Governance
1) First President of the Indian National Congress: Womesh Chandra Bannerjee, 1885.
2) First President of the Indian National Congress of independent India: Acharya Kripalani.
3) First President: Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
4) The first Chief Election Commissioner: Sukumar Sen.
5) First Industries and Supplies Minister: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
6) First person to resign from the Central Cabinet: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
7) Vice-President: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
8) First Prime Minister of Indian Republic: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–64).
9) Deputy Prime Minister: Vallabhbhai Patel (1947–50).
10) Law Minister of India: B. R. Ambedkar.
11) Leader of Opposition: A. K. Gopalan.
12) Prime Minister to be voted out of office: Indira Gandhi.
13) Non-Congress govt: Janata Party, with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister (1977–1980).
14) Non-Congress State govt with Majority: E. M. S. Namboodiripad of CPI, Kerala 1957.
15) Prime Minister to lead a minority govt for a full term: P. V. Narasimha Rao, 1991 – 1996.
16) Non Congress Prime Minister to serve a full term: Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
17) The first Viceroy of India: Lord Canning, 1858.
18) Governor-General of India: Warren Hastings, 1773.
19) Governor-General of Independent India: Lord Mountbatten, 1947.
20) Indian Governor-General of Indian Union: C Rajagopalachari, 1948.
21) Chief Justice of India: H. J. Kania (1947–51).
22) First Sikh Prime Minister: Manmohan Singh (2004–14).
23) First Muslim President: Zakir Hussain (1967–69).
24) First Sikh President: Giani Zail Singh.
25) Speaker of Lok Sabha: G. V. Mavlankar (1952–56).
26) Finance Minister of Independent India: R. K. Shanmukham Chetty.
27) First Home Minister of India: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
28) First Indian President to die in Office: Zakir Hussain.
29) First Chief Minister to die in Office: C. N. Annadurai, Tamil Nadu.
30) First Indian Prime Minister to resign from office: Morarji Desai, 1979.
31) First Prime Minister born after India's independence: Narendra Modi.
Defence (in the Republic of India)
1) Defence Minister of India: Baldev Singh.
2) Commander-in-Chief of Free India: Kodandera Madappa Cariappa.
3) Indian Commander-in-Chief of Free India: General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa.
4) Chief of Air Staff: Subroto Mukerjee.
5) Chief of Army Staff: Rajendrasinhji Jadeja.
6) Commander-in-Chief, IAF: Subroto Mukerjee.
7) Chief of Naval Staff: Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey.
8) First Indian (pre-Independence) flying ace: Indra Lal Roy.
9) India's first military helicopter pilot: Air Commodore Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar.
10) Cosmonaut: Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, 1984.
11) Field Marshal: Sam Manekshaw (S.H.F Manekshaw).
12) First female Jawan in the Army: Sapper Shanti Tigga.
13) First Param Vir Chakra winner: Major Som Nath Sharma.
Science
1) The first president of the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress: Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee in 1914.
2) Hydroelectric plant: Sidrapong near Darjeeling.
3) Man in space: Rakesh Sharma aboard Soyuz T-11.
4) Woman in space: Kalpana Chawla aboard Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. She was a United States citizen, and represented the US during the event.
5) Scientific Expedition to Antarctica: 1981.
6) Nuclear Reactor: Apsara, Mumbai, Maharashtra
7) First Genetically modified food product in India: Bt. Egg plant Hybrid.
8) Satellite: Aryabhata, launched on 19 April 1975
9) Satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services: EDUSAT.
10) Successfully indigenous launch vehicle: SLV-3.
11) Prospective space tourist: Santhosh George Kulangara, proposed in 2009 aboard Virgin Galactic.
12) Cloned animal: Bhass, sampura.
13) 1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Islands and Sandheads.
14) 1907 – First central battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.
15) 1913–1914 – First automatic exchange installed in Shimla.
16) 1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.
17) 1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.
18) 1976 – First digital microwave junction introduced.
19) 1979 – First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.
20) 1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Secunderabad, Telangana.
21) 1984 – First Underground Metro Railways System at Calcutta.
22) 1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital exchanges.
23) 1990 – First technology park in India, Technopark, Trivandrum was launched.
24) 1995 – First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis.
25) 2014 – First country to enter Mars' orbit on their first attempt with successful launch of Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan).
26) 2015– First 3D printed humanoid robot in India at A-SET Training & Research Institutes – Manav (robot).
Women in Governance
1) Indian National Congress President: Annie Besant.
2) Prime Minister: Indira Gandhi, 1966.
3) President: Pratibha Patil, 2007.
4) IPS Officer Kiran Bedi.
5) Cabinet Minister in India: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
6) Minister in India: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
7) Chief Minister: Sucheta Kriplani Uttar Pradesh.
8) Governor: Sarojini Naidu (Uttar Pradesh, 1947–49).
9) Home Minister of a state: Sabitha Indra Reddy, Andhra Pradesh.
10) Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar.
11) Finance Minister of State Government in India: Dr Upinderjit Kaur, in Punjab Govt.
12) Director General of Police: Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya.
13) Railway Minister of India: Mamata Banerjee.
