First in India

This post lists all the visionaries and architects that shaped Indian history. The section contains all the movers and shakers in the field of Administration & Governance in the pre-independent and post-independent India.

Administration & Governance

Pre-Independence

First British Governor-General of Bengal – Warren Hastings (1774-1885).
First British Governor-General of India – Lord William Bentinck (1833-1835).
First British Viceroy of India – Lord Canning (1858).
First Indian to enter into Civil Service (ICS) – Satyendranath Tagore (1863).
First Indian to become a member of the British Parliament (House of Commons) – Dadabhai Naoroji (1892).
First Indian to become a member of the British Parliament (House of Lords) – Lord. S. P. Sinha (1919).

First Indian to be appointed as Advocate-General of Bengal – Lord. S. P. Sinha (1905).
First Indian to become a member of Viceroy’s Executive Council – Lord. S. P. Sinha (1909).

First Indian who contested in the election for British Parliament – Lal Mohan Ghose.
First Budget in India was presented by – Sir James Wilson (1860).
First President of Indian National Congress – W.C.Banerjee (1885).
First Muslim President of Indian National Congress – Badruddin Tyabji (1887).

First Indian Barrister in the High Court of Bombay – Badruddin Tyabji (1867).

First Surveyor-General Of India – Colin Mackenzie (1815).
First Chairman of Union Public Service Commission – Sir Ross Barker (1926).
First High Commissioner for India – Sir William Stevenson Meyer (1920).
First High Commissioner of Indian origin – Sir Dadiba Merwanji Dalal (1923).
First Indian who became High Commissioner in Great Britain – V. K. Krishna Menon (1947).

Post-Independence

First Governor-General – Lord Lewis Mountbatten (1947).
First Indian Governor-General – Chakravarti Rajgopalachari (1948).

Last Governor-General of free India – C. Rajgopalachari.

First High Commissioner of Independent India –V. K. Krishna Menon (1952).
First President of the Indian National Congress of Independent India – Acharya Kripalani (1947).

First Muslim President of the Indian National Congress of Independent India – Badruddin Tyabji (1887).

President of India

First President – Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1950).

Only person to have held office for two terms.
Longest-serving President.

First Vice President of India – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Second President of India.
First President from South India – Dr. S. Radhakrishnan.
First President to declare Emergency – Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (1962).
First President to receive Bharata Ratna – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954).

First Acting President of India – V.V. Giri.

Acting President for the Longest Period – B.D. Shetty (1977).
Acting President for the Shortest Period – Justice Hidayatullah (1969).

First Woman President of India – Pratibha Patil (2007).
First Muslim President of India – Dr. Zakir Hussain (1967).

First President of India who died while in office – Dr. Zakhir Hussain (May 3, 1969).
Shortest-serving President.

First Sikh President – Giani Zail Singh (1982).
First President who elected without any opposition – Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (1977).

Youngest Person to become President of India – Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (64 years old).

First Dalit President Of India – K. R. Narayanan (1997).

Oldest Person to become President of India – K. R. Narayanan (77 years old).
First President who cast his vote in Loksabha Election – K. R. Narayanan (1998).

First Scientist President of India – Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2002).

President with the Nickname "Missile Man of India."
First President who cast his vote in Parliamentary Election – Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

First & Only President who won solely on the basis of second-preference votes – V.V. Giri (1969; vs Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy).
First President of India who was honored with the highest civilian award "National Order of the Republic of Ivory Coast" – Pranab Mukherjee (2016).
First (Former) President of India to be honored with the 'Order of Aztec Eagle', the highest Civilian Award of Mexico – Pratibha Patil (2019).

📌 Read More: Presidents of India

Prime Minister of India

First Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1947).

Longest-serving Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964).
First Prime Minister to die in office – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (May 27, 1964).
First Prime Minister to face no-confidence motion – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1963).
First Prime Minister to receive Bharata Ratna – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1955).

First Deputy Prime Minister of India – Sardar Vallabhai Patel (1947–50).

First Home Minister – Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel (1947).

First Woman Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi.

First Woman Indian Prime Minister to die in office – Indira Gandhi (1984).
First Indian Prime Minister to be assassinated while in Office – Indira Gandhi (1984).
Prime Minister to face maximum no. of no-confidence motions – Indira Gandhi (15).

First Sikh Prime Minister – Dr. Manmohan Singh (2004).

First Person from a Minority Community to occupy the post of Prime Minister of India – Manmohan Singh (2004).

First Prime Minister to be voted out of office – Indira Gandhi (1977, against Janata Party).
First Non-Congress Prime-Minister – Morarji Desai (Janata Party, 1977).

First Prime Minister to resign from Office – Morarji Desai.
Oldest Person to become Prime Minister – Morarji Desai (81 years old).

First Prime Minister of India who did not face the Parliament – Charan Singh (1979).

Prime Minister for the Shortest term – Charan Singh (5 Months, 17 days).

First Prime Minister to die on a Foreign Land – Lal Bahadur Shastri (Tashkent, Soviet Union, January 11, 1966).
First Prime Minister who had to resign after being unable to defeat the no-confidence motion – V.P. Singh (1990).

First Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term (five years) – P. V. Narasimha Rao (1991).

