GK04 — Firsts in India and the World

📚 CDS GK Section · GK04 ⚔️ CDS Level : High Priority

📌 CDS Pattern (GK04): Firsts in India and the World is one of the highest-yield static GK topics in CDS — appearing in every paper with 4–6 questions. The exam tests both who was first and which institution/event was first. The trick is knowing distinctions: e.g., Tenzing Norgay = first to summit Everest, but Bachendri Pal = first Indian woman. Every “first” has a qualifier — memorise the full phrase, not just the name.

PART A — FIRSTS IN INDIA: CONSTITUTIONAL & POLITICAL

1. First Holders of Constitutional Posts

Position	First Holder	Key Facts
President of India	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	Elected twice (1950, 1957). Only person to serve two terms. Also first president of Constituent Assembly.
Vice-President of India	Dr. S. Radhakrishnan	Later became 2nd President. His birthday = Teachers’ Day (5 September).
Prime Minister of India	Jawaharlal Nehru	Served 1947–1964; longest-serving PM. Also 1st Chairman, Planning Commission.
Speaker, Lok Sabha	G.V. Mavalankar	“Father of Lok Sabha.” Served 1952–1956.
Chief Justice of India	Justice H.J. Kania	First CJI of independent India (1950).
Governor-General of India (Indian)	C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji)	Last Governor-General before India became a Republic. First and only Indian GG.
Woman President of India	Pratibha Patil	12th President (2007–2012). Also first woman Governor of Rajasthan.
Woman Prime Minister of India	Indira Gandhi	3rd PM (1966–77, 1980–84). Only woman PM. First woman to lead India. Bharat Ratna 1971.
Woman Chief Justice of India	None yet (as of 2025)	First woman Justice of Supreme Court: Fathima Beevi (1989). First woman CJI has not happened yet.
Chairperson, UPSC	H.K. Kripalani	First head of the Union Public Service Commission post-independence.

PART B — FIRSTS IN INDIA: SCIENCE, SPACE & DEFENCE

2. Indian Space & Science Firsts

Space Firsts

First Indian in space: Rakesh Sharma (1984, Soviet Soyuz T-11). When asked how India looks from space, replied: “Saare Jahan Se Accha.”
First Indian-origin woman in space: Kalpana Chawla (1997, STS-87). Born in Karnal, Haryana. Died in Columbia disaster (2003).
First Indian-American woman in space: Sunita Williams — multiple missions. First woman to run a marathon in space.
First Indian satellite: Aryabhata (1975) — launched by Soviet Union from Kapustin Yar.
First rocket launch from India: Nike-Apache (1963, Thumba, Kerala).
First Indian Moon mission: Chandrayaan-1 (2008) — discovered water molecules on Moon.
First Indian Mars mission: Mangalyaan / MOM (2014) — first Asian mission to Mars; succeeded in first attempt.
First spacecraft to soft-land near Moon’s South Pole: Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander (2023). India = 4th country to soft-land on Moon; 1st to land near South Pole.

Defence & Nuclear Firsts

First PVC recipient: Major Somnath Sharma — Battle of Badgam (1947); posthumous.
First Ashoka Chakra recipient: Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon (1971 War; posthumous); only IAF officer to receive PVC — wait, Sekhon received PVC in 1971. Ashoka Chakra: first given posthumously to those who died in non-battlefield bravery.
First nuclear test: Pokhran-I, “Smiling Buddha” (1974, PM Indira Gandhi).
Second nuclear test: Pokhran-II, “Operation Shakti” (1998, PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee). Directed by Kalam.
First atomic power plant: Tarapur Atomic Power Station (Maharashtra, 1969).
First indigenously built warship: INS Nilgiri (1972).
First aircraft carrier: INS Vikrant (R11) — commissioned 1961; decommissioned 1997. Second INS Vikrant (R11) commissioned 2022 = first indigenously built carrier.

