Independence Day 2020: We bet you didn’t know these ‘firsts’ of Indian history post Independence

India celebrates 74 years of Independence on August 15, 2020. Here is a list of everything 'firsts' that happened in India post Independence.

Team Newsable

Bengaluru, First Published Aug 15, 2020, 3:55 PM IST | Last Updated Aug 15, 2020, 3:55 PM IST

Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of Independent India on August 15, 1947.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948, known as the First Kashmir War, was fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu.

The Reserve Bank of India commenced its operations in 1935. But it was in the year 1949 that the bank got nationalised.

Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first President of India in the year 1950. He is the only Indian president to have served two terms.

In July 1951, the Planning Commission issued the draft outline of the First Five Year Plan for the period April 1951 to March 1956. It was presented to the parliament in December 1952 by the Planning Commission.

India's first IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) was inaugurated on August 18, 1951, in Kharagpur. The institute will turn 67 on August 18, 2018.

Democracy took a giant step forward when the first general elections were held post-independence. The elections were held over a four-month period on Oct 15, 1951, to Feb 21, 1952, with INC (Indian National Congress) winning 364 seats out of 489.

The first ever test match post-independence was played between India and Pakistan on October 16, 1952, at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi. India won the series by 2-1, with Lala Amarnath leading the team.

The First Lok Sabha was constituted on April 17, 1952, after India's first general election. It lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957.

In 1954, India's first Prime Minister JL Nehru set off on what was described as the "most important foreign mission of his life": A trip to China. It was also the first visit by a non-communist head of state since the creation of the People's Republic of China.

India's first atomic reactor, Apsara, went critical on August 4, 1956. The reactor was designed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) and built with assistance from the United Kingdom. It was a symbol of the arrival of India's nuclear energy programme.

The first time television was introduced in India was the year 1959 in Delhi. The programs were broadcasted twice a week for one hour every day on topics such as community health, citizens' duties and rights etc. But the first major expansion of television in India began in 1972 when a second television station was opened in Bombay.

The first ever national emergency was declared during the Sino-Indian war on October 26, 1962. It lasted till January 10, 1968.

Raj Kapoor's Sangam became the first film to be shot abroad in 1964.

India's first green revolution started in 1967. The Green Revolution, spreading over the period from 1967-68 to 1977-78, changed India's status from a food-deficient country to one of the world's leading agricultural nations.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed on August 15, 1969, under the leadership of Dr Vikram A Sarabhai. ISRO was formulated under the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR). The INCOSPAR committee was created by Homi J Bhabha in 1962.

On May 18, 1974, India conducted its first successful nuclear explosion at Pokhran, which was code-named as 'Smiling Buddha'

India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched on April 19, 1975, by ISRO. The satellite re-entered the atmosphere of Earth after 17 years on 11 February 1992.

In the 1977 elections, for the first time, a non-congress government was formed at the center. The new government, Janata Party was led by Morarji Desai.