Facts of India

Facts of India
©Ramakrishna Kongalla

Geography
• Indian Geography
• Indian geography is a showcase of
diversity. India's landscape varies
from snow-capped peaks to deserts,
plains, rainforests, hills, and plateaus.
India has a vast coastline of over
7000km, and is home to some of the
highest mountains of the world. India
has number of rivers that have
resulted in a number of fertile deltas
and on the other hand it is also home
to the barren Thar Desert. India has
the second coldest place on the earth
and at the same time it has places
that witness temperature over 50oC
in summers
• Easternmost Point of India
• Kibithu is the easternmost point of India.
Kibithu is a tiny village located at an
altitude of 11,000 feet in Arunachal
Pradesh's Lohit District, bordering China's
Tibet region. Kibithoo is nestled on the
right bank of the mighty Lohit River. It is
the first settlement along the banks of
Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh after the
river enters the Indian Territory from
China. The climate of Kibithu is cool and
salubrious. The whispering pine
forests, wild rash berries, beautiful flowers
and majestic waterfalls set against tall
blue hills add to the abundant natural
beauty of Kibithu.
Kibithu witnessed some of the fiercest
fights by Indian Soldiers against the
Chinese in 1962. But with the passage of
time, after Nathu La, Kibithu is fast
emerging to be a new melting point of
Indo-China friendship. It offers relatively
easy travel up to Chinese side.
R'tist@Tourism,Pondicherry University 2

• Geographical Area of India
• India has an area of 3,287,240 sq. km. It
is the seventh largest country of the
world after Russia (1,70,75,000 sq.
km), Canada (99,76,132 sq. km), China
(99,76,132 sq. km), the U.S.A.
(90,72,340 sq. km), Brazil (85,11,965 sq.
km) and Australia (76,82,300 sq. km).
India accounts for about 2.4 per cent of
the total surface area of the world.
India is nearly twenty times as large as
Great Britain. Many of the Indian states
are larger than several countries of the
world.
• Highest Mountain Peak in India
• Kanchenjunga is the highest mountain
peak in India. Kanchenjunga has an
altitude of 8,586 metres (28,169 feet). It
is engirdled by three territories: Sikkim
in the south and east, Nepal in the
west, and Tibet in the north. The name
Kanchenjunga is derived from the
Tibetan words, 'Kanchen' and
'Dzonga', meaning 'Five Treasuries of
the Great Snow', as it contains five
peaks. The treasures represent the five
repositories of god, which are
gold, silver, gems, grain, and holy books.
The five ridges are named according to
their respective directions with
reference to the main peak to which
they are attached.
The five peaks of Kanchenjunga are:
• Kanchenjunga Main: 8,586 m
• Kanchenjunga West: 8,505 m
• Kangchenjunga Central: 8,482m
• Kangchenjunga South: 8,494m
• Kangbachen: 7,903m

• Largest Alluvial Plain of the World
• The Great Plain of North India also
known as Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra
Plain is the largest alluvial plain of the
world. This arcuate plain extends for a
length of 3200 km from the mouth of
the Indus to the mouth of the Ganga.
The plain lies partly in Pakistan and
partly in India. The length of the plain in
India is around 2400 km. The average
width of the plain varies from 150 to
300 km. It is widest in the west where it
stretches for about 500 km. Its width
decreases in the east. It is about 280 km
wide near Allahabad and 160 km near
Rajmahal Hills. The plain widens to
about 460 km in Bengal but narrows
down in Assam where it is only 60-100
km wide. The plain covers a total area
of 7.8 lakh sq km. The northern
boundary of the plain is well defined by
the foothills of the Shiwaliks but its
southern boundary is a wavy irregular
line along the northern edge of the
Peninsular India.
• Largest Delta in India
• Sundarban is the largest delta in India.
The Sundarbans are a part of the
world's largest delta formed by the
rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and
Meghna. They are vast tract of forest
and saltwater swamp forming the lower
part of the Ganges Delta, extending
about 260 km along the Bay of Bengal
from the Hooghly River Estuary in India
to the Meghna River Estuary in
Bangladesh. Sunderban covers an area
of 4262 sq. km in India.
Sunderban is a unique ecosystem
dominated by mangrove forests and
gets its name from the Sundari trees.
Sunderban is spread over 54 islands and
two countries. It is one of the last
preserves of the Bengal tiger and the
site of a tiger preservation project.

• Largest District in India
• Kachchh (also spelled as Kutch) in
Gujarat, with an area of 45,652 sq km is
the largest District in India. The
administrative headquarters of Kachchh
is in Bhuj. The district's five main towns
are Gandhidham, Bhuj, Anjaar, Mandavi
and Mundra. There are 966 smaller
villages in the area.
Kachchh literally means something
which intermittently becomes wet and
dry. Rann of Kachchh, a significant
region of Kachchh district is shallow
wet-land which submerges in water
during the rainy season and becomes
dry during other seasons. Kachchhi and
Gujarati are the dominant languages of
the area. Kachchhi draws heavily from
its neighbouring language groups:
Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujarati.
• Largest Glacier in India
• Siachen Glacier is the largest glacier in
India. In fact, it has the distinction of
being the largest glacier outside the
polar and the sub-polar regions.
Siachen glacier is 75.6 km long and 2.8
km wide. It is the source for the 80km-
long Nubra River, a tributary of the
Shyok, which is part of the Indus River
system.
The Siachen Glacier lies south of the
great watershed that separates China
from the Indian subcontinent in the
extensively glaciated portion of the
Karakoram. The word 'Siachen' means
"the place of wild roses". Siachen also
has the dubious distinction of being the
highest battleground on earth. India
and Pakistan have fought intermittently
since April 13, 1984. The volume of the
glacier has been reduced by 35 percent
over the last twenty years. Global
warming and military activity have been
cited as the main reasons for the
receding of the glacier.

• Largest Physiographic Unit of India
• India is divided into five
physiographic divisions. These are:
• The Himalayan Mountains
• The Great Plains of North India
• The Peninsular Plateau
• The Coastal Plains
• The Islands
• Among these five physiographic
units, The Peninsular Plateau is the
largest physiographic unit of India.
The entire plateau measures about
1,600 km in the north-south and
1400 km in east-west direction. It
covers a total area of about 16 lakh
sq km which is about half of the
total land area of the country. The
Peninsular Plateau is roughly
triangular in shape with base
coinciding with the southern edge
of the great plain of North India and
its apex is formed by Kanyakumari
in the southern extremity.
• Largest River Island in India
• Majuli Island in Assam is the largest
river Island in India. Majuli is in the
Brahmaputra River, and is about
200 kilometres east from
Guwahati, the capital of Assam.
Majuli was formed due to course
changes by the river Brahmaputra
and its tributaries, mainly the Lohit.
The total area of the island was
1250 sq.km but due to erosion its
present area is 557 sq km.
Majuli is inhabited mainly by tribals.
Major tribes are:
Mishing, Deori, and Sonowal
Kacharis. Major languages spoken in
Majuli are Assamese, Mishing, and
Deori. The island has twenty-three
villages with a population of
150,000 and a density of 300
persons per square km.

• Largest State in India
• Rajasthan with an area of 342,239 sq km
is the largest state in India. Before the
formation of Chattisgarh as a separate
state in the year 2000, Madhya Pradesh
was the largest Indian state in terms of
area. Rajasthan is located in the western
part of India and has two distinct
geographical regions with desert on one
side and thick forest on the other. Aravalli
the oldest mountain chain is the dividing
line between the two climatic zones of
the State. Western Rajasthan
encompasses most of the area of the
Great Indian Desert (also known as Thar
Desert). The eastern region of the State
has thick vegetation of
Sal, Axlewood, Dhak and Mesquite.
• Largest Union Territory in India
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands with an
area of 8,249 sq km is the largest union
territory in India. The Andaman &
Nicobar Islands are situated between
6o and 14o North Latitude and 92o and
94o East Longitude. The group of 572
islands / islets is located in the Bay of
Bengal, 1,255 km from Kolkata and
1190 km from Chennai. The entire chain
of island consists of two distinct groups
of islands. The Great Andaman group of
islands in the north is separated by the
Ten Degree Channel from the Nicobar
group in the south. The Andaman group
of islands is divided into three main
groups viz., North Andaman, Middle
Andaman and South Andaman. Little
Andaman is separated from the Great
Andamans by 50 km wide Duncan
Passage. The Nicobar group of islands
consists of 7 big and 12 small islands
together with several tiny islands. The
Great Nicobar is the largest of all the
islands.