PART C — FIRSTS IN INDIA: INSTITUTIONS & LANDMARKS

3. First Institutions in India

Institution / Landmark	First / Details	Year
First Newspaper	Bengal Gazette (Calcutta General Advertiser) by James Augustus Hicky	1780
First University	University of Calcutta (also Bombay & Madras — all established same year)	1857
First Railway Line	Bombay (Mumbai) to Thane — 34 km, first steam engine “Sahib”	16 April 1853
First Bank	Bank of Hindustan (1770); Presidency Banks merged to form SBI	1770
First IIT	IIT Kharagpur (West Bengal)	1951
First IIM	IIM Calcutta (followed closely by IIM Ahmedabad — both 1961)	1961
First Film	Raja Harishchandra by Dadasaheb Phalke = Father of Indian Cinema	1913
First Talkie Film	Alam Ara by Ardeshir Irani	1931
First High Court	Calcutta High Court (followed by Bombay and Madras)	1862
First Telephone Exchange	Calcutta (Kolkata)	1881

4. First Indian Achievers — Sports & Exploration

Mountaineering & Exploration

First to summit Everest (world): Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) + Tenzing Norgay (Nepal/India) — 29 May 1953
First Indian woman to summit Everest: Bachendri Pal (1984)
First person to reach South Pole (world): Roald Amundsen (Norway, 14 Dec 1911)
First person to reach North Pole (world): Robert Peary (USA, 1909) — disputed
First Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo by sea: Commander Dilip Donde (INSV Mhadei, 2010)

Sports Firsts

First Indian Olympic gold medal: Hockey team (1928 Amsterdam); first individual gold = Abhinav Bindra (10m Air Rifle, Beijing 2008)
First Indian Grand Slam winner (doubles): Mahesh Bhupathi + Leander Paes (French Open Mixed Doubles, 1997)
First Indian Formula 1 driver: Narain Karthikeyan (2005, Jordan)
First Indian chess grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand (1988)
First Indian woman grandmaster: Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (2001)
First Indian World Chess Champion: D. Gukesh (2024)

PART D — FIRSTS IN THE WORLD

5. World Firsts — Most Tested in CDS

Achievement	Person / Country	When	Notes
First human in space	Yuri Gagarin (USSR)	12 April 1961	Vostok 1. Orbited Earth in 108 minutes. 12 April = Cosmonautics Day.
First person on the Moon	Neil Armstrong (USA)	20 July 1969	Apollo 11. “One small step...” Buzz Aldrin 2nd; Collins stayed in orbit. 20 July = Moon Day.
First woman in space	Valentina Tereshkova (USSR)	16 June 1963	Vostok 6. Still the only solo woman space mission. Russian cosmonaut.
First spacewalk	Alexei Leonov (USSR)	18 March 1965	12 minutes outside Voskhod 2.
First newspaper (world)	Relation aller Fürnemmen... (Germany)	1605	Published by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg.
First President of USA	George Washington	1789	First to take presidential oath under the US Constitution.
First woman Prime Minister (world)	Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka)	1960	World’s first elected female head of government.
First country to give women voting rights	New Zealand	1893	First country to grant universal women’s suffrage.
First country to land on Moon’s South Pole	India (Chandrayaan-3)	23 August 2023	Vikram lander soft-landed. Pragyan rover deployed. 23 Aug = National Space Day (India).
First Nobel Peace Prize	Henry Dunant + Frédéric Passy	1901	Dunant founded Red Cross. First Nobel awarded.

📝 CDS PYQFirsts in India and the World — CDS Static GK Pattern

Q1. Who was the first Indian to go to space? (CDS I 2024)

(a) Kalpana Chawla
(b) Sunita Williams
(c) Rakesh Sharma
(d) Ravish Malhotra

Answer: (c) Rakesh Sharma (1984)
Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma flew aboard Soviet Soyuz T-11 on 2 April 1984 — the first Indian citizen in space. Ravish Malhotra was the backup cosmonaut. Kalpana Chawla (1997) was the first Indian-origin woman in space — but she was a US citizen, not an Indian citizen, at the time. When PM Indira Gandhi asked Sharma how India looked from space, he replied: “Saare Jahan Se Accha.”

Q2. Which is India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier? (CDS II 2023)

(a) INS Vikramaditya
(b) INS Viraat
(c) INS Vikrant (R11)
(d) INS Vikrant (commissioned 2022)

Answer: (d) INS Vikrant commissioned 2022
The new INS Vikrant (IAC-1), commissioned on 2 September 2022 by PM Modi, is India’s first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier. INS Vikramaditya (2013) was purchased and refitted from Russia. The original INS Vikrant (R11, 1961) was purchased from the UK and served during the 1971 war. INS Viraat was also a decommissioned British carrier. 2 September = India’s Navy Aviation Day.

Q3. India became the first country to soft-land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole. What was the name of the lander? (CDS I 2023)

(a) Pragyan
(b) Vikram
(c) Chandrayaan
(d) Shiv Shakti

Answer: (b) Vikram
Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander successfully soft-landed on the Moon’s South Pole on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST. Pragyan is the rover that deployed from Vikram. The landing site was named “Shiv Shakti Point” by PM Modi. India became the 4th country to land on the Moon (after USA, USSR, China) and the first to land near the South Pole.

Q4. Who was the first woman to become Prime Minister of India? (CDS II 2022)

(a) Pratibha Patil
(b) Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
(c) Sarojini Naidu
(d) Indira Gandhi

Answer: (d) Indira Gandhi (1966–1977; 1980–1984)
Indira Gandhi became India’s 3rd PM in 1966 — the first (and so far only) woman PM of India. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit = first woman President of the UN General Assembly (1953). Sarojini Naidu = first woman Governor (UP, 1947). Pratibha Patil = first woman President of India (2007). Know the distinctions — CDS pairs these women leaders to trap students.

Q5. Abhinav Bindra won India’s first individual Olympic gold medal. In which event? (CDS I 2021)

(a) Wrestling
(b) 10m Air Pistol
(c) 10m Air Rifle
(d) Boxing

Answer: (c) 10m Air Rifle (Beijing 2008)
Abhinav Bindra won gold in 10m Air Rifle (Shooting) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — India’s first individual Olympic gold medal. India had won team Olympic golds in Hockey since 1928, but no individual gold before 2008. Bindra scored 700.5 in the final. He is also a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Padma Bhushan awardee.

Q6. First Railway line in India ran between which two cities? (CDS II 2021)

(a) Calcutta to Howrah
(b) Delhi to Agra
(c) Bombay to Thane
(d) Madras to Arcot

Answer: (c) Bombay to Thane (16 April 1853)
India’s first passenger train ran from Boree Bunder (Mumbai) to Thane — a distance of 34 km — on 16 April 1853. The locomotive was named “Sahib” (other engines: Sindh and Sultan). 400 guests travelled on this inaugural run. 16 April is celebrated as Indian Railway Day. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway operated this route.

⚡ Quick Reference — GK04

Political Firsts

1st President = Dr. Rajendra Prasad
1st PM = Jawaharlal Nehru
1st Woman President = Pratibha Patil
1st Woman PM = Indira Gandhi
1st Speaker Lok Sabha = G.V. Mavalankar
1st CJI = Justice H.J. Kania

Space & Science Firsts

1st Indian in space = Rakesh Sharma (1984)
1st Indian satellite = Aryabhata (1975)
1st Moon landing = Chandrayaan-3 Vikram (2023)
1st Atomic plant = Tarapur (1969)
World: Yuri Gagarin (1st human in space, 1961)
World: Neil Armstrong (1st on Moon, 1969)

Institution Firsts

1st Newspaper = Bengal Gazette (1780)
1st University = Calcutta (1857)
1st Railway = Bombay–Thane (1853)
1st IIT = IIT Kharagpur (1951)
1st Film = Raja Harishchandra (1913, Phalke)
1st PVC = Major Somnath Sharma

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