List of firsts in India

This is a list of firsts in India.

Architecture

• First Islamic Mausoleum (tomb) in India: Sultan Ghari(Hindi: सुल्तान ग़ारी, Urdu: سلطان غاری), built in 1231 CE for Prince Nasir ud din Mahmud, eldest son of Iltumish.
• First true dome, Alai Darwaza, Qutb complex, Delhi, built in 1311 CE, by first Khilji Sultan of Delhi, Ala-ud-din Khilji.
• First true arch, Balban's tomb, Mehrauli Archeological Park, Delhi, built c. 1287 CE, by Ghiyas ud din Balban of Mamluk dynasty.
• First garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, also the first with Persian double-dome: Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, built 1562-1571 CE.
• First Mosque in India: Cheraman Juma Masjid Kodungallur (Kerala), built 629-630 A.D by Malik ibn Deenar, an Arab trader on the order of Chera ruler Cheraman Perumal (Tajjudin after conversion to Islam)

Awards and Titles

• Miss World: Reita Faria in 1966
• Miss Universe: Sushmita Sen in 1994
• Miss Earth: Nicole Faria in 2010
• Dhan Gopal Mukerji, first Indian to win any literary award (the Newbery Medal) in the United States, in 1927 for Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon
• Nirad C. Chaudhuri, first Indian to win a major non-fiction award, the Duff Cooper Prize in the United Kingdom, in 1966 for The Continent of Circe
• Arundhati Roy won the Booker prize for her novel "The God of Small Things" in the year 1997 making her the first Indian woman to receive the prestigious award.
• Bhaswati Bhattacharya was the first Indian to speak as Orator at the Harvard University Commencement Exercises in 1993.
• Bharat Ratna: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari, and Dr C.V. Raman in 1954
• Commandeur of the Order of Arts and Letters: Mrinal Sen
• Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters: Sivaji Ganesan
• Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Devika Rani in 1969
• Ashoka Chakra Award to a civilian : D.K. Jatar (posthumous) and M.C Dixit, captain and co-captain respectively, of the sabotaged plane Kashmir Princess, for "most conspicuous bravery, daring and self-sacrifice"
• Magsaysay Award: Vinoba Bhave, 1958
• Stalin Peace Prize (now known as Lenin Peace Prize) in 1952-Saifuddin Kitchlew
• Oscar for Lifetime Achievement - Satyajit Ray
• Nishan-e-Pakistan: Morarji Desai,May 19, 1990
• Ford Supermodel of the World (contest): Bipasha Basu, 1996^{[citation needed]}

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,Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1983. (US citizen of Indian origin)
• Nobel Prize in Medicine: Har Gobind Khorana in 1968. (US citizen of Indian origin )
• Nobel Peace Prize: Mother Teresa in 1979 (Indian citizen of Albanian origin)
• Nobel Prize in Economics: Amartya Sen in 1998
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan in 2009 (UK citizen of Indian origin)

Defence (in the Republic of India)

• 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
• Field Marshal: Sam Manekshaw, 1973.
• First Parsi Army Chief: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
• First Parsi Navy Chief: Admiral J L Cursetji
• First Parsi Air Force Chief: Air Marshal Aspy Engineer
• First Christian Army Chief: General Sunith Francis Rodrigues
• First Christian Navy Chief: Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira
• First Christian Air Force Chief: Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne
• First Sikh Army Chief: General Joginder Jaswant Singh
• First Sikh Air Force Chief: Air Marshal Arjan Singh
• First Muslim Air Force Chief: Air Marshal Idris Hasan Latif
• First female officer to be court martialled: Anjali Gupta

Econonomy

• First power plant in India with Soviet Collaboration: Neyveli Lignite Corporation in 1962.

