🔤 Chapter 09 · Topic 02 · Abbreviations & Firsts

Firsts in India

First PM, President, woman PM, first in space, first Olympic gold, first Nobel, first IIT — all key firsts.

🥇 Political & Constitutional Firsts

First	Person	Year
First Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru	1947
First President	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	1950
First Vice-President	Dr. S. Radhakrishnan	1952
First woman Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi	1966
First woman President	Pratibha Patil	2007
First woman Speaker of Lok Sabha	Meira Kumar	2009
First Governor-General of independent India	Lord Mountbatten	1947
First Indian Governor-General	C. Rajagopalachari	1948
First Chief Justice of India	H.J. Kania	1950
First Chief Election Commissioner	Sukumar Sen	1950
First CAG of India	V. Narahari Rao	1948
First Deputy PM of India	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	1947
First woman Chief Justice of a High Court	Leila Seth (HP High Court)	1991
First woman judge of Supreme Court	Justice M. Fathima Beevi	1989
First woman Chief Justice of Supreme Court	None yet (as of 2024)	—

🥇 Administrative & Service Firsts

First	Person	Year
First woman IPS officer	Kiran Bedi	1972
First woman IAS officer	Anna Rajam Malhotra	1951
First woman IFS officer	C.B. Muthamma	1949
First woman DGP	Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya (Uttarakhand)	2004
First woman Army General	Lt. Gen. Punita Arora	2004
First woman fighter pilot	Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh	2016

🥇 Science, Space & Technology Firsts

First	Details	Year
First Indian in space	Rakesh Sharma (Soyuz T-11, Soviet mission)	1984
First Indian woman in space	Kalpana Chawla (Indian-American; Space Shuttle Columbia)	1997
First Indian satellite	Aryabhata (launched by Soviet Union)	1975
First Indian nuclear test	Operation Smiling Buddha (Pokhran-I)	1974
First IIT established	IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal	1951
First IIM established	IIM Calcutta (Kolkata)	1961
First AIIMS established	AIIMS New Delhi	1956
First Indian to win Nobel Prize	Rabindranath Tagore (Literature)	1913
First Indian to win Nobel in Science	C.V. Raman (Physics)	1930
First Indian to win Nobel in Economics	Amartya Sen	1998
First Indian mission to Moon	Chandrayaan-1 (ISRO)	2008
First Indian mission to Mars	Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission)	2013
First soft landing on Moon’s south pole	Chandrayaan-3 (Vikram lander)	2023

🥇 Sports & Cultural Firsts

First	Person	Year
First Indian Olympic medal	Norman Pritchard (2 silver, Athletics)	1900
First Indian Olympic gold	Indian Hockey Team	1928
First individual Olympic gold	Abhinav Bindra (10m Air Rifle)	2008
First woman Olympic medallist	Karnam Malleswari (Weightlifting bronze)	2000
First Indian to climb Everest	Tenzing Norgay (with Edmund Hillary)	1953
First Indian woman to climb Everest	Bachendri Pal	1984
First Indian chess grandmaster	Viswanathan Anand	1988
First Indian World Chess Champion	Viswanathan Anand	2000
First Indian film to win Oscar	None (as of 2024); “RRR” won Golden Globe 2023	—
First Indian to win Booker Prize	Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children)	1981

✅ Revision Checklist

✅ First PM = Jawaharlal Nehru (1947)
✅ First President = Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1950)
✅ First woman PM = Indira Gandhi (1966)
✅ First woman President = Pratibha Patil (2007)
✅ First woman Speaker of Lok Sabha = Meira Kumar (2009)
✅ First Indian Governor-General = C. Rajagopalachari (1948)
✅ First CEC = Sukumar Sen (1950)
✅ First woman IPS = Kiran Bedi (1972)
✅ First woman IAS = Anna Rajam Malhotra (1951)
✅ First Indian in space = Rakesh Sharma (1984)
✅ First Indian satellite = Aryabhata (1975)
✅ First IIT = IIT Kharagpur (1951)
✅ First Indian Nobel = Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature)
✅ First individual Olympic gold = Abhinav Bindra (2008)
✅ Chandrayaan-3 = first soft landing on Moon’s south pole (2023)