States
First State to:
1) achieve 100% primary education – Kerala 2016
2) become a fully organic state – Sikkim 2016
3) complete 100% online electoral enrollment – Kerala
4) e-auction limestone blocks – Jharkhand 2016
5) build first gender park – Kerala 2016
6) become a 'complete digital state' – Kerala 2016
Places
1) First partition of Indian state: Bengal
2) First road which is a connected to a Wi-Fi zone: Rajarhat.
3) District to achieve a 100% literacy rate: Ernakulam district, Kerala.
4) City/town to achieve a 100% literacy rate: Kottayam, Kerala.
5) District to achieve a 100% literacy rate and lowest population growth rate: Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.
6) District to be polio-free: Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.
7) District to become tobacco-free: Kottayam district, Kerala, 27 September 2008.
8) District to become India's 'total electrified district': Palakkad, Kerala.
9) City to have an e-court: Ahmedabad.
10) City to ranked as the No.1 Indian city for ‘quality of life’ – Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
11) India's first Wi-Fi city: Kolkata.
Nobel Prize
1) 1913: Literature: Rabindranath Tagore; also the first Asian to win the prize.
2) 1930: Physics: Sir C. V. Raman; first Asian and first non-white person to win Science nobel prize.
3) 1979: Peace: Mother Teresa; Indian citizen of Albanian origin.
4) 1998: Economics: Amartya Sen: First Indian for Economics.
5) 2014: Peace: Kailash Sathyarthi; first Indian-born recipient.
Women in general
1) First women's court in India: Malda, West Bengal.
2) Graduates: Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu, 1883.
3) The first woman honours graduate: Kamini Roy, 1886.
4) Head of an undergraduate academic institution: Chandramukhi Basu, 1888.
5) Honours graduate: Kamini Roy (1886).
6) Pilot a locomotive engine (train driver): Surekha Yadav.
7) Chairperson of State Bank of India: Arundhati Bhattacharya.
8) Court martialled: Anjali Gupta in 2005.
9) Lawyer: Cornelia Sorabjee (1892), also the first female graduate from Bombay University, and the first woman in the world to read law at Oxford.
10) Muskan Sethi, 2015 India's first female Professional Poker Player.
11) Photojournalist: Homai Vyarawalla (1913).
12) Doctorate of Science: Asima Chatterjee (1944).
13) Chief Justice of a High Court (Himachal Pradesh): Leila Seth, 1991.
14) Air Vice Marshal: Padmavathy Bandopadhyay.
15) Supreme Court judge: Justice M. Fathima Beevi.
16) High Court Judge: Anna Chandy.
17) Woman President of the United Nations General Assembly: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 1953.
18) Physician: Kadambini Ganguly, 1886.
19) Airline Pilot: Durba Banerjee.
20) Nobel Prize winner: Mother Teresa of calcutta in 1979 (Albanian born Indian citizen).
21) To cross English Channel: Aarti Saha.
22) Monarch of Delhi Sultanate: Razia Sultana (1205–1240) of Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi).
23) Minister in a government: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur in the Ministry of Health.
24) Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar.
25) Asha Pande, first Indian woman to be the member of Legion of Honour.
26) Anjali Gopalan, first Tamil woman member of the royal French Legion of Honour.
27) Asian Games gold medal winner: Kamlijit Sandhu.
28) Climb Mount Everest: Bachendri Pal, 1984.
29) Chess Grandmaster: Koneru Humpy, 2002. She was also the youngest woman in the world to become a grandmaster, at 15 years old.
30) To win 1st round match in a Grand Slam event: Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the first round of the 1998 Australian Open.
31) To reach 4th round (highest as of 2008) of a Grand Slam event: Sania Mirza in the Singles category of the 2005 US Open.
32) Grand Slam junior title: Sania Mirza (partnering with Russian Alisa Kleybanova) in the doubles category of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.
33) Paris Brest Paris Cycling Event: Divya Tate.
34) Pilot (Indian Air Force): Harita Kaur Deol.
35) Pilot (aircraft): Sarla Thakral.
36) To Cross Gobi Desert: Sucheta Kadethankar.
37) Reach the final of an Olympic event: P. T. Usha.
38) IAS officer: Isha Basant Joshi.
39) Youngest Ultramarathoner to run a 100-mile race.
40) Magasasay Award: Mother Teresa.
41) Bus driver at Delhi Transport Corporation: Sarita.
42) Managing Director of LIC of India : Usha Sangwan.
43) First woman appointed as the United Nations Civil Police adviser: Kiran Bedi.
44) First woman boxer (in world too) to win a medal in all six World championships: Mary Kom.
45) First and the only Indian golfer to participate in Asian Youth Games (2013), Youth Olympic Games (2014), Asian Games (2014) and Olympic Games (2016): Aditi Ashok.
Literature and media
1) Newspaper: Hicky's Bengal Gazette started in 1780.
2) Hindi newspaper: Udant Martand on 30 May 1826; published and edited by Jugal Kishore Shukla from Calcutta.
3) Hindi monthly magazine: Saraswati on 1 January 1900, started by Chintamani Ghosh in Allahabad.
Sports
1) Aanchal Thakur gives India its 1st international bronze medal in skiing.