Firsts in Modern Indian History
"First" questions are a favourite pattern in exams. Learn these in pairs.
| First | Person / event |
|---|---|
| Governor-General of Bengal | Warren Hastings (1773) |
| Governor-General of India | William Bentinck (1833) |
| Viceroy of India | Lord Canning (1858) |
| Last Viceroy | Lord Mountbatten |
| First Indian Governor-General (free India) | C. Rajagopalachari (1948) |
| First Indian to pass the ICS | Satyendranath Tagore (1863) |
| First Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council | S.P. Sinha (1909) |
| First Indian to become a Governor | S.P. Sinha (Bihar and Orissa, 1920) |
| First Indian MP in the House of Commons | Dadabhai Naoroji (1892) |
| First president of Congress | W.C. Bonnerjee (1885) |
| First Muslim Congress president | Badruddin Tyabji (1887) |
| First woman Congress president | Annie Besant (1917) |
| First Indian woman Congress president | Sarojini Naidu (1925) |
| First railway line | Bombay to Thane (1853) |
| First newspaper | Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780) |
| First Census | 1872 (first regular census 1881) |
| First women graduates | Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu (1883) |
| First hunger strike by Gandhi in India | Ahmedabad mill strike (1918) |
| First satyagraha in India | Champaran (1917) |
| First all-India hartal | 6 April 1919 (Rowlatt Satyagraha) |
| First mass movement | Non-Cooperation (1920 to 1922) |
| First "Independence Day" | 26 January 1930 |
| First Indian ruler to reserve jobs for backward classes | Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur (1902) |
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from standard sources such as NCERT, Bipan Chandra, Spectrum and official records. Historians differ on some dates, figures and interpretations, so check your exam syllabus and a standard textbook. Found a mistake? Tell us.