List of first in India

S.No

Category

Names

Polity and Governance

1

First Governor of Bengal

Lord Clive

2

First Governor General of Bengal

Warren Hastings

3

First Governor General of India

Lord William Bentinck

4

Last Governor General of India

Lord Canning

5

First Indian Governor General of Independent India

C. Rajgopalachari

6

First Governor General of Independent India (after independence)

Lord Louis Mountbatten

7

First President of India

Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1950-1962)

8

First President of Constituent Assembly

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

9

First President of Indian National Congress

W.C Banerjee

10

First Muslim President of Indian National Congress

Badruddin Tayab

11

First Vice President of Independent India

Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (1952- 1962)

12

First Prime Minister of India

Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964)

13

First Speaker of Lok Sabha

Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar (1952-1956)

14

First Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

S.V. Krishnamoorthy Rao (1952-1962)

15

First Indian to pass ICS

Surendra Nath Banerjee

16

First Indian ICS officer

Satyendra Nath Tagore

17

First Chief Election Commissioner of India

Sukumar Sen (1950-1958)

18

First Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India

V. Narahari Rao (1948-1954)

19

First Chairman of Union Public Service Commission

Sir Ross Barker

20

First Attorney General for India

Motilal C. Setalvad (1950-1963)

21

First Minister of Home Affairs

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

22

First Minister of Finance

R.K. Shanmukham Chetty

23

First Education Minister of Independent India

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

24

First Minister of Defence

Baldev Singh Chokkar (1947-1952)

25

First Women Minister of External Affairs

Sushma Swaraj

26

First Minister of Agriculture

Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1946-1948)

27

First Minister of Human Resources Development

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

28

First Minister of Railways

John Mathai (1947-1948)

29

First Minister of Law and Justice

B.R. Ambedkar

30

First Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

31

First National Security Advisor

Brajesh Mishra

32

First Cabinet Secretary of India

N.R.Pillai (1950-1953)

33

First Foreign Secretary of India

K.P.S Menon

34

First Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

A.P.J Abdul Kalam (1999-2001)

35

First Chief Economic Advisor of India

JJ Anjaria

36

First Solicitor General of India

C K Daphtary

37

First National Human Rights  Commissioner of India

Ranganath Misra

38

First Indian Judge of International Court of Justice

Dr. Nagendra Singh

39

First Chief Justice of India

Justice Hiralal J. Kania

Defence

1

First Army Chief of India

Kodandera Madappa Cariappa

2

First Chief of Air Staff

Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst

3

First Indian Air Chief of India

Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee

4

First Chief Army Staff

General Maharaja Sri Rajendra Singh Ji Jadeja

5

First Chief of Naval Staff of India

Vice-Admiral R.D Katari

6

First Field Marshal of India

General S.F.J Manekshaw

7

First Nuclear Submarine of India

I.N.S. Chakra

8

First large scale Atomic Reactor of India

Apsara

9

First Aircraft Carrier Indian Ship

I.N.S. Vikrant

10

First Indian Submarine

I.N.S. Kalvari

11

First Nuclear Centre

Tarapur

12

First Medium-Range Missile

Agni

Sports

1

First Badminton player of India to achieve world no. 1 spot

Prakash Padukone

2

First Badminton player of India to win a medal at the Olympics

Saina Nehwal

3

First Female boxer to win 6 gold medals at World Championships

Mary Kom

4

First Indian weightlifter to win a gold medal at the Olympics

Karnam Malleswari

5

First Batsman of India to score a century for India in Test cricket

Lala Amarnath Bhardwaj

6

First Formula One Driver

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan

7

First Asian Games Organised

New Delhi (1951)

8

first indian male squash player to enter the top 10 in the PSA world rankings

Saurav Ghoshal

9

First Table Tennis player of India to become nine times Senior National Champion

Achanta Sharath Kamal

10

First Indian Swimmer to cross English Channel

Mihir Sen

11

First Indian sportswoman to be awarded the Padma Shri

Arati Saha

12

First Golf player of India to break into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking

Jeev Milkha Singh

13

First Indian to win World Amateur Billiards title

Wilson Jones

14

First Chess Grandmaster of India

Viswanathan Anand

15

First Female wrestling player of India to win an Olympic medal

Sakshi Malik

Awards and Prizes

1

First Indian Nobel Laureate

Rabindranath Tagore

2

First Indian to get Bharat Ratana Award

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

3

First Indian to get Jnanpith Award

G. Shankar Kurup

4

First Person to get Paramvir Chakra

Major Somnath Sharma

5

First Scientist to get Nobal Prize

C.V. Raman

6

First Indian to get Stalin Award

Saifuddin Kitchlew

7

First Indian to win Magsaysay Award

Acharya Vinoba Bhava

8

First Women to get Ashok chakra

Nirja Bhanot

9

First Indian author to get Anderson Award

Ruskin Bond

First Women in India

1

First Woman Chief Minister of a State

Sucheta Kripalani (UP)

2

First Woman Governor of free India

Sarojini Naidu

3

First woman Judge in India

Anna Chandy

4

First woman judge in Supreme Court of India

Meera Sahib Fatima Biwi

5

First  Women IPS officer

Kiran Bedi

6

First Indian Woman to become Miss World

Sushmita Sen

7

First Women to get Jnanpith

Ashapurna Devi

8

First Indian Woman go to Space

Kalpana Chawla

9

First Women President of India

Pratibha Devisingh Patil (2007-2012)

10

First woman to win the Booker Prize

Arundhati Roy

Miscellaneous

1

First Indian person to climb Mount Everest without Oxygen cylinder

Shepra Phu Dorji

2

First Man to climb Mount Everest twice

Nawang Gombu Sherpa

3

First person to reach Antarctica

Lt.Ram Charan

4

First Person to make Printing Press Popular in India 

James Hickey

5

First Indian Cosmonaut (to go into space)

Sqn.Ldr.Rakesh Sharma

6

First Space Shuttle Launched

Columbia

7

First Chinese pilgrim to visit India

Fa-hien

8

First e-business Newspaper of India

Financial Express

9

First temple constructed from a single rock

Kailasa temple at Ellora

10

First satellite

Aryabhatta

11

First Genetically modified food product in India

Bt. Brinjal

12

First genetically modified crop that is under cultivation in India

Bt. Cotton