112 First Ladies of India Honoured

UPSC Prelims 2025 Notes

The Minister of Women and Child Development, felicitated 112 exceptional women achievers in New Delhi.

The initiative is in the spirit of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme and the women achievers will act as a role model and inspiration for women across the country.

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 President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Along with these Puruskars, the Ministry has started a new system of recognising 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.

Following 112 woman achievers were honoured:

  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 pilots
  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 Everest
  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 North-Western 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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