• First central PSU to be privatised: Modern Food Industries in January 2000

Exploration

• Person to fly in a balloon and land in a parachute, and also to take ballooning as a profession: Ram Chandra Chatterjee
• 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.
• Woman to reach South Pole: Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu
• Person to reach the North Pole: Squadron Leader Sanjay Thapar

Film, TV and entertainment

• First Film to be exhibited in India on July 7, 1896, with the Lumiere Brothers' Cinematography, unveiling six silent short films at the Watson's Hotel in Bombay, viz., Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies & Soldiers on Wheels and Leaving the Factory.
• First silent film to be made in India Raja Harishchandra 1913, by Dadasaheb Phalke
• Sound film: Alam Ara (1931) directed by Ardeshir Irani, 1931, First Talkie actress:Zubeida
• Colour film: Kisan Kanya (1937), directed by Ardeshir Irani.
• Banned film: Neel Akasher Neechey (1959) .
• cinemascope film: Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)
• Oscar for Lifetime Achievement: Satyajit Ray (1992)
• Film to win highest number of international awards: Pather Panchali (1955) eleven awards, including Cannes
• Films to be considered as All-Time 100 best movies: Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar(1959)) by Satyajit Ray
• Oscar winner: Bhanu Athaiya for Best Costume Design for Gandhi (film) in 1982
• Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film: Mother India in 1957
• Music director to win an Oscar and first double Oscar winner-Mr. A. R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire, 22 February 2009.
• Sound engineer to win an Oscar: Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire, 22 February 2009
• Palme d'Or at 1946 Cannes Film Festival:Neecha Nagar directed by Chetan Anand
• 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 on July 7, 1984, was also the first soap opera of India, ran for 156 episodes
• Guinness Book of World Records in the category Fewest actors in a narrative film: Yaadein (1964) directed and acted by Sunil Dutt
• Actor to enact 10 roles: Kamal Haasan
• Actress to enact 10 roles = Priyanka Chopra plays 12 different characters in Bollywood film-"What's Your Raashee?"
• 3-D film: My Dear Kuttichathan, a Malayalam film, produced in 1984, dubbed in Hindi as Chhota Chetan.
• 70 mm film: Around the World in Eight Dollars, a Hindi film, starring Raj Kapoor and Rajshree in 1967
• Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (officer of the order of arts and letters): Director: Mrinal Sen (1985); Actor:Sivaji Ganesan (1995); Actress: Sharmila Tagore(2004)
• Hindi film screened at the United Nations: Lage Raho Munna Bhai on 10 November 2006
• First music record was recorded by Gauhar Jaan singing a khayal in Raag Jogiya, recorded on November 2, 1902, by Fred Gaisberg, assistant to Emile Berliner, the father of Gramophone record.

Governance

• President: Rajendra Prasad (1950–1962)
• First Women President: Pratibha Patil(2007-till date)
• First Vice-President: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Prime Minister: Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964). India held its first constitutional elections in 1952 after which he was re-elected
• Deputy Prime Minister: Vallabhbhai Patel (1947–1950)
• 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)
• Non-Congress State government with Majority by a single party: E. M. S. Namboodiripad of CPI, Kerala 1957
• 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 family 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, 1991
• Governor-General: Warren Hastings
• The first Viceroy of India was Lord Canning,1858.
• Governor General of Independent India: Lord Mountbatten, 1947
• Indian Governor-General of Indian Union: C Rajagopalachari, 1948
• Chief Justice of India: H. J. Kania (1947–1951)
• First Sikh Prime Minister : Manmohan Singh(2004–Till date)
• First Muslim President : Zakir Hussain (1967–1969)
• First Sikh President : Giani Zail Singh
• Indian ICS Officer: Satyendranath Tagore, 1863
• Speaker of Lok Sabha: G.V. Mavlankar (1952–1956)
• Finance Minister of Independent India: R.K. Shanmukhan Chetty (1947–1949), for others see First Indian Cabinet
• Presentation of First Budget after India's Independence : R. K. Shanmukhan Chetty on Nov 26, 1947
• First Home Minister of India: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel
• First Indian Chief Minister to die in Office: C.N.Annadurai, Tamil Nadu
• First Indian President to die in Office: Dr Zakir Hussain, 3 May 1969
• First Indian Prime Minister to resign from office: Morarji Desai, 1979
• First Woman Cabinet Minister in India: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
• First Woman Minister in India: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
• First Woman Chief Minister: Sucheta Kriplani
• First Female Home Minister: Sabitha Indra Reddy in Andhra Pradesh Govt..
• Youngest ever Chief Minister: Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Assam, at the age of 32
• First Woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar
• First Woman Finance Minister of State Government in India: Dr Upinderjit Kaur, in Punjab Govt.

