Lord Mountbatten, 1947
• Indian Governor-General of Indian Union: C Rajagopalachari, 1948
• Chief Justice of India: HJ Kania
• Indian ICS Officer: Satyendranath Tagore, 1863
• Speaker of Lok Sabha: Shri G.V. Mavlankar
• 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

Science

• Hydroelectric plant: On the Gaganachukki waterfall of the Sivasamudram Falls, Karnataka. Built in 1902.
• City to have electricity: Bangalore, in 1906 (it was in fact the first city in Asia to have electricity)
• Man in space: Rakesh Sharma aboard Salyut 7, on April 03, 1984. He was the 138th man in space world-wide.
• 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.
• Test-tube baby: Durga Agarwal, born 1978
• Scientific Expedition to Antarctica: 1981
• 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

Sport

• Person to swim across the English Channel: Mihir Sen, 1958
• Woman to swim across the English Channel: Arati Saha, 1959
• Formula 1 race driver: Narain Karthikeyan
• Formula 1 team: Force India F1
• A1 GP race victory: Narain Karthikeyan,Zhuhai,China,2007

Olympics

• Olympic team medal: Gold for Hockey at the 1928 Summer Olympics Amsterdam, beating the Netherlands.
• Olympic individual medal (in British India): Silver by Norman Pritchard for 200 metres races at the 1900 Summer Olympics, Paris. (This is disputed however. The IOC claims he participated for India. The IAAF records him as participant for Great Britain.)
• Olympic individual medal: Bronze by K. D. Jadhav for wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics Helsinki.
• Olympic individual medal by a woman: Bronze by Karnam Malleswari for weightlifting 54 kg class, at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney.
• Olympic silver medal: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore for Men's Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athens.
• Olympic gold medal: Abhinav Bindra for 10 m Air Rifle at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing.

Chess

• Chess Grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand in 1988, at the age of 18.
• FIDE World Chess Champion: Viswanathan Anand in December 2000.
• Undisputed World Chess Champion: Viswanathan Anand in September 2007.

Tennis

• Tennis Grand Slam title: Mahesh Bhupathi (partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 1997 French Open.
• Tennis Grand Slam win by a woman: Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the first round of the 1998 Australian Open
• 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.
• Tennis Grand Slam junior title: Leander Paes in the Singles category of the 1990 Wimbledon Championship.
• Tennis Grand Slam junior title by a woman: Sania Mirza (partnering with Russian Alisa Kleybanova) in the Doubles category of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.

Cricket

• Cricket tournament: The Bombay Triangular which later became the Bombay Quadrangular (1912-1936)
• Cricket test match: Against England at Lord's, June 25, 1932
• Cricket captain: CK Nayudu for the 1932 tour of England
• Cricketer to score a century: Lala Amarnath in 1933 against England in South Bombay
• Cricketer to score a triple century: Vijay Hazare
• ODI cricket hat-trick: Chetan Sharma in Reliance World Cup against New Zealand in 1987.
• Test cricket hat-trick: Harbhajan Singh against Australia in March 2001
• Cricket World Cup championship win: At the 1983 Cricket World Cup, England beating West Indies.
• Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket: Sunil Gavaskar (he was first in the world to achieve this feat)
• Batsman to complete 10,000 runs in ODI cricket: Sachin Tendulkar (he was first in the world to achieve this feat)
• Cricket Twenty20 world cup winner : 2007
• Cricketer to score 75 Test and ODI centuries : Sachin Tendulkar.

Minorities

• First Sikh Prime Minister : Manmohan Singh
• First Muslim President : Zakir Hussain (1967-1969)
• First Sikh President : Giani Zail Singh

Women

• Graduates: Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu, 1883
• Head of an Undergraduate Academic Institution: Chandramukhi Basu, 1888
• Honours Graduate: Kamini Roy (1886)
• Lawyer: Cornelia Sorabjee
• Supreme Court Judge (also the first in the world): Anna Chandy
• Physician: Kadambini Ganguly, 1886
• Airline Pilot: Durga Banerjee
• Olympic medal winner: Karnam Malleswari, 2000
• Asian Games gold medal winner: Kamlijit Sandhu
• IPS Officer: Kiran Bedi
• Nobel Prize winner: Mother Teresa in 1979 (Albanian born Indian citizen)

Administration and Politics

• Prime Minister: Indira Gandhi
• Minister in a government: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
• Chief Minister of a State: Sucheta Kripalani, 1963
• Governor: Sarojini Naidu
• Central Minister: Vijayalakshmi Pandit
• Speaker of a State Assembly: Shanno Devi
• Indian National Congress President: Annie Besant
• President: Pratibha Patil

Others

• Wax statue of a living Indian: Mahatma Gandhi at Madame Tussaud's in 1939
• Exclusive internet magazine: Bharat Samachar
• Miss India to participate in Miss Universe: Indrani Rehman
• President of the Indian National Congress: W C Bonnerjee, 1885
• Graduate in Medicine: Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty