First in India in Governance

• President of the Indian National Congress— Womesh Chandra Bannerjee, 1885

• President of the Indian National Congress of independent India— Acharya Kripalani, till Nov 1947

• President— Rajendra Prasad (1950–1962)

• First Woman President— Pratibha Patil (2007–2012)

• The first Chief Election Commissioner — Sukumar Sen

• Industries and Supplies Minister— Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

• The first person to resign from the Central Cabinet— Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

• 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)

• Law Minister of India— B. R. Ambedkar

• Leader of Opposition— A. K. Gopalan

• Prime Minister to be voted out of office— Indira Gandhi (1977), when the Indian National Congress lost to the Janata Party

• Non-Congress government— 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, 21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996

• Person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for a full term (five years)— P. V. Narasimha Rao, 21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996

• Prime Minister from South India— P. V. Narasimha Rao, 1991, H.D.Deve Gowda

• Women Railway Minister of India— Mamata Banerjee[18]

• The first Viceroy of India— 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–present)

• First Muslim President— Zakir Hussain (1967–1969)

• First Sikh President— Giani Zail Singh

• First Chief Minister of West Bengal— Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh

• 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 26 November 1947

• First Home Minister of India— Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel

• First Indian President to die in Office— Dr Zakir Hussain, 3 May 1969

• First Chief Minister to die in Office— C.N.Annadurai, Tamil Nadu

• 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.

• First Woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha— Meira Kumar

• First Woman Finance Minister of State Government in India— Dr Upinderjit Kaur, in Punjab Govt.