Science

• Hydroelectric plant: On the Gaganachukki waterfall of the Sivasamudram Falls, Mysore Kingdom. Built in 1902.
• Place to get electricity: Kolar Gold Fields, Mysore Kingdom, in 1902 (it was the second city in Asia to get electricity after Tokyo, Japan.)
• Man in space:Rakesh Sharma aboard Soyuz T-11, on April 3, 1984. He was the 138th man in space worldwide.
• 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: CIRUS, Mumbai, Maharashtra
• First Genetically Modified Food Product in India : Bt. Egg plant Hybrid (Bt. -- Bacilius thuringiensis)
• Satellite : Aryabhata, launched on April 19, 1975
• Satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services : EDUSET
• Successfully indigenous launch vehicle : SLV-3
• Prospective space tourist: Santhosh George Kulangara, proposed in 2009 aboard Virgin Galactic
• Cloned Animal : Bhass, sampura
• In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbor. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company
• 1854: Telegraph service opened to the Public
• First telephone exchange: On the 28th January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange", was opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council House Street, with a total of 93 subscribers. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.
• 1902 - First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Islands and Sandheads.
• 1907 - First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.
• 1913-1914 - First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.
• 1927 - Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless Chain beam stations at Khadki and Daund. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by exchanging greetings with King George V.
• 1933 - Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.
• 1953 - 12 channel carrier system introduced.
• 1960 - First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur.
• 1975 - First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone exchanges.
• 1976 - First digital microwave junction introduced.
• 1979 - First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.
• 1980 - First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Secunderabad, A.P..
• 1983 - First analog Stored Program Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at Mumbai.
• 1984 - First Underground Metro Railways System at Calcutta.
• 1984 - C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital exchanges.
• 1995 - First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in Delhi.

Medical Science

• First Ever Rhinoplasty noted in world/India: Over Ksatji a british soldier by a Kumhar Vaidya.

Sport

• Indian to swim across the English Channel: Mihir Sen, 1958
• Woman to swim across the English Channel: Arati Saha, 1959
• Formula One race driver: Narain Karthikeyan
• Formula One team: Force India F1
• A1 GP race victory: Narain Karthikeyan, Zhuhai, China, 2007
• Person to equal world record in Archery: Limba Ram, 1992
• Person to walk across the Mongolian Gobi Desert of 1626 kilometers in 51 days 11 hours 40 minutes: Sucheta Kadethankar in Mongolia in 2011.
• Ashish Kumar is the first Indian to win a medal in both Asian games(November 12 to November 27, 2010, Guangzhou(China)) and Commonwealth games(Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010). He won Bronze medal in both games.
• Shiva Keshavan is the first Indian to win a Gold Medal for India in Winter sports at the Asia Cup in Japan on the 18th of December, 2011. The Asian Champion is also a 4 time Olympian and has set the new Asian speed record on ice at 134.3 kmph.

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 Bronze medallist in Tennis: Leander Paes in Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
• 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 Individual gold medal: Abhinav Bindra for 10 m Air Rifle at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing.
• Olympic Bronze medallist in Boxing:Vijender Kumar in Beijing Olympics 2008.
• Olympic Bronze medallist in Wrestling: Sushil Kumar in Beijing Olympics 2008.

Chess

• Chess Grandmaster : Male - Vishwanathan Anand, 1988.
• Female - Koneru Humpy - 2002 - She was also the youngest woman to become a grandmaster at 15 years old.(Hou Yifan of China is the youngest woman to become a grandmaster at 14years and 6 months.)