• Length of Coastline of India
• Length of coastline of India including
the coastlines of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal
and Lakshwadweep Islands in the
Arabian Sea is 7517 km. Length of
Coastline of Indian mainland is 6100
km. Coastline of Indian mainland is
surrounded by Arabian Sea in the
west, Bay of Bengal in the east, and
Indian Ocean in the south. length of
total coastline of India. The long
coast line of India is dotted with
several major ports such as
Kandla, Mumbai, Navasheva, Mangal
ore, Cochin, Chennai, Tuticorin, Vish
akapatnam, and Paradip. For the
effective defence of Indian
Coastline, a separate force known as
Indian Coast Guard was formed on
February 1, 1977.
• Longest River of India
• Ganga is the longest river of India. The total
length of the Ganga river from its source to its
mouth (measured along the Hughli) is 2525
km of which 1450 km is in the Uttar
Pradesh, 445 km in Bihar and 520 km in West
Bengal. The remaining 110 km stretch of the
Ganga forms the boundary between Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar.
The Ganga originates as Bhagirathi from the
Gangotri glacier in Uttar Kashi District. It is
joined by the Alaknanda at Devaprayag and
the combined flow of the Bhagirathi and the
Alaknanda is known as Ganga. After traveling
280 km from its source, Ganga enters plains at
Haridwar. At Allahabad, about 770 km south-
east of Haridwar, Ganga is joined by
Yamuna, which is its most important tributary.
After Farraka in West Bengal, the river ceases
to be known as the Ganga. It bifurcates itself
into Bhagirathi-Hughli in West Bengal and
Padma-Meghna in Bangladesh. After
traversing 220 km further down in
Bangladesh, the Brahmaputra joins it at
Goalundo and after meeting Meghna 100 km
downstream the Ganga joins the Bay of
Bengal.R'tist@Tourism,Pondicherry University 8

• Longitudinal & Latitudinal Extents
of India
• India lies wholly in the northern and
eastern hemispheres. The main
land of India extends from 8o 4' 28"
N to 37o 17' 53" N latitudes and
from 68o 7' 53" E to 97o 24' 47" E
longitudes. The latitudinal and
longitudinal extent of India is
approximately the same i.e. 30o.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
extend further southwards and add
to the latitudinal extent of India.
The southernmost point known as
the Indira Point in the Great
Nicobar Island is at 6o 45' N. The
latitudinal extent of India from
Kashmir in the north to
Kanyakumari in the south is 3,214
km. India's longitudinal extent from
the Rann of Kutch in the west to
Arunachal Pradesh in the east is
2,933 km.
• Northernmost Point of India
• Northernmost Point of India is
disputed. The Siachen Glacier in the
State of Jammu & Kashmir is the
northern most point under Indian
control. India claims the entire state
of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis
of Instrument of Accession signed in
1947, which inter alia includes
Gilgit, Baltistan, and Kanjut.
Gilgit, Baltistan, and Kanjut are
presently under the control of
Pakistan. The northern most point if
we take the whole state of J&K in
consideration is Dafdar in the
Taghdumbash Pamir near Beyik Pass
in Kanjut.

• Smallest District in India
• Mahe is the smallest district in
India. It has an area of 9 sq. km.
Mahe is geographically located
in the state of Kerala, where as
administratively it comes under
the control of Union Territory of
Pondicherry. Mahe has the
official name of Mayyazhi in the
local Malayalam language.
Mahe has a population of about
36,000 according to the 2001
census. The population density
of the town is 4091 per sq. km.
Males constitute 47% of the
population and females 53%.
Mahe has an average literacy
rate of 85%. Mahe has two
members in the Pondicherry
Legislative Assembly,
representing Mahe and Palloor.
• Smallest State in India
• Goa with an area of 3702 sq. km
is the smallest State in India.
Goa was a Portuguese colony
and was liberated from
Portuguese rule on December
19, 1961. After its independence
Goa along with Daman & Diu
was accorded the status of
Union Territory. On May
30, 1987, the Union Territory
was split, and Goa was elevated
as India's 25th state, with
Daman and Diu remaining Union
Territories. Goa is one of the
most developed states of India.
Tourism is the mainstay of Goa.
Panaji is the capital of Goa and
Vasco is its largest town. The
main language of Goa is Konkani.

• Smallest Union Territory in India
• Lakshadweep with an area of 32
sq km is the smallest Union
Territory in India. Lakshadweep
islands lie in the Arabian Sea and
extend from 8o N to 12o 20' N
and 71o 45' E to 74o E. The
islands north of 11o N are known
as Amindivi Islands while those
south of this latitude are called
Cannanore Islands. In the
extreme south is the Minicoy
Island. The Laccadives, Minicoy
and Amindivi group of islands
were renamed as Lakshadweep
in 1973. All the islands are of
coral origin. The islands consist
of 12 atolls, three reefs and
submerged sand banks. Of the
27 islands, only 11 are inhabited.
• Southernmost Point of India
• Indira Point, the southernmost
tip of the Great Nicobar island is
the southernmost point of land
in the territory of India. It is at
6o 45' N latitude. Indira Point
was formerly known as
Pygmalion Point and it was so
named by the late Rajiv Gandhi
after his mother on a visit to the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A
large part of the Indira point was
submerged under the sea due to
the tsunami generated by the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
The sea is now slowly retreating
back to its original position.
Indira Point is also a favourite
nesting site for exotic sea
animals.

• Southernmost Point of India
• Indira Point, the southernmost
tip of the Great Nicobar island is
the southernmost point of land
in the territory of India. It is at
6o 45' N latitude. Indira Point
was formerly known as
Pygmalion Point and it was so
named by the late Rajiv Gandhi
after his mother on a visit to the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A
large part of the Indira point was
submerged under the sea due to
the tsunami generated by the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
The sea is now slowly retreating
back to its original position.
Indira Point is also a favourite
nesting site for exotic sea
animals.
• Westernmost Point of India
• West of Ghuar Mota in Gujarat is
the westernmost point of India.
Its Latitude/Longitide is 23.67 N/
68.52 E. Ghuar Mota is in the
Kutch region of Gujarat. Other
cities located near Ghuar Mota
are:
Koteshwar, Mudia, Panadra, Pipa
r, Ber Mota, Ber, Lakhpat, and
Lakhpal.
Kutch was one of the princely
states of India during the British
rule. During the monsoon
season the region becomes
virtually an island resembling a
tortoise "Katchua", surrounded
by seawater. Kutch has an
extreme climate and the
temperature ranges from 20o C
in winter to 45o C in summers.

• Wettest Place in India
• Wettest Place in India is Cherrapunji. In
fact, Cherrapunji is the wettest place on
the earth. The place receives an annual
rainfall of over 1200 cm. Cherrapunji is
situated at 56 kms from Shillong, the
capital of Meghalaya, in one of the
heaviest rain-belts in the world.
However, off late, a ding-dong battle
has been on between Cherrapunji and
the neighbouring village of Mawsynram
for the crown of "Wettest Place in the
World". Sometimes, it is Cherrapunji
which records highest annual rainfall in
the world and sometimes it is
Mawsynram. However, meteorologists
question the genuineness of the data
obtained from Mawsynram. Unlike
Cherrapunji, there is no meteorological
office at Mawsynram and the readings
there are taken by a peon of the
Meghalaya Public Works Department
posted there.
•
• State with Least Number of Districts in
India
• Goa is the state with least number of
districts in India. It has two districts:
North Goa & South Goa.
The North Goa District has an area of
1736 sq. Km. Geographical position of
Goa is marked by 15o 48' 00" N to 14o 53'
54" N latitudes and 73o E to 75o E
longitudes. North Goa shares its
boundaries with the Sawantwadi &
Dodamarg, of Ratnagiri District and
Kolhapur District of Maharastra state and
with South Goa District shares the
southern boundary.
South Goa is situated between the
latitudinal paralles of 15o 29' 32" N and
14o 53' 57" N and longitudinal parallels of
73o 46' 21" E and 74o 20' 11" E. Arabian
Sea is to the west of district, North Goa
district to the North and Uttar Kannada
district of Karnataka in the East and
South. The total geographical area of the
district is 1966 sq km.

• State with Maximum Number
of Districts in India
• Uttar Pradesh is the state with
maximum number of districts in
India. It has a total of 70
districts. Uttar Pradesh is the
most populous and fifth largest
state of India. Only five countries
of the world, China, the United
States, Indonesia, Brazil and
India itself have populations
larger than that of Uttar
Pradesh. Kanpur is the largest
city of Uttar Pradesh and as per
the 2001 census six cities of
Uttar Pradesh, namely, Agra,
Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow,
Meerut, and Varanasi have
population of over million.
• Coldest place in India
• Drass in western Ladakh is the
coldest place in India. It is also
the second coldest place in the
world after Siberia.
Temperatures drop down to
about -40 degrees Celsius in
winters. However, summers in
Drass are balmy and many
trekkers and campers visit Drass
during the summer time. Drass
has an altitude of 3230 m and
lies 60 km west of Kargil on the
road to Srinagar. The Drass valley
starts from the base of the Zojila
pass, the Himalayan gateway to
Ladakh. Drass is a convenient
base camp for treks to Suru
valley. Inhabitants of Drass are of
Dard descent, an Indo-Aryan
race believed to have originally
migrated to Ladakh from Central
Asia.

Culture
• India Culture Facts
• India has a very rich and diverse
culture with a civilizational heritage
of more than 5000 years. Variety is
the hallmark of Indian culture. India's
culture has been enriched by the
successive waves of migration. The
invaders brought with them their
own culture which was amalgamated
into Indian way of life and it gave
birth to an eclectic mix which can be
seen today. India's physical, religious
and racial variety is reflected in its
culture. This vast cultural diversity is
manifested in the monuments -
temple, mosques, churches, monaste
ries, gurudwara's etc.
• Highest Gateway in India
• Buland Darwaza is the highest gateway in India.
Buland Darwaza was built by the Mughal
Emperor Akbar in 1601 A.D. at Fatehpur Sikri to
commemorate his victory over Gujarat. Buland
Darwaza is 53.63m high and 35 meters wide.
The structure is approached by 42 steps.
Buland Darwaza is made of red and buff
sandstone, decorated by carving and inlaying of
white and black marble. The Buland Darwaza is
semi octagonal in plan and is topped by pillars
and chhatris. It is adorned with calligraphic
inscriptions from the Quran. There are thirteen
smaller domed kiosks on the roof, stylized
battlement and small turrets and inlay work of
white and black marble. An inscription on the
central face of the Buland Darwaza displays
Akbar's religious broad mindedness. It is
attributed to Jesus Christ and reads, "The World
is but a bridge, pass over but build no houses on
it." A Persian inscription on eastern arch way of
the Buland Darwaza records Akbar's conquest
over Deccan in 1601 A.D.

• Largest Cave in India
• Amarnath Cave in Jammu & Kashmir is
the largest cave in India. The width of
the cave is around 40 yard, its height is
about 75 feet; and the cave slopes 80
feet deep down inside the mountain.
Amarnath Cave is an important
pilgrimage shrine for the Hindus. The
cave is famous for the image of Shiva, in
the form of a lingam that is formed
naturally of an ice-stalagmite, and
which waxes and wanes with the
moon.
Amarnath Cave is situated at an altitude
of 3888m and is 45 km from Pahalgam.
The trek from Pahalgam to Amarnath
cave is on an ancient peregrine route.
The 45-km distance is covered in four
days, with night halts at
Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni.
• Largest Cave Temple in India
• Ellora temples in
Aurangabad, Maharashtra are the
largest cave temples in India. Ellora cave
temples are a perfect example of Indian
rock cut architecture. Ellora is a World
Heritage Site. It has 35 caves. These
caves comprise of Buddhist, Hindu and
Jain cave temples and
monasteries, which were built between
the 5th century and 10th century. There
are 12 Buddhist caves, 17 Hindu
caves, and 5 Jain caves. The Buddhist
caves were the earliest
structures, created between the fifth
and seventh centuries. These consist
mostly of viharas or monasteries. The
Hindu caves were constructed in the
beginning of the 7th century. The
Kailasanatha Temple in the Cave 16 is
the main attraction of Ellora. The
temple is designed to recall Mount
Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. The
Jain temples reveal specific dimensions
of Jain philosophy and tradition.

• Largest Dome in India
• Gol Gumbaz, situated in Bijapur district
of Karnataka, is the largest dome in
India. Gol Gumbaz has a diameter of
124 feet and is the second largest dome
in the world, next only to St. Peter's
Basilica in Rome. The dome was built by
Muhammad Adil Shah in the year 1656.
It has a floor area of 1700 m2 and a
height of 51 m. The walls of the
structure are 3 m. thick. The dome
contains tombs of Muhammad Adil
Shah, his two wives, his mistress, his
daughter and grandson. Gol Gumbaz is
an architectural wonder as it stands
unsupported by pillars. The most
remarkable feature of Gol Gumbaz is its
acoustical system. Even the faintest
whisper around the dome echoes
several times
• Largest Gurudwara in India
• Golden Temple in Amritsar is the largest
Gurudwara in India. In fact, Golden
Temple is the largest Gurudwara in the
world. Golden Temple is also known as
Harminder Sahib and is considered to
be the most sacred shrine of Sikhs.
Golden Temple was built during the
leadership of the fifth guru, Guru Arjan
Dev (1581-1606). The temple
construction was started in 1588 and
was completed in 1601. Golden Temple
is surrounded by a small pond of
water, known as the Sarovar which
consists of Amrit (Holy Water). There
temple has four entrances, signifying
the importance of acceptance and
openness. All devotees are expected to
cover their heads as a sign of respect
and wash their feet in the small pool of
water as they enter the Golden Temple.
Drinking alcohol, eating meat, and
smoking cigarettes is prohibited in the
temple premises.

• Largest Monastery in India
• Tawang Monastery in Arunachal
Pradesh is the largest monastery in
India. The monastery is 3 storey
high and occupies an area of 140 sq
m. It is enclosed by a 610 m long
compound wall. Within the complex
there are 65 residential buildings
and 10 other structures.
Tawang Monastery is one of the
most largest Monasteries of
Mahayana sect in Asia. It was
founded by the Mera Lama Lodre
Gyasto in 17 century AD in
accordance to the wishes of the 5th
Dalai Lama, Nagwang Lobsang
Gyatso. The Monastery is also
known in Tibetan as Galden
Namgey Lhatse, which means a true
name within a celestial paradise in a
clear night. The library of the
monastery has valuable old
scriptures mainly Kanjur and Tanjur
numbering 850 bundles.
• Largest Mosque in India
• Jama Masjid in New
Delhi, overlooking Chandni Chowk
and the Red Fort, is the largest
mosque in India. The mosque was
built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan
in 1656. It has typical Mughal
architecture with three
gateways, four towers and two
minarets. The Jama Masjid is made
up of red sandstone and white
marble. About 25,000 people can
pray here at a time. The mosque
has a vast paved rectangular
courtyard, which is nearly 75 m by
66 m. The whole of the western
chamber is a big hall standing on
260 pillars all carved from Hindu
and Jain traditions. The central
courtyard is accessible from the
East. The Eastern side entrance
leads to another enclosure
containing the mausoleum of Sultan
Ahmed Shah. It took fifteen years to
build the mosque and more than
five thousand artisans worked on it.R'tist@Tourism,Pondicherry University 18

• Largest Temple Corridor in India
• The corridor of Ramnathswamy Temple
at Rameshwaram is the largest temple
corridor in India. The temple has 1220
metres of magnificent corridors and has
1200 gigantic granite columns.
Ramnathswamy temple was built in the
17th century. The temple is situated
close to the sea on the eastern side of
the island and has a 54 metre tall
gopuram.
Rameshwaram is an island situated in
the Gulf of Mannar at the tip of the
Indian peninsula. Rameshwaram is one
of the twelve Jyotirlingas of India.
Rameshwaram is an important
pilgrimage destination for Hindus.
According to the Hindu mythology, Lord
Rama performed thanksgiving rituals at
Rameshwaram after his triumph over
the demon king Ravana.
Therefore, Rameshwaram attracts
Vaishnavites and Saivites
• Oldest Church in India
• St Thomas Church at Palyar in
Trichur, Kerala is considered to be the
oldest church in India. In 52 A.D.
Thomas Didaemus, one of the 12
apostles of Jesus Christ. is believed to
have landed at Musiris (Cranganore) in
Kerala. He made his first converts both
Jews and Hindus at Palayur a town now
in Trichur district, Kerala. There he built
a small church with an altar, which he
consecrated. The Palayur church still
stands at the same site and is the oldest
church in India. In the 17th century
Reverend Fenichi enclosed the original
church with a new outer building, as
the wooden walls of the old church
were destroyed with time. But the
original altar consecrated by St. Thomas
still remains at this site.

• Tallest Statue in India
• The statue of Gomateshwara at Sravanbelagola in Karnataka
is the tallest statue in India. The statue is 17m (55 ft) high
and is visible from a distance of 30km. The gigantic
monolithic statue is carved out of a single block of granite
and stands majestically on top of a hill. This statue of Lord
Gomateshwara was created around 983 AD by
Chamundraya, a minister of the Ganga King, Rajamalla. Lord
Gomateshwara was a Jain saint, hence the place is an
important Jain pilgrimage center. The statue of
Gomateswara shows the recluse completely nude, in the
Jain custom. The neighboring areas have Jain bastis and
several images of the Jain Thirthankaras. At Sravanbelgola
the Mahamastakabhishekam festival is held once in 12
years, when the image of Gomateswara is bathed in
milk, curd, ghee, saffron and gold coins

Sports
• First Indian Athlete to Reach Olympic Finals
• Milkha Singh was the first Indian athlete to
reach Olympic finals. Milkha Singh reached the
finals of 400 m at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He
finished fourth in the finals and clocked a timing
of 45.6 seconds. Mlkha Singh missed the bronze
medal by just a difference of 0.1 second.
Milkha Singh is nicknamed The Flying Sikh. He
was born in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan) on 8
October 1935. He lost his parents during
partition. Milkha Singh also worked in the
Indian Army for a short time. He came into
limelight during the National Games at Patiala in
1956. In 1958, Milkha Singh set 200 and 400
meters record in the National games at Cuttack.
The same year he established new records in
the 200 and 400 meters in the Asian games at
Tokyo. Milkha Singh also won the gold medal in
the 1958 Commonwealth Games at Cardiff.
Milkha Singh was conferred with Padma Shri in
1958.
• First Indian Athlete to Win a medal in World
Athletics Championship
• Anju Bobby George is the first Indian athlete to
win a medal in World Athletics Championship.
Anju entered record books when she won the
bronze medal in Long Jump at the 2003 World
Championships in Athletics in Paris. Anju Bobby
George won the medal with a jump of 6.70 m in
the penultimate round.
Anju started her athletics career with
Heptathlon and later on moved to Long Jump
and Triple Jump. In 1999 Anju set the national
record for triple jump in the Bangalore
Federation Cup. In 2001 Anju broke her own
record in Long Jump with an effort of 6.74 m in
the National Circuit Meet at
Thiruvananthapuram. She won the bronze
medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games at
Manchester and gold medal at the Asian Games
in Busan. Anju Bobby George finished sixth at
the 2004 Athens Olympics but achieved a
personal best of 6.83 m.
Anju has won many awards and honours. She is
the recipient of India's highest sporting
award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the year
2003. She was honoured with Padma Shri in
2004, and with Arjuna Award in the year 2002.

• First Indian to Take Part in Olympic Games
• Norman G Pritchard, an Anglo-Indian athlete
from Calcutta, was the first Indian to take part in
Olympic Games. Norman G Pritchard was not
the official representative of India. He was
holidaying in Paris and participated on his own
at the 1900 Paris Olympic Games and competed
in four events - 100m, 200m, 110m hurdles and
200m hurdles. He bagged two silver
medals, one each in 200m and 200m hurdles.
He won his first medal on July 16, 1900 when he
finished second only to the American athlete
Alvin Kraenzlein in 200m hurdles. The event has
been discontinued since. Pritchard won his
second medal on July 22, 1900 in the 200m.
India made its official debut in the Antwerp
Olympics in Belgium in 1920.
Some other Indians who performed creditably
at the Olympics are:
• Hennery Rebello qualified for the final of the
Triple Jump in 1948 London Olympics.
• Sprinter Lavy Pinto reached the semi finals of
100 m and 200 m events at Helsinki in 1952.
Sohan Singh also performed the same feat in
800 m at Helsinki Olympics.
• PT Usha became first Indian lady to enter the
finals of any Olympic event. She entered the
finals of 400 m Hurdles at 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics.
• Anju Bobby George entered the finals of
Women Long Jump at 2004 Athens Olympics.
• First Indian to Win All England Badminton
Championship
• Prakash Padukone is the first Indian to win All
England Badminton Championship. He won the
coveted All England Open title in 1980 with a
victory over Liem Swie King of Indonesia.
Prakash Padukone was born on 10 June 1955. He
was initiated into badminton by his father Ramesh
Padukone who was the Secretary of the Mysore
Badminton Association. He won the National
Junior Title and Senior Title in the year 1972 and
thereafter he won the National Title consecutively
for the next seven years, until 1979. Prakash
Padukone won his first major international title in
1979 at the Commonwealth games. He also won
the London Masters' Open, the Danish Open and
the Swedish Open.
Prakash Padukone was awarded with Arjuna
award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982.

• First Indian to Win Junior US Open Title
• Leander Paes was the first Indian to Win Junior
US Open Title. Leander Paes won the US Open
championship in 1991 by defeating Karim Alami
of Morocco 6-4, 6-4.
Leander Peas is one of the few sportsmen of
India who are known for their killer instinct and
never-say-die spirit. Born on June
17, 1973, Leander Paes shot into limelight when
he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and
attained top rank in the junior world-rankings.
Though there is nothing much to write about his
international career as a singles player, he
teamed up with Mahesh Bhupathi to form a
formidable doubles player. The two have won a
number of Grand Slam titles.
Leander has also scripted some memorable
victories in the Davis Cup over his more fancied
rivals. He won a bronze medal for India at the
1996 Atlanta Olympics.
• First Indian to Win Wimbledon Junior Singles
Title
• Ramanathan Krishnan, one of the legends of
Indian tennis, is the first Indian to win
Wimbledon Junior Singles title. Ramanathan
Krishnan achieved this feat in 1954 by beating
Ashley Cooper in the finals. In the process, he
also became the first Asian to do so.
Ramanathan Krishnan was born on April
11, 1937. He honed his tennis skills under the
watchful eyes of his father T.K. Ramanathan.
Krishnan won the national senior title for eight
consecutive years. Ramanathan Krishnan
established himself as an international tennis
star and was rated among the top ten in the
world on five different occasions. He was
seeded 4 in the Wimbledon of 1962. In
1960, Krishnan reached the semifinals of the
Wimbledon but lost to the eventual champion
Fraser. He again reached the semifinals next
year, but champion Rod Laver got the better of
him. He was also a member of the Indian team
which reached the final of the Davis Cup in the
year 1966.

• First Indian Woman to Reach Olympic Finals
• P.T. Usha was the first Indian woman to reach
Olympic finals. She reached the finals of the 400
metres hurdles in the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics. Usha lost the bronze by 1/100th of a
second.
P.T. Usha was born on May 20, 1964 in the
village of Payyoli, in Kozhikode District in Kerala.
Nicknamed as Payyoli Express, P.T. Usha passed
out from the Sports School for Women started
by Kerala Government. Renowned coach O.M.
Nambiar noticed Usha's talent during the
National School Games in 1979 and took her
under his wings. She made her debut in 1980
Moscow Olympics. In 1982, Delhi Asian
Games, P.T. Usha won silver medals in 100 m
and 200 m. Usha came into her own at the
Asian Track and Field Championship at Kuwait in
1983, where she took gold in the 400 m and set
a new Asian record. In 1986 Seoul Asian
Games, P.T. Usha won 4 gold and 1 silver medal
in the track and field events and created new
Asian Games records in all the events she
participated. For her achievements, P.T. Usha
was conferred with the Padma Shri and the
Arjuna Award in the year 1985.
• First Olympic Gold Medal Won by India
• First Olympic Gold Medal Won by India was in
1928 Olympics in hockey. India defeated the
host country Holland 3-0 in the finals.
Legendary Dhyan Chand scored two goals in the
final. Indian goalkeeper Richard Allen had the
unique distinction of not conceding a single goal
throughout the tournament. The gold medal
won by the Indian hockey team in 1928 was the
first Olympic gold medal won by Asia in the
modern Olympics. India has won a total of eight
gold medals in hockey at Olympics. From 1928
Amsterdam Olympics to 1956 Melbourne
Olympics India won six consecutive gold medals
at hockey. The two other gold medals for India
came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980
Moscow Olympics.

• India's First Grandmaster
• Viswanathan Anand is India's first
Grandmaster. He became Grandmaster
(GM) in 1988 at the age of eighteen.
Viswanathan Anand was born on
December 11, 1969. He won the
National Sub-Junior Chess Championship
with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of
fourteen. Anand became the youngest
Indian to win the International Master
Title at the age of fifteen, in 1984. He
won National Championship at the age
of sixteen. In 1987, Anand became the
first Indian to win the World Junior
Chess Championship. Anand won the
FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000
after defeating Alexei Shirov 3.5 - 0.5 in
the finals at Teheran, and became the
first Indian to do so. He is one of only
four players in history to break the 2800
mark on the FIDE rating list.
Viswanathan Anand has won many
awards and honours. He won Arjuna
Award in 1985, Padma Shri in 1987, Rajiv
Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991, and
Padma Bhushan in the year 2000.
• Youngest Grandmaster in India
• Parimarjan Negi is the youngest
Grandmaster (GM) in India. Born on 9
February 1993, Parimarjan Negi became
GM at the age of 13 years and 142 days
on July 1, 2006. He is second youngest
GM in the history of the game and the
youngest of all the GMs currently in the
game.
Parimarjan Negi also holds the record
for being the world's youngest
International Master (IM). He became
IM at the age of 12 years, 10 months
and 19 days. He is also the youngest to
hold four IM norms. He was 10 years
and 10 months at the time.
Parimarjan Negi is the youngest Indian
to hold a GM norm in the Hastings
International Chess Congress in 2006 at
the age of 12 years and 330 days. He is
also the youngest Indian to beat a
Grandmaster when he scored over
Switzerland's Ivan Nemet in the Biel
Masters in 2004 at the age of 11 years
five months.

Literature
• Indian Literature Facts
• Indian literature is considered as the
oldest literature in the world. The
Vedas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata are
considered to be nearly 5000 years old.
Similarly other examples of ancient
Indian literature are Sangam Poetry
which dates back to 1st century
BC, Arthashastra, and Kamasutra. Apart
from being the oldest, Indian literature
is also very rich. There are 22 officially
recognized languages in India and each
one has a huge variety of literature.
Among modern Indian literature, the
first name that comes to mind is that of
Rabindranath Tagore - India's first Nobel
laureate. Munshi Premchand is also not
far behind. In recent times several
Indian writers such as Arundhati
Roy, Vikram Seth, Jhumpa Lahiri and
Kiran Desai have done India proud.
• Children's Magazine with Largest
Circulation in India
• Children's magazine with largest
circulation in India is Tinkle. Tinkle is a
monthly magazine published by India
Book House Pvt Ltd Mumbai. The
magazine was launched on November
14, 1980 and is edited by Anant Pai.
Tinkle has a monthly readership of
around 12 lakh.
Tinkle is a fun-to-read 72-page monthly
comics magazine, designed for the 8-14
age group. It contains stories, regular
cartoon fearures, a fascinating science
or general knowledge feature, a do-it-
yourself craft idea, puzzles, gags, a book
review and first hand accounts of
various experiences our young readers
have had.

• Earliest Anthology of India
• Therigatha, the ninth book of the
Khuddaka Nikaya, is the earliest
anthology of India. It is a Buddhist
scripture, a collection of short
poems supposedly recited by early
members of the Buddhist sangha.
Therigatha consists of 73
poems, organized into 16
chapters, and has 522 stanzas in all.
In these poems, the bhikshus
(monks) and bhikshunis (nuns)
describe how their lives were
transformed by the teachings of the
Buddha. The verses by the bhikshus
in the Therigatha are often spiritual
and meditative, with may beautiful
passages on nature while the
bhikshunis strike a more personal
note and sing to the joys, sorrows
and complexities of life. Therigatha
is a very significant document in the
study of early Buddhism. It contains
a number of passages that re-affirm
the view that women equal to men
in terms of religious attainment.
• Largest Bookstore Chain in India
• AH Wheeler & Co (P) Ltd, is the
largest bookstore chain in India. The
chain was founded by Emile
Moreau, a French author, and T K
Bannerjee, an Indian businessman
in Allahabad. AH Wheeler borrowed
its name from the then-successful
London bookstore, Arthur Henry
Wheeler's. AH Wheeler opened its
first oulet at Allahabad Railway
Station in 1877. It later spread to
have its book stalls in many small
and big railway stations in India,
especially in the north. AH Wheeler
was the one that published Rudyard
Kipling in 1888. In 1950, Bannerjee
took over the company and since
then he along with his grandson
Amit Bannerjee have been running
the company. After 125 years of its
completion, AH Wheeler had a
chain of 378 bookstalls at 258
railway stations in the country.

• Longest Epic in the World
• Mahabharata is the longest epic in
the world. Mahabharata has more
than 74,000 verses, long prose
passages, and about 1.8 million
words in total. Mahabharata was
written by Ved Vyasa in Sanskrit. Its
origin dates back to the late Vedic
period and it probably reached its
final form in the early Gupta period.
Mahabharata is the story of the
Bharata Dyanasty. It includes
aspects of Hindu mythology, stories
of the gods and goddesses, and
explanations of Hindu philosophy.
One of the main aims of
Mahabharata is to elucidate the
four goals of life: dharma
(duty), artha (wealth), kama
(pleasure), and moksha (liberation).
The narrative culminates in
moksha, believed by Hindus to be
the ultimate goal of human beings.
• Longest Indian Novel
• Longest Indian Novel
is Avakasikal, written by MK Menon
in Malayalam under the penname
"Vilasini". The novel runs into 3,958
pages in four volumes and took ten
years to complete. MK Menon
spent the best part of his life
abroad as a journalist. At an early
stage in his literary career he set his
mind on writing long novels. MK
Menon received Sahitya Akademi
Award for Avakasikal in 1981 and
Vayalar Award in 1983. Sahitya
Akademi is an independent
organistion, supported by
Government of India, and dedicated
to the promotion of literature in the
languages of India. Vayalar Award is
given for the best literary work in
Malayalam. Other famous novels of
MK Menon include "Oonjal" and
"Agnisaakshi".

• Longest Running Children Magazine
• Chandamama is the longest running
children magazine in India. The
magazine was launched in July, 1947 in
Telugu. Chakrapani was the founder-
editor of Chandamama. B Viswanatha
Reddy has been the publisher of
Chandamama for the last 40 years.
Owing to labour disputes, the magazine
ceased publication in 1998. However, it
was relaunched a year later and
continues to be published till date.
Chandamama is currently published in
13 languages including English. The
13th edition was launched in 2004 in
Santhali making it the first and only
children's magazine in a tribal
languages. Other languages in which
Chandamama is published are:
Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, Assam
ese, Oriya, Malayalam, Kannada, and
Sanskrit. Gurmukhi and Sinhalese
editions were also brought out for a
short while. For several years till 1998, a
Braille edition was published too.
• Most Expensive Indian Book
• Most Expensive Indian Book is "Firefly -
A Fairytale", written by famous fashion
designer Ritu Beri. The book is priced at
Rs 1 lakh and is published by Ritu Beri
herself. Famous publisher Penguin had
earlier commissioned Ritu Beri to write
the book but abandoned the project
after hearing the price for the book she
had in mind.
The book deals with topics like
architecture, history, women and their
beauty. It also talks about Ritu Beri's
experiences in Paris which were
important in shaping her career.
Francois Lesage, ''the guru of
embroidery'', has written the foreword
to the book. Firefly - A Fairytale will
have limited edition. Only 100 copies
will be sold in India through Ritu Beri's
store in Delhi and the book is also
available at the new Louis Vuitton
flagship store near Champs Elysee in
Paris.

• Most Translated Literary Work of India
• Most translated literary work is
Bhagavad Gita, an integral part of the
Mahabharata. It was first translated into
English in 1785 by Charles Wilkeinson.
Since then, Bhagavad Gita has been
translated into 55 languages.
Bhagavad Gita is considered as a
practical, self-contained guide to life. It
is a conversation between Krishna and
Arjuna which took place on the
battlefield of Kurukshetra just prior to
the start of a climactic war. Responding
to Arjuna's confusion and moral
dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his
duties as a warrior and Prince and
elaborates on a number of different
Yogic[ and Vedantic philosophies, with
examples and analogies.
• Oldest Living Language of India
• Tamil is the oldest living language of
India and the world. It belongs to the
Dravidian group of languages. Tamil is
the official language of the state of
Tamil Nadu, and also has official status
in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil ranks
17th amongst the top twenty of the
world's most spoken languages. Tamil
has a literary tradition of over two
thousand years. Tolkappiyam, the oldest
known literary work in Tamil, has been
dated variously between second
century BC and fifth century AD. Tamil
was declared a classical language of
India by the Government of India in
2004 and was the first Indian language
to have been accorded the status. The
Tamil script consists of 12 vowels, 18
consonants and one special
character, the aytam. The vowels and
consonants combine to form 216
compound characters, making a total of
247 characters.

• Oldest Surviving Indian Book
• The oldest surviving Indian book is the Tamil
work, Christiya Vanakkam, revised edition of the
original Doctrina Christa. The book was published
from Quilon (located in present day Kerala) on
October 20, 1578. The Harvard University library
possesses a surviving copy of this book. The second
page of the book mentions that it was printed on
October 20, 1578 at the press of the 'Saviour'.
Christiya Vanakkam is a translation of St. Francis
Xavier's work in Portuguese, translated by Fr.
Henrique and Father Manual de San Pedro. Doctrina
Christa was first published by Portuguese Jesuit
priests in 1560 in Goa, followed by its Tamil version in
1564.

History
• History of India
• The history of India dates back to more
than 5000 years. From Harrapan
Civilization to present times, India has
covered a long journey. The reminders
of this long journey are distributed all
over India. Indian has witnessed a series
of invasions. From Alexander to
Turks, Mughals, Dutch, French and
British, Indian History is replete with
instances of Invasion. Modern Indian
History, which starts with the Indian
freedom movement gave a new
direction and inspiration to freedom
movements all over the world.
• First Governor General of India
• Warren Hastings was the first Governor
General of India. He occupied this
position from 1773 to 1784. Hastings
was born at Churchill, Oxfordshire. He
joined the British East India Company in
1750 as a clerk. In 1757, Warren
Hastings became the British Resident of
Murshidabad and in 1761 he was
appointed to the Calcutta council.
Warren Hastings went back to England
in 1764. He returned to India in 1769 as
a member of the Madras council and
was made Governor of Bengal in 1772.
In 1773, Hastings was appointed the
first Governor-General of India.
Warren Hastings extended and
consolidated the control of East India
Company established by Robert Clive.
He was a patron of Indian learning and
took a keen interest in Indian literature
and philosophy. Warren Hastings was
instrumental in the translation of
Bhagvad Gita into English.R'tist@Tourism,Pondicherry University 32

• First Indian to Join Indian Civil Services
• Satyendranath Tagore was the first
Indian to join the Indian Civil Service.
He was the elder brother of Guru Dev
Rabindranath Tagore. Before 1861, only
British officers were appointed to all
covenanted posts. The ICS Act of 1861
established the Indian Civil Service. But
it was not an easy task for the Indians to
go to England and compete with the
British for a position. Satyendranath
Tagore went to England in 1862 to
prepare for and compete in the civil
service examinations. Satyendranath
was selected for the Indian Civil Service
in June, 1863. He completed his
probationary training and returned to
India in November 1864. His first
posting was at Bombay Presidency.
During the course of his
service, Satyendranath Tagore traveled
throughout the country. His posting
outside Bengal helped him to learn
several Indian languages. Satyendranath
Tagore took keen interest in the
activities of Brahmo Samaj and
Prarthana Samaj. He retired from ICS in
1897.
• First President of Indian National
Congress
• Womesh Chandra Banerjee was the first
President of Indian National Congress
(INC). Indian National Congress was
founded in 1885 by educated Indian
elite. The first session of the Indian
National Congress was held in Bombay in
December 1885. Retired British ICS
officer AO Hume played a key role in the
formation of INC. The formation of
Indian National Congress initially had the
blessings of the British Government. The
government welcomed the
establishment of an organisation by the
western educated upper class Indians to
function as a 'safety valve' for the escape
of growing resentment of Indians against
British rule. The birth of INC heralded
the entry of new educated middle-class
into politics and transformed the Indian
political horizon.

• First Viceroy of India
• Lord Canning was the first Viceroy of India. The
title of Viceroy was created in 1858 after the
mutiny of 1857. Before 1858, East India Company
was ruling large parts of India and the head of
administration of the East India Company was
called Governor General. This office was created
in 1773. The title Governor General had
administrative control over the British Provinces
of India
(Punjab, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, United
Provinces etc.). After the mutiny of 1857, the
British Government took control of the
administration from East India Company. To
reflect the Governor General's role as
representative from the monarch, the term
Viceroy of India was applied to him. The title
remained in existence from 1858 till 1947. Lord
Caning was Governor General of India from 1856
to 1858 and Viceroy of India from 1858 to 1862.
• First Woman President of Indian National
Congress
• Annie Besant was the first woman President of
Indian National Congress. She presided over the
1917 Calcutta session of the Indian National
Congress. Annie Besant was of Irish origin and
was one of the few foreigners who played a
significant role in the Indian freedom
movement.
Annie Besant was born as Annie Woods in
London on October 1, 1847. In 1867 Annie
married Frank Besant, a clergymen, and they
had two children. However, Annie and Frank
were legally separated in 1873. Annie Besant
became interested in Theosophy, a religious
movement founded in 1875 and based on Hindu
ideas of karma and reincarnation. She later on
became leader of Theosophical society.
Annie Besant first visited India in 1893 and later
settled here. She became involved in the Indian
freedom movement. In 1916 she established
the Indian Home Rule League, which demanded
self-rule for India. Annie Besant died in India on
20 September 1933.

• Last Governor General of India
• C. Rajagopalachari, popularly known as
Rajaji, was the last Governor General of India. C.
Rajagopalachari succeeded Lord Mountbatten
and was Governor General of India from 1948 to
1950. After C. Rajagopalachari, the title of
Governor General was abolished and was
replaced by President of India. C.
Rajagopalachari also has the distinction of being
the first Indian Governor General of India.
C. Rajagopalachari was born on December
10, 1878 into a Tamil Brahmin family in a small
village called Thorapalli of the then Salem
District. He was one of the first recipients of
India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (in
1954). Rajaji occupied several important
positions during his public life. He became the
Premier of Madras Presidency in 1937. He was
again the Chief Minister of Madras State from
10 April 1952 to 13 April 1954. Rajaji succeeded
Sardar Patel as the Home Minister of India.
Mahatama Gandhi used to call Rajaji as "the
keeper of my conscience". Rajaji died on
December 25, 1972.
• Last Viceroy of India
• Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India.
Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy of India in
1947 and he oversaw the creation of the
independent states of India and Pakistan. After
India's independence on 15 August 1947, the
title of Viceroy was abolished and was converted
into Governor General. Thus Lord Mountbatten
became the first Governor General of
independent India.
Lord Mountbatten was born in Windsor, England,
on 25th June, 1900. His father, Prince Louis of
Battenberg, had been born in Austria. As a result
of the anti-German feelings in Britain during the
First World War the family changed its name
from Battenberg to Mountbatten. Lord
Mountbatten joined Royal Navy and in the
Second World War he commanded the 5th
Destroyer Flotilla. After his term in India,
Mountbatten returned to service at sea and as
Fourth sea Lord was commander of the
Mediterranean Fleet (1952-55). He was also First
Sea Lord (1955-59) and Chief of Defence Staff
(1959-65). Lord Mountbatten was murdered by
an IRA bomb while sailing near his holiday home
in County Sligo, Ireland, on 27th August, 1979.

Science and Technology
• Science & Technology in India
• India is one of the leading nations in the
world in terms of science and
technology. India has the second largest
pool of scientists and engineers in the
world. In terms of technological
advancements and scientific
achievements India is second to none.
India belongs to the select group of
countries who have developed
indigenous nuclear technology. India is
among the few countries which have
developed ballistic missiles. In the field
of space science India is among the few
countries which have the capability to
launch GSLV satellite. India's
achievements in the field of IT and
software are acknowledged all over the
world.
• First Indian Scientist to Win Nobel Prize
• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (C.V.
Raman) was the first Indian scientist to win
Nobel Prize. C.V. Raman was awarded the
1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on
the scattering of light and for the discovery
of the Raman effect, which is named after
him. Raman effect relates to the inelastic
scattering of a photon. When light is
scattered from an atom or molecule, most
photons are elastically scattered (Rayleigh
scattering). The scattered photons have the
same energy (frequency)
and, therefore, wavelength, as the incident
photons. However, a small fraction of
scattered light (approximately 1 in 10
million photons) is scattered from
excitations with optical frequencies
different from, and usually lower than, the
frequency of the incident photons. Raman
effect is helpful in analyzing the
composition of liquids, gases, and solids

• First Nuclear Power Plant in India
• Tarapur Atomic Power Station (T.AP.S.)
was the first nuclear power plant in
India. The construction of the plant was
started in 1962 and the plant went
operational in 1969. The 320 MW
Tarapur nuclear power station housed
two 160 MW boiling water reactors
(BWRs), the first in Asia. The Tarapur
Plant was originally constructed by the
American companies Bechtel and
GE, under a 1963 123 Agreement
between India, the United States, and
the IAEA. The Tarapur Atomic Power
Station is under the control of Nuclear
Power Corporation of India Limited.
Recently, two 540 MW pressurised
heavy water reactors (PHWRs) were
operationalised at Tarapur. The new
reactors were constructed by L & T and
Gammon India. Tarapur Nuclear Power
Station is the largest PHWR-based
power station in India.
• First Satellite Launched by India
• Aryabhatta was the first satellite
launched by India. It was named after
the great Indian astronomer of the
same name. Aryabhatta weighed 360kg
and was launched by the Soviet Union
on April 19, 1975 from Kapustin Yar
using a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle.
The satellite had following objectives:
• To indigenously design and fabricate a
space-worthy satellite system and
evaluate its perfromance in orbit.
• To evolve the methodology of
conducting a series of complex
operations on the satellite in its orbital
phase.
• To set up ground-based receiving,
transmitting and tracking systems.
• To establish infrastructure for the
fabrication of spacecraft systems.
• Aryabhatta carried experiments related
to X-Ray Astronomy, Solar Physics and
Aeronomy. The satellite re-entered the
Earth's atmosphere on 11 February
1992.

• India's First Indigenous Satellite Launch
Vehicle
• SLV-3 was India's first indigenous
satellite launch vehicle. The vehicle was
launched by Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) on July 18, 1980.
President A P J Abdul Kalam was the
Project Director of SLV-3 The SLV-3
weighed 17 tonne and had a payload of
40 kg. The SLV-3 put 35 kg Rohini
Satellite into the orbit. The launch of
SLV-3 was a historic landmark for the
Indian space programme. It gave ISRO an
insight into the
conceptualisation, design, development
and management of a technically
complex multi-disciplinary project. With
the launch of SLV-3, India joined a select
band of five nations that had this
capability. The other five countries are
USSR, USA, France, China and Japan.
• India's First Indigenously Built Satellite
• Insat 2A was India's first indigenously built
satellite. The satellite was launched on 9
July 1992 from Kourou, French Guyana.
The satellite had a dry mass of 916kg and
it weighed 1906 kg with propellants. The
satellite had following payload:
Communication Transponders: 12 C-
band, 6 ext. C-band (for FSS), 2 S-band (for
BSS), 1 Data relay, 1 search and rescue.
Meteorology: Very High Resolution
Radiometer (VHRR) with 2 km resolution
in visible and 8 km in Infrared band.
The Insat 2 program was started in 1983.
Its objective was to develop an indigenous
multi-purpose Geo spacecraft. In
1985, the basic spacecraft configuration
was adopted. The configuration called for
an on-station dry mass of 860 kg which
later rose to 910 kg. The communications
payload was increased with six additional
7/5 GHz transponders for a total of
18, plus two S-band transponders. The
Insat 2 series consisted of Insat
2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E satellites.R'tist@Tourism,Pondicherry University 38

• India's First Nuclear Reactor
• India's First Nuclear Reactor was
Apsara. It was also the first nuclear
reactor in Asia. Apsara went critical at
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC),
Trombay on August 4, 1956. It heralded
the arrival of India's nuclear energy
programme. Dr. Homi Bhabha himself
conceptualised the design of the
reactor and the reactor was built
entirely by Indian engineers in a record
time of about 15 months.
Apsara is a swimming-pool-type reactor
loaded with enriched uranium as fuel.
The fuel core is suspended from a
movable trolley in a pool filled with
water. The pool water serves as coolant,
moderator and reflector, besides
providing the shielding.
• India's First Supercomputer
• India's First Supercomputer was PARAM
8000. PARAM stood for Parallel
Machine. The computer was developed
by the government run Center for
Development of Advanced Computing
(C-DAC) in 1991. The PARAM 8000 was
introduced in 1991 with a rating of 1
Gigaflop (billion floating point
operations per second).
All the chips and other elements that
were used in making of PARAM were
bought from the open domestic market.
The various components developed and
used in the PARAM series were Sun
UltraSPARC II, later IBM POWER 4
processors, Ethernet, and the AIX
Operating System. The major
applications of PARAM Supercomputer
are in long-range weather
forecasting, remote sensing, drug
design and molecular modelling.

Infrastructure
• India Infrastructure
• India is making huge investments in
infrastructure.
Highways, dams, power
plants, railway
networks, telecommunication
networks, and airports are being
built at feverish pace. In the early
days after independence India
made some big tickets investment
in infrastructure which stand out for
their grandeur and served as a base
for industrialization. Prominent
among these were Bhakra Nangal
Dam, Hirakud Dam, Tarapore
Atomic Plant etc.
• Busiest Bridge in India
• Howrah Bridge (also known as
Rabindra Setu) on the Hooghly River
in West Bengal is the busiest bridge
in India. Howrah Bridge is a famous
landmark of Kolkata. It bears the
weight of a daily traffic of approx
150,000 vehicles, and 4,000,000
pedestrians. Howrah bridge is a
cantilever truss bridge, constructed
entirely by riveting, without nuts or
bolts. The construction of the
Howrah Bridge was started in 1937
and the bridge was opened to
traffic on February 1943. The bridge
has a central span of 1500 ft
between centers of main towers. It
has an anchor arm of 325ft each
and a cantilever arm of 468ft each.
The suspended span of the bridge is
564ft

• Highest Airport in India
• Leh airport is the highest airport in
India. In fact it is the highest
commercial airport in the world.
Leh airport is situated at an altitude
of about 3000 meter. The airport
has been renamed after Koshak
Bakola, a spiritual leader of the
Ladakh region. Koshak Bakola also
served as India's Ambassador to
Mangolia.
Leh is a district located in the
Ladakh region of the state of
Jammu & Kashmir. Its average
elevation is 3650 metres. The
temperatures in Leh vary from -
30°C in winters to 40°C in summers.
Leh is a popular tourist destination.
Leh is a center of Tibeto-Buddhist
culture and is dotted with
numerous colorful gompas.
• Highest Dam in India
• Tehri Dam on Bhagirathi River is the
highest dam in India. With a height
of 261 meters, Tehri Dam is the
sixth highest dam in the world.
Tehri dam is the main dam of the
Tehri Hydro Project, a major power
project located in the state of
Uttarakhand. The dam's projected
capabilities include an power
generation capacity of 2400
MW, stabilise irrigation to an area
of 6,000 km² and a supply of 270
million gallons of drinking water to
Delhi and cities in Uttar Pradesh
and Uttarakhand. Tehri Dam was
approved in 1972 and its
construction was started in 1978.
The dam was in the controversy due
to environmental reasons. The main
dam will produce 2000 MW of
electricity when completed. There
is another smaller dam 14 km
downstream at Koteshwar that will
produce 400 MW of electricity.

• Largest Canal in India
• Indira Gandhi Canal is the largest
canal in India. The canal is 650 km
long and starts from the Harike
Barrage, a few kilometers below the
confluence of the Sutlej and Beas
rivers in Punjab. It flows through
Punjab, Haryana, and
Rajasthan, with the major length of
the canal flowing through
Rajasthan. The canal terminates
near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
The construction of Indira Gandhi
Canal was started in 1958. The main
objective behind building the canal
is to convert the part of Thar desert
from wasteland to agriculturally
productive area. The canal was
earlier known as Rajasthan Canal
and its name was changed in 1984.
Indira Gandhi Canal uses water
released from Pong dam.
• Largest Reservoir in India
• Indira Sagar Dam on the river
Narmada has the largest reservoir
in India with a full submergence of
913 sq. km. The dam is proposed to
be 92 m high and 653 m long with a
slightly curved alignment of 880 m
radius across river Narmada near
village Narmada Nagar of
Development Block Punasa of the
Khandwa district in Madhya
Pradesh. Indira Sagar Dam will have
a gross storage of 12.22 Bm3 and a
live storage of 9.75 Bm3. Indira
Sagar dam will have an installed
capacity of 1000 MW and annual
irrigation of 2.65 Lakh Ha. on a CCA
of 1.23 Lakh Ha. The total drainage
area at the proposed dam site of
Indira Sagar Project is 61642 sq. km.

• Longest Dam in India
• Hirakud Dam built on Mahanadi
River is the longest dam in India.
The overall length of the main dam
is 4.8 km, and the total length is
25.8km with dam and dykes taken
together. The dam is about 15 km
upstream of Sambalpur town in
State of Orissa and was the first
post independence major
multipurpose river valley project in
India. The dam irrigates 436000 ha
of CCA in Mahanadi delta and has
an installed capacity of 307.5 MW.
Hirakud Dam is a composite
structure of Earth, Concrete and
Masonry. Hirakud Dam intercepts
83400 sq. km (32200 sq miles) of
Mahanadi catchments. It has a
reservoir spread of 743 sq km at full
reservoir level and the reservoir has
a storage of 5818 M. Cum with
gross of 8136 M Cum.
• Longest Railway Bridge in India
• Nehru Setu Bridge near Dehri on the
river Sone is the longest railway
bridge in India. The bridge is near
Sasaram on Kolkata-Delhi Line. It is
3.065km long and has 93 spans of
30.5m each. Next to Nehru Setu is the
Narnarayan Setu bridge over the
Brahmaputra. The bridge links
Jogighopa to Pancharatna (in Assam).
It has a total length of 2.3km and has
18 spans, each about 120m, with 2
spans of 30.5m. The bridge over
Ganga near Patna is 2km long.

• Longest Railway Platform in India
• The platform of Kharagpur Railway
Station is the longest railway
platform in India. The length of the
Kharagpur Railway platform is
1072.5m. The platform was
originally 716m long. It's length was
extended twice, once to 833m and
then to its present length. Excluding
subway platforms (the Chicago
subway has the longest
one), Kharagpur has the longest
railway platform in the world.
Kharagpur is located in the
Midnapore West district of the state
of West Bengal. It is famous as the
place where the first Indian
Institute of Technology was
established. Kharagpur also has one
of the biggest railway workshops in
India.
• Longest River Bridge in India
• The Mahatma Gandhi Setu bridge
over the river Ganga in Patna is the
world's longest river bridge. The
bridge spans over 5.575 km from
Hajipur at the north end to Patna at
the south end. Patna is located on
the south bank of the river Ganga.
Patna has a very long riverline, and
it is surrounded on three sides by
rivers Ganga, Sone, and Punpun.
Just to the north of Patna across the
river Ganga flows the river Gandak.
Patna is a historic city and an
important pilgrimage center for
Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. Patna
houses one of the five Sikh Takhats -
Takhat Patna Sahib. The Buddhist
and Jain pilgrim centres of
Vaishali, Rajgir or
Rajgriha, Nalanda, Bodhgaya and
Pawapuri are all nearby. It is the
ideal gateway for all the places on
this circuit.

• Longest Sea Bridge in India
• Pamban Bridge also known as Annai
Indira Gandhi Bridge is the longest
sea bridge in India. The 2.3 km long
bridge on the Palk Strait connects
Rameswaram island to mainland
India. The railway bridge is noted
for its unique opening to let the
ships pass through the sea. The
bridge was opened for traffic in
1914. Bridge contains vertical lift
section, which is still functioning
well. It carries meter gauge trains
on it. However, the Indian Railways
is upgrading it to carry broad gauge
trains. The scenery around the
bridge is breathtaking. The view of
the distant sea and the string of
islands on the left of Pamban island
is simply awesome.
• Longest Span Cantilever Bridge in
India
• Jadukata Bridge, located at Ranikor
in West Khasi Hills District in
Meghalaya, built across Jadukata
River is the longest span cantilever
bridge in India. The bridge has a
central span of 140m. Jadukata
bridge on Mawsynram Balat
Maheshkhola Road is labout 130
km away from Shillong, the capital
of Meghalaya. Jadukata Bridge is
near the Indo-Bangladesh border
and forms a vital link on an
important road in this border state.
The bridge was built by Gamon
India Limited, Mumbai. The total
cost of the bridge was around Rs
10 crore. Jadukata Bridge also won
the ICI MC Bauchemie Award for
Outstanding Concrete Structures.

• Tallest Bridge in India
• The Panvalnadi bridge on the Panval river in Ratnagiri District of
Maharashtra is presently the tallest bridge in India. The tallest pier of
the bridge is 64m above bed level and the length of the bridge is
424m. The bridge was built for Konkan Railway and was the first
bridge built in India using the incremental launching technique. The
bridge superstructure is a single-cell continuous prestressed concrete
box girder with nine intermediate 40m spans and two end spans of
30m each. The substructure consists of hollow octagonal reinforced
concrete piers resting on open foundations. In 1995, the bridge
received the Most Outstanding Concrete Structure in India Award
from the American Concrete Institute.
However, soon the bridge will lose its coveted title of being the
tallest bridge in India. Konkan Railway is currently laying down
railway line between Katra and Laole in Jammu & Kashmir. The
railway line will have two bridges that would be taller than the
Panvalnadi bridge. One will be over River Chenab with a height of
359m while the other will be over Anji Khad at a height of 189m.

People
• Indian People
• India is a country with huge racial and
ethnic diversity. Indian people can be
divided into six main ethnic groups.
These include Negrito, Proto
Australoids, Mongoloid, Mediterranean,
Western Brachycephals and Nordic
Aryans. Apart from the wide ethnic
diversity there is also huge variation in
the spatial distribution of population.
While some districts have a population
density of over 1000 others have
density of less than 100. There is huge
variation in literacy rates and sex ratios
too across India.
• District with Highest Population in
India
• Greater Bombay is the district with
highest population in India. Greater
Bombay came into existence in April
1950 with the merger of Bombay
suburban & Bombay city for the
purpose of Municipal administration. At
that time it had an area of 235.1 sq. km
and population of 23.39 lakhs
(according to 1951 census). It consisted
of the Bombay Island proper with the
coverage from Colaba point in the south
of Mahim on the Western Railway side
and Sion on the Central Railway side.
Suburban areas from Bandra to
Jogeshwari on the Western Railway side
and Kurla to Bhandup including
Chembur and Chembur Camp on the
Central Railway side. In February 1957
the limits of Greater Bombay were
extended up to Dahisar on the Western
Railway side and Mulund on the Central
Railway side covering in all an area of
437.7 sq. km.

• District with Highest Population
Density in India
• North East Delhi is the district with
the Highest Population Density in
India. According to 2001
census, North East Delhi district has
a population density of 29,468
persons/sq km. It is one of the nine
districts of NCT of Delhi which came
into existence from January 1997
when Delhi was divided into Nine
revenue Districts. Total population
of the district is 17,63,710 out of
which 9,53,070 are male 8,10,640
females. The district is
predominantly rural but also has a
sizeable urban area. There are 27
villages in the district with all
characteristics of rural India.
Administratively, North East Delhi is
divided into three subdivisions:
Seelampur, Shahdara, and Seema
Puri
• District with Lowest Population in
India
• Yanam is the district with lowest
population in India. Yanam is a part
of the Union Territory of Pondicherry
and has a population of 31,394
(according to 2001 census). Yanam
has an area of 30 km2.
Geographically, Yanam is located on
the east coast of India and is
bounded on all sides by the East
Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh
State. Yanam has a latitude of 16°42'
N and longitude of 82°11' E. Yanam
lies in the delta of Godavari River.
The town is situated where the river
meets its tributary Coringa River, 9
kilometres from the Bay of Bengal in
the Coromandel coast. Yanam was
earlier under French rule and was
transferred to India in 1954.

• District with Lowest Population
Density in India
• Lahaul & Spiti District in Himachal
Pradesh is the district with the
lowest population density in India.
As per the 2001 census, the
population density of Lahaul & Spiti
is 2 persons per sq. km. Total
population of the district is 33,224
and its area is 13,835 sq km. Sex
ratio of Lahaul & Spiti District is 804
females per 1000 males. There is no
town in the district and entire
population is rural. No. of villages =
521 (Inhabited =265, Uninhabited
=256). No of Panachayats = 41
(Lahaul =20, Udaipur=8, Spiti=13).
Panchayat Samitis = 2 (one in
Lahaul and one in Spiti). Male
Literacy Rate is 82.76%, and Female
Literacy Rate is 60.94%. Altitude of
Lahaul & Spiti is 10,050 feet.
• Most Populous City of India
• Mumbai is the most populous city of
India. The estimated population of
Mumbai is about 18 million (as of
2006). Mumbai has a population
density of about 29,000 persons per
square kilometer. The sex ratio of
Greater Bombay district, in which
the city of Mumbai falls, has reduced
from 791 in 1991 to 774 in 2001. The
overall literacy rate of the Mumbai is
above 86%, which is higher than the
national average. The religious
composition of the city include:
Hindus (68%), Muslims
(17%), Christians (4%), and Jains
(4%). The remainder section of the
population comprises of
Parsis, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews and
atheists.

• State with Highest Population in
India
• State with highest population in
India is Uttar Pradesh. According to
the 2001 census, Uttar Pradesh had
a population of 166,052,859. Nearly
one-sixth of India's population
resides in Uttar Pradesh. The state
has a population exceeding that of
France, Germany, and the
Netherlands combined. Had Uttar
Pradesh been an independent
country it would have been the
sixth most populous country of the
world after China, India, the
USA, Indonesia, and Brazil.
According to the 2001
census, Hindus constitute 81%
population of Uttar Pradesh while
Muslims at 18% are the second
largest religious group. Sikh
population is mainly concentrated
in and around Lakhimpur Khiri.
• State with Highest Population
Density in India
• West Bengal is the state with
highest population density in India.
According to the 2001 census, West
Bengal has a population density of
903. Total population of West
Bengal (as per 2001 census) is
8,01,76,197 and its area is 88,752
sq km. In 1991, the population of
West Bengal was 68,077,965 and its
population density was 767. The
land frontiers of West Bengal touch
Bangladesh in the east, Bhutan in
the north-east, and Sikkim on the
north. On the west are the states of
Bihar, Jharkhand, while in the south
lies Orissa, and the Bay of Bengal
washes its southern frontiers.

• State with Lowest Population in India
• Sikkim with a population of 540,851
(according to 2001 census) is the state
with lowest population in India. Sikkim
is also the second-smallest state in area
after Goa. Till 1975, Sikkim was an
independent state ruled by the
Namgyal Chogyals. In 1975, Sikkim was
merged with India following a
referendum in which the people of
Sikkim chose union with India. Gangtok
is the capital and the largest town of
Sikkim. The official languages of Sikkim
are
English, Bhutia, Nepali, Lepcha, Limbu
and Hindi. Hinduism and Vajrayana
Buddhism are the predominant
religions of Sikkim. The majority of
Sikkim's residents are of Nepali ethnic-
national origin who came to the
province in the 19th century. The native
Sikkimese consist of the Bhutias, who
migrated from the Kham district of
Tibet in the 14th century, and the
Lepchas who are believed to have
migrated from the far east.
• State with Lowest Population Density
in India
• Arunachal Pradesh is the state with
lowest population density in India.
According to 2001 census, Arunachal
Pradesh has a population density of 13.
Total population of Arunachal Pradesh
(as per 2001 census) is 10,97,968 and
its area is 83, 743 sq km. In
1991, population of Arunachal Pradesh
was 864