First Prime Minister from South India – P.V. Narasimha Rao.
First Person outside of Nehru family to serve a full term – P.V. Narasimha Rao.
First Lok Sabha Member to be elected with a record maximum number of votes – P.V. Narasimha Rao.

First Non-Congress Prime Minister to Serve A Full Term – Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

First Prime Minister To Win A Popular Entertainment Award – Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
First Person who delivered Lecture in Hindi in U.N.O. – Atal Bihari Bajpai (1977).

First Prime Minister born after Independence – Narendra Modi (1950).

Cabinet Ministers of India

First Minister Without Portfolio – N. Gopalswami Ayyangar (1937).
First Defence Minister – Baldev Singh (1947).
First Education Minister – Dr. Abdul Kalam Azad (1947).
First Finance Minister of India – R. K. Shanmukham Chetty (1947).

First Budget in Free India was presented by – R. K. Shanmukham Chetty (November 26, 1947).

First Industries and Supplies Minister – Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

First Person to resign from the Central Cabinet – Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

First Law Minister of Independent India – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1947).
First Railway Minister of India – Lal Bahadur Sasthri.

Chief Ministers of India

First Chief Minister Of The Tri-Lingual Bombay Presidency – B. G. Kher.
Longest Serving Chief Minister – Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim, 24 years).
First Chief Minister to die in office – Gopinath Bordoloi (Assam).

First Woman Chief Minister to die in Office – J. Jayalalitha (Tamil Nadu).

First Indian Chief Minister to be assassinated while in Office – Beant Singh (Punjab, 1995).
First Actor to become Chief Minister in India – M. G. Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu).
First Actress to become Chief Minister in India – Janaki Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu).
First Actress to become Chief Minister in India by winning election – J. Jayalalitha (Tamil Nadu).

Parliament of India

First Constitutional Amendment – 1950.
First Five-Year Plan – 1951.
First General Elections – 1952.
First Lok Sabha was constituted on – April 17, 1952.

First Speaker of Lok Sabha – G.V. Mavlankar (1952).
First Dalit Lok Sabha Speaker – G M C Balayogi.
First Chairman of Lok Sabha – G. V. Mavlankar.

First Chairman Of Rajya Sabha – S. V. Krishnamurthy.
First Vice-Chairman of Rajya Sabha – S.V. Krishnan Moorthi Rao.
First Opposition leader of Rajya Sabha – Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1969).
First Opposition leader of Lok Sabha – Dr. Ram Subhag Singh (1969).*
First Non-Congress Government – Janata Party (Under the aegis of Morarji Desai, 1977).
First Governor of RBI – Sir Osborne Smith (1935).
First Foreign Secretary – K. P. S. Menon (1948).
First Comptroller and Auditor General of India – Narahari Rao.
First Chief Election Commissioner of India – Sukumar Sen.
First Chief Information Commissioner of India – Wajahat Habibullah.
First Chairman of Finance Commission – K. C. Neogy.
First Chairman of Planning Commission – Jawaharlal Nehru.

First Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission – Gulsarilal Nanda.

First Chairman of Public Service Commission – H. K. Kripalani (1947).

Commissions & Institutions

First President of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – Justice Rangnath Mishra (1993).
First Chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW) – Jayanti Patnaik (1992).
First Chairman of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) – M.R. Masani (1978).
First Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes – Suraj Bhan (2004).
First Chairman of Central Vigilance Commission – N. Srinivasa Rau (1964).
First Director of CBI – D.P. Kohli.

First Director of CBI becoming Governor – Ashwani Kumar.

First National Security Adviser – Brajesh Mishra (1998).
First Chairman of Lokpal – Pinaki Chandra Ghose (2019).

International

First Indian Origin Vice President of USA – Kamala Harris (January 20, 2021).
First Indian Origin Prime Minister Of Fiji – Mahendra Chaudhury.
First Indian Origin Minister of New Zealand – Priyanca Radhakrishnan (November 2, 2020).
First Indian member of American Congress – Dilip Singh Saund.
First Indian Managing Director of World Bank – Gautam Kazi.

*Even though some texts mistakenly lists A. K. Gopalan as the first opposition leader in Lok Sabha, even if it was correct in a sense. CPI was largest opposition party and AKG was one of its leaders in the first general elections of 1952 but the party secured only 16 out of 489 seats, thus the "leader of opposition" remained vacant and unofficial until 1969.

📝SideNotes:

Birthday of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, September 5 is observed as "Teachers' Day."
Surveyor General of India 2020 – Lt Gen Girish Kumar.
Comptroller and Auditor General of India 2020 – Rajiv Mehrishi.
CBI Director 2020 – Rishi Kumar Shukla.
National Security Adviser 2020 – Ajit Doval.
Governor of RBI 2020 – Shaktikanta Das.
Chairman of National Human Rights Commission 2020 – H. L. Dattu.
First Chairman of Kerala Public Service Commission – V.K. Velayudhan.
The penniless Prime Minister – Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Tashkent – Capital of Uzbekistan.
Tashkent Declaration –

Jan 10, 1966.
Agreement dubbed as 'The last victory of a little sparrow .'
Peace agreement between India & Pakistan after the Indo-Pak war of 1965.
Signatories – Lal Bahadur Shastri & Muhammad Ayub Khan (President).
Mediator – Aleksey Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union.
Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri suddenly died.

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First in India - Administration & Governance