Great Women Achievers Of India

Home > Great Women Achievers Of India

Here is the list of  some of the most powerful Indian  women of our country, India. These Indian women are the physical manifest of power, dedictation towards work, will, grace and have shown extra ordinary brilliance in their resective fields. With every ladder, these powerful Indian women take, be it business, sports, politics, arts, hospitality, entertainment, literature, name any, they keep raising the bar and breaking untouched barriers. They are the powerful Indian women who have made India shine on a global platform. 1879 : John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune  established the Bethune School in 1849 in Mirzapur, Kolkata, which developed   into the Bethune College in 1879, thus becoming the first women's college in India. 1883 : Chandramukhi Basu  and Kadambini Ganguly  became the first Indian female graduates of India and the British Empire . 1886 : Kadambini Ganguly  and Anandi Gopal Joshi  became the first Indian women to be trained in Western medicine . 1905 : Suzanne RD Tata  becomes the first Indian woman to drive a car. 1916 : The first women's university, SNDT Women's University , Mumbai, Maharastra was founded on June 2, 1916 by the Social Reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve  with just five students. 1917 : Annie Besant  became the first female president of the Indian National Congress . 1919 : Pandita Ramabai  became the first Indian woman to be awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind  by the British Raj  for her distinguished social service. 1925 : Sarojini Naidu  became the first Indian born female president of the Indian National Congress. 1927 : The All India Women's Conference  was founded. 1944 : Asima Chatterjee  became the first Indian woman to be conferred the Doctorate of Science  by an Indian university 1947 : On August 15, 1947, following independence, Sarojini Naidu  became the governor of the United Provinces , and in the process became India's first woman governor. 1951 : Prem Mathur becomes the first Indian women commercial pilot of the Deccan Airways . 1953 : Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit  became the first woman (and first Indian) president of the United Nations General Assembly  . 1959 : Anna Chandy becomes the first Indian woman judge of a High Court (Kerala High Court). 1963 :Sucheta Kriplani  became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh , the first woman to hold that position in any Indian state. 1966 :Captain Durga Banerjee becomes the first Indian woman pilot of the state airline, Indian Airlines . 1966 : Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay  wins Ramon Magsaysay award  for community leadership. 1966 : Indira Gandhi  becomes the first woman Prime Minister of India  . 1970 : Kamaljit Sandhu  becomes the first Indian woman to win a Gold in the Asian Games . 1972 : Kiran Bedi  becomes the first female recruit to join the Indian Police Service . 1979 : Mother Teresa  wins the Nobel Peace Prize , becoming the first Indian female citizen to do so. 1984 : On May 23, Bachendri Pal  became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest . 1989: Justice M. Fathima Beevi  becomes the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India . 1997: Kalpana Chawla  becomes the first India-born woman to go into space. 1992: Priya Jhingan becomes the first lady cadet to join the Indian Army  (later commissioned on March 6, 1993). 1994 : Harita Kaur Deol becomes the first Indian woman pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF), on a solo flight. 2000 : Karnam Malleswari  became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal (bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics  at Sydney). 2002 : Lakshmi Sahgal  became the first Indian woman to run for the post of President of India. 2004 : Punita Arora  became the first woman in the Indian Army  to don the highest rank of Lieutenant General. 2007 : Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak  became the first Indian woman to be appointed as University Professor  at an Ivy League  university (Columbia University). 2007 : Pratibha Patil  becomes the first woman President of India . 2008 : Renu Khator  became the first India born woman to lead a major American university, the University of Houston . 2009 : Meira Kumar  became the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha, the lower house in Indian Parliament AgathaSangma: youngest  MP, Union minister of state for rural development.