Tennis

• Grand Slam title: Mahesh Bhupathi (partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 1997 French Open.
• Woman to win a match in a Grand Slam event: Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the first round of the 1998 Australian Open
• Woman to reach 4th round (highest as of 2009) of a Grand Slam singles event: Sania Mirza in the Singles category of the 2005 US Open.
• Woman to win a Grand Slam title: Sania Mirza (partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi) in the Mixed Doubles category of the 2009 Australian Open.
• Grand Slam junior title: Leander Paes in the Singles category of the 1990 Wimbledon Championship.
• 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 (1905–1911) which later became the Bombay Quadrangular (1912–1936)
• Cricket test match: Against England at Lord's, June 25, 1932
• One day Cricket captain: [Ajit Laxman Wadekar]
• Test Cricket captain: C. K. Nayudu for the 1932 tour of England
• Indian to score an ODI century was Kapil Dev, 175* against Zimbabwe in the 1983 Cricket World Cup
• Indian to score an ODI double century is Sachin Tendulkar, 200* against South Africa at Gwalior, February 24, 2010
• Cricketer to score a century: Lala Amarnath, 118 against England in December 1933 at Bombay Gymkhana grounds
• Cricketer to score a double century: Polly Umrigar, 223 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1955-56
• Cricketer to score a triple century: Virender Sehwag, 309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004.
• 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, India beating West Indies, and at the 2011 Cricket World Cup, India beating Sri Lanka.
• 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: India in 2007.
• Cricketer to score 99 centuries in Test and ODIs combined: Sachin Tendulkar
• First bowler to take all 10 wickets in an innings: Anil Kumble against Pakistan
• First batsman to score 50 centuries in Test Cricket : Sachin Tendulkar
• First woman to score a double hundred in test cricket : Mithali Raj [214* against Newzealand at Wellington 2004] (she was first in the world to achieve this feat)
• First time six sixes in an over of a T-20 match were scored by an Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh against England

Women

• Graduates: Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu, 1883
• Head of an Undergraduate Academic Institution: Chandramukhi Basu, 1888
• Honours Graduate: Kamini Roy (1886)
• Court martialled: Anjali Gupta in 2005
• Lawyer: Cornelia Sorabjee (1892) also the first female graduate from Bombay University, and the first woman in the world to read law at Oxford.
• Photojournalist: Homai Vyarawalla (1913)
• Doctorate of Science: Asima Chatterjee (1944)
• Chief Justice of a High Court (Himachal Pradesh): Leila Seth, 1991
• Supreme Court judge: Kumari Fathima Beevi
• High Court Judge : Anna Chandy
• Woman President of the United Nations General Assembly : Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 1953
• Physician: Kadambini Ganguly, 1886
• Airline Pilot: Durba Banerjee
• 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.
• Nobel Prize winner: Mother Teresa in 1979 (Albanian born Indian citizen)
• Monarch of Delhi Sultanate: Razia Sultan (1205–1240) of Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi)
• Prime Minister: Indira Gandhi, 1966
• Minister in a government: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur in the Ministry of Health
• Chief Minister of a State: Sucheta Kripalani, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, 1963–1967
• Governor: Sarojini Naidu, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, 1947–1949
• Central Minister (in pre-independent India): Vijayalakshmi Pandit, minister of local self-government and public health, 1937
• Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar
• Indian National Congress President: Annie Besant
• President: Pratibha Patil, 2007
• IPS Officer Kiran Bedi
• Asian Games gold medal winner: Kamlijit Sandhu
• The first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest : Bachendri Pal , 1984
• Chess Grandmaster: Koneru Humpy, 2002. She was also the youngest woman in the world to become a grandmaster at 15 years old.
• 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
• To reach 4th round (highest as of 2008) of a Grand Slam event: Sania Mirza in the Singles category of the 2005 US Open.
• Grand Slam junior title: Sania Mirza (partnering with Russian Alisa Kleybanova) in the Doubles category of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.
• State Finance Minister: Dr Upinderjit Kaur, in Punjab : October, 2010
• Paris Cycling Event : Divya Tate(44) : August, 2011
• The first Indian woman pilot: Harita Kaur Deol becomes the first Indian woman pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF), on a solo flight in 1994.
• To Cross Gobi Desert : Sucheta Kadethankar(33) :2011

Places

• District to achieve 100% literacy rate: Ernakulam district, Kerala , 1990
• City/town to achieve 100% literacy rate: Kottayam, Kerala, 1989
• District to achieve 100% literacy rate and lowest population growth rate: Pathanamthitta district, Kerala
• District to be polio-free: Pathanamthitta district, Kerala
• District to achieve tobacco free: Kottayam district, Kerala, 27 September 2008
• District to become India's 'total electrified district': Palakkad , Kerala, 2011
• City to have an e-court: Ahmedabad, 8 February 2009

Transport

• First Passenger Train: between Mumbai and Thane on 16 April 1853
• First suburban railway line: Mumbai Suburban Railway in 1857
• First rapid transit (Metro) rail: Kolkata Metro in 1984
• First Motorcar: in 1897, Mr Forster of Crompton Greaves
• First Motorcar in regular use, in 1901, Francis Spring, Chennai
• First Indians to own a motor car: Jamshedji Tata 1901 and Rustom Cama, Parsi Lawyer 1901
• First competitive event Delhi-Bombay trials 1905 at the behest of Lord Curzon and Motor Union of Western India to test the suitability of the Automobile for Indian roads and to facilitate interaction between the fledging Automobile Industry and prospective Indian clients
• Oldest surviving and running cars in India: De Dion Bouton 1904, Rover 1905
• First woman to drive a car in India: Suzanne RD Tata 1905
• First Motor Taxi Mumbai, 1911
• First largescale import of motor cars: Relatively large contingent of motorcars imported for the Delhi Darbar held in 1911 to mark the arrival of King George V
• First registration scheme for motor vehicles in India: 1912
• Arrival of mass production technology makes the Automobile a practical means of transport by the 1920s and most British officers had cars
• First Assembly of motor cars: General Motors sets up the first assembly unit to assemble cars from imported parts in 1928. The National Series AB sedan is produced.
• First manufacture of motor cars: Hindustan Motors begins production of cars in 1942. Premier automobiles and Standard Motors setup. Technology stagnates as a result of economic autarky as India is isolated from the rest of the world
• First act leading to liberalization of the Auto sector: Maruti 800 launched in 1983 and the automotive industry is progressively liberalized
• First fully indegenous passenger car developed in India, Tata Indica launched in 1998
• First expressway: Mumbai-Pune Expressway in 2000
• First major acquisition of a foreign company by an Indian company: Tata Motors acquires Jaguar and Land Rover in 2007. Mahindra Automotive emerges as the top bidder for SSangsyong motors in 2010
• First world-famous automotive product designed and developed in India. Tata Nano launched in 2008
• First aeroplane in India Maharaja of Patiala 1910
• Domestic commercial aviation is born in India in 1911 when on February 18, Henri Piquet, flying a Humber biplane, carries mall from Allahabad to Naini Junction, some six miles away.
• 1927: India's first airline, Imperial Airways, extends its Empire Routes to India, connecting India with the outside world for the first time through an air network. A de Havilland Hercules flies the Cairo-Basra-Karachi-Jodhpur-Delhi route. It is also the first domestic passenger flight to be operated in India. Passengers could be for the first time fly from Karachi to Jodhpur and to Delhi on Imperial Airways.
• On February 10, 1929, JRD Tata is awarded India's first pilot licence, Pilot Licence No.1 by Federation Aeronotique International signed by Sir Victor Sasoon on behalf of the Aero Club of India and Burma.
• 1932: Urmila K Parikh becomes the first woman to get a pilot licence when she is given an a licence by the Aero Club of India and Burma.
• 1932: JRD Tata launches India's first scheduled airline, Tata Airlines, by piloting the first flight himself from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad on a single-engine Puss Moth with a load of airmail.

Others

• Wax statue of a living Indian: Mahatma Gandhi at Madame Tussaud's in 1939
• Newspaper : Hickey's Bengal Gazette in 1779
• Exclusive internet magazine: Bharat Samachar^{[citation needed]}
• Miss India to participate in Miss Universe: Indrani Rahman in the Miss Universe 1952 Pageant at Long Beach, California
• President of the Indian National Congress: W C Bonnerjee, 1885
• Graduate in Medicine: Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty