India celebrates 75 years of Independence today. On this milestone, we look back on 75 historic moments in Indian history.
1) First prime minister: Jawaharlal Nehru
2) First president: Dr Rajendra Prasad
3) First Indian to go to space: Rakesh Sharma
4) First feature film: Raja Harishchandra
5) First Indian to win Olympic medal: Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav (Bronze in wrestling in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki)
6) First Indian to win a Nobel: Rabindranath Tagore
7) India's first general election: Between between October 25, 1951 and February 21, 1952.
8) India's first chief justice: Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania
9) First Indian to win an Oscar: Bhanu Athaiya
10) First Miss World: Reita Faria
11) First Miss Universe: Sushmita Sen
12) First Muslim president of India: Zakir Husain
13) First woman judge of the Supreme Court: Meera Sahib Fatima Bibi
14) First Dalit president: KR Narayana
15) India's first licenced pilot: JRD Tata
16) First airline: Tata Air Services
17) First newspaper: The Bengal Gazette
18) First computer: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator (TIRFAC)
19) First commercial nuclear power station: Tarapur Atomic Power Station
20) First woman IPS officer: Kiran Bedi
21) First woman governor: Sarojini Naidu
22) First transgender judge: Joyita Mondal
23) First woman of Indian origin to go to space: Kalpana Chawla
24) First woman chief minister: Sucheta Kripalani (Uttar Pradesh)
25) First Olympic gold: Abhinav Bindra (Shooting, 2008 Beijing Olympics)
26) First cricket world cup: 1983, after defeating West Indies at the Lord's.
27) First woman to scale Mount Everest: Bachendri Pal
28) First Indian Woman to climb Mt Everest twice: Santosh Yadhav
29) First winners of Bharat Ratna: C Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and CV Raman.
30) First chief of army staff: General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
31) First chief election commissioner: Sukumar Sen
32) First woman commercial pilot: Durga Banerjee
33) First Indian woman to visit Antarctica: Meher Moos
34) First health minister: Rajkumari Bibiji Amrit Kaur
35) First woman finance minister: Nirmala Sitharaman
36) First woman president: Pratibha Patil
37) First Lok Sabha Speaker: Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar
38) First English Channel swimmer: Mihir Sen
39) India's first satellite: The Aryabhata spacecraft
40) First telecast in India: 1959
41) First Lokpal: Pinaki Chandra Ghose
42) India’s first university: Nalanda
43) First Indian to join civil services: Satyendra Nath Tagore
44) First woman IAS officer of free India: Anna Rajam Malhotra
45) First woman chairperson of UPSC: Rose Millian Bathew
46) First made-in-India car: Ambassador
47) First Indian booker prize winner: Arundhati Roy
48) First woman DGP: Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya
49) First mobile phone call: July 31, 1995
50) First woman to fly solo in IAF: Harita Kaur Dayal
51) First education minister: Abul Kalam Azad
52) First modern hospital: Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai
53) First cinema hall: Elphinstone Picture Palace, Kolkata
54) First Indian film to win at Cannes Film Festival: Neecha Nagar (1946)
55) First cricket club: Calcutta cricket club (1972)
56) First Indian to win a Grammy: Pandit Ravi Shankar
57) First film to earn Rs 100 crore globally: Disco Dancer (1982)
58) First recorded song: Gauhar Jaan's Raga - Jogia (1902)
59) First Hindi serial: Hum Log (1984)
60) First National Film Awards: 1953
61) India's first dam: Kallanai Dam (Kaveri river)
62) First Indian to win a Nobel Prize in Physics: CV Raman
63) First railway: Between Bombay and Thane (1853)
64) First church: St Thomas Church, Palayoor, Kerala
65) First musician to get Bharat Ratna: Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi
66) First Indian woman to win WTA title: Sania Mirza
67) First Commonwealth medal: Rashid Anwar (wrestling, 1934)
68) First hydroelectric plant: Sidrapong (Darjeeling)
69) First woman Jawan in Army: Shanti Tigga
70) First filmfare awards: 1954
71) First ATM in India: Set up by HSBC in Mumbai in 1987.
72) First TV commercial in India: For a company called Gwalior suitings in 1978.
73) First indigenous satellite launch vehicle: SLV-3
74) First Indian leader to address the UN General Assembly in Hindi: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
75) First field marshal of India: Sam Manekshaw
