General Knowledge
The President of India to felicitate exceptional women achievers at Rashtrapati Bhawan
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind felicitate exceptional women who are the first to set a milestone in their respective fields( 20th January 2018). As many as 112 women have been selected after an extensive research process by the Ministry of Women & Child Development. These women have been identified as 'exceptional women', who are the first Indian women to establish milestones in their respective fields. Like the first woman judge, first woman porter, the first woman to head a missile project, first para-trooper, first Olympian among others.
The Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said, “Keeping up with the solemn spirit of Empowered Nari, the Ministry conceptualized 'First Ladies'. These First Ladies rose through barriers, standards, and oppressive notions to become the first women to excel in the fields which were thought to be beyond them".
A list of 227 women was compiled from various sources, including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Sports, Limca Book of Records, press clippings, internet etc. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, along with an esteemed panel of judges, finalized the names of 112 extraordinary women who busted stereotypes and broke the glass ceiling to become the Number One.
On March 8th, the WCD Ministry honours with Nari Shakti Puruskars, those women who have contributed to society but have remained unsung. The Nari Shakti Puraskars are conferred by the Hon'ble President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Along with these Puruskars, the Ministry has started a new system of recognizing in different ways those women who have broken the glass ceiling and ventured into unusual fields. The Ministry had collaborated with Facebook in 2015 to recognise '100 Women Achievers' who have excelled in diverse sectors of public work. These women were hosted by His Excellency, the President of India. 'First Ladies' is the second leg of the ‘100 Women Achievers’ campaign of the Ministry.
Among the 112 women who received this award, the list was given below-
1 Bachendri Pal - First Indian woman to reach the Mount Everest summit
2. Deepa Malik - First woman to win a medal at the Paralympics
3. PriyaJhingan - First Lady Cadet to join Indian Army
4. P.V Sindhu - First Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal
5. Ayesha Aziz - The youngest pilot in India and the first female pilot from Kashmir
6. Nicole Faria - First Indian woman to win the Miss Earth title
7. Radhika Menon -India’s first female Merchant Navy Captain
8. KarnamMalleswari - First Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal
9. Surekha Yadav - First Indian Woman train driver of passenger train
10. Heena Sidhu - First woman to win Gold in World Cup Shooting
11. Sunil Dabas - First woman kabaddi coach to win Dronacharya Award
12. BhagyashreeThipsay - First woman to win International Grand Master- Chess
13. Flying Officer Bhawana Kanth- IAF’s first batch of female fighter pilots
14. Flying Officer AvaniChaturvedi - IAF’s first batch of female fighter pilot
15. Flying Officer Mohana Singh - IAF’s first batch of female fighter pilots
16. AnshuJamsenpa - First Indian woman to scale Mt. Everest for fifth time
17. Anju Mangla - First woman Superintendent in Tihar Men’s Jail
18. MuskanSethi - India’s First woman to Play Professional Poker
19. ChhaviRajawat - India’s first woman Sarpanch.
20. Alisha Abdullah - India’s first F1 women racer, India's first female national racing champion
21. Arunima Sinha – First differently abled female to climb Mount Everes
22. HarshiniKanhekar - First female fire fighter
23. VankadarathSaritha - Delhi's First Female Bus Driver
24. KiranMazumdar Shaw - First Indian business woman to reach 1 billion dollar net-worth: Biocon
25. Sunalini Menon - Asia's first professional woman coffee taster
26. ShilaDawre - Country's first woman autorickshaw driver
27. P. T. Usha - First Indian woman to reach the final of an Olympic event
28. Bula Choudhury - First woman in the world to swim across sea channels of five continents
29. Chetna Sinha - Founder of first rural bank for women in India
30. Bhakti Sharma - First Asian woman and the youngest in the world to set a record in open swimming in Antarctic waters
31. ShatbhiBasu - India's first ever female bartender
32. Archy J - India’s first female bagpipe artist
33. Indian Women’s Ice Hockey Team - First ever Indian National Women’s Ice Hockey team
34. VenikaMitra - Director of First Indian film to win an award at Short Film Fest in Cannes at Beyond Border: Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase
35. Urvashi Butalia - India's first feminist publishing house
36. Tanvi Shah - First Indian woman to win a Grammy Award
37. GeetaPhogat - India's first ever gold medallist in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
38. Indushree - First female ventriloquist (specialist in dummy act) in India
39. Selvi Gowda - Former child bride becomes India's 'first female taxi driver'
40. Mamta Devi - First competitive female body builder
41. Manju - Rajasthan's first woman porter in the entire NorthWestern Railway region.
42. Diana Edulji– First ODI captain of the first-ever Indian Women's Cricket Team
43. Ruveda Salam - A doctor and Kashmir’s first woman IPS officer
44. Dhanya Menon - India’s first woman Cybercrime Investigator
45. UpasanaTaku - First woman to lead a payments start up
46. Michelle Kakade - First woman to run Golden Quadrilateral by foot in fastest time
47. Sneha Kamath - Founder of India’s first car driving training centre for women.
48. Neeru Chadha - First Indian Woman Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
49. Shirin Merchant - First Indian to have been invited to the Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) conference
50. Ira Singhal - First differently-abled woman to top Civil Services Exam
51. Pankaj Bhadouria - First woman to win Master Chef India
52. SainaNehwal - First badminton player to win an Olympic medal
53. Aditi Pant - First Indian woman to reach Antarctica
54. Chitra Ramakrishna – First MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE)
55. Anuradha Pal - First and the youngest Indian musician to perform at the WOMAD (World of Music, Art and Dance) Festival
56. Tessy Thomas - First woman scientist to head a missile project in India
57. Ruchi Sharma- First operational woman Paratrooper
58. Anjuli Shukla - She is the only Indian till date who won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography
59. AratiSaha - First Indian woman to swim across the English Channel
60. MC Mary Kom - First Indian woman to win a medal in Asian Games 2014 for boxing.
61. DurgabaiKamat - First actress of Indian Cinema
62. Mary PoonenLukose - First female surgeon of India
63. Captain Shoba K. Mani - First Indian woman to setup an airline namely "North East Shuttles"
64. Praveena Solomon - First woman to run a crematorium
65. Sakshi Malik - First Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
66. DipaKarmakar- First Indian-woman gymnast to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 52 years
67. IshitaMalaviya - India’s first professional woman surfer
68. Siddhi Karnani - Founder of India’s First organic food startup, Paravata Foods
69. Radhika Aggarwal – Founder of "Shopclues", crossed 1 billion dollars in revenue
70. Pooja Warier - First female founder of an incubator "UnLTD" dedicated to social entrepreneurs.
71. Sunita Sharma - First woman cricket coach
72. Kalpana Chawla - First Indian woman in space
73. Rajeshwari Chatterjee- First Woman Scientist to pioneer the Field of Microwave Engineering and Antennae Engineering in India
74. Dr. Aban Mistry - India's First Woman Tabla Maestro
75. Dr. Bharati Lavekar – First MLA to launch India’s first digital bank for sanitary pads
76. Mithali Raj - First woman cricketer to go record 6000-run mark
77. Sucheta Pal - First Indian to attain the position of Global Brand Ambassador for India as the Master Trainer in Zumba.
78. Dr. S. Padmavati-The first woman cardiologist in India
79. Sajida Khan - First Female Music Technician
80. FathimaBeevi - First female judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court
81. Kamala Sohonie- First Indian woman with Ph.D. In Science
82. Sania Mirza - First Indian woman to be ranked no.1 in Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Double rankings
83. MsBenoZephine- First visually-impaired woman to join the Indian Foreign Service
84. Ms. RajaniGopalkrishna (visually-impaired)-First Chartered Accountant with disability
85. VijayalakshmiSubbaraman- First female grandmaster (chess)
86. NeeluRohmetra- First woman to head an IIM
87. Chandrani Prasad Verma- First female mining engineer
88. NainaLalKidwai- First woman president of FICCI
89. Anila Jacob- First woman sculptor to receive a national award in 1965
90. ShobanaKamineni- First woman Head of CII
91. ArunaRajePatil- The first trained woman technician in the film industry
92. Dr. Indira Hinduja- First Indian Gynecologist to deliver India’s first test tube baby
93. Upasna Makati- creator of India's first English lifestyle magazine in Braille
94. Nivedita Joshi- First yoga book in Braille
95. Padma Sachdev- First modern woman poet of Dogri language
96. KalamandalamHemalatha- Sets Guinness World Record for Longest Dance
97. Dr. Varsha Agrawal- First Indian Lady of international recognition for her performance on Santoor.
98. K.S. Chitra- First Female singer to be honoured by House Of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom.
99. Kajal Singh- India’s first female graffiti artist
100. Tara Anand- First young artist reviving India’s forgotten female warriors using 'digital art'
101. Dr. Asha Pande- First Indian woman to be the member of Legion of Honour
102. RajaniPandit- First woman detective of India
103. Kavita Devi- First Indian Woman to sign with WWE
104. FouziaDastango- India's First Woman Dastangoi Artiste
105. BasantiBisht- The first and only woman who sings the ancient form of Jagar.
106. Dr. Sneh Bhargava- India’s first female director of AIIMS
107. Swati Piramal- The first woman President of India's Apex Chamber of Commerce, ASSOCHAM
108. Lt Col (Retd.) Josycila Farida Rehana- First woman paratrooper of the Indian Army (AMC)
109. Debjani Ghosh- First woman to be appointed as NASSCOM President
110. Anjum Chopra- First woman cricketer from India to be awarded an honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club -(MCC).
111. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan- The first Indian actress to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival
112. BharulataKamble- First woman driver in the world to complete a transcontinental car journey alone, covering 32,000km spread across 32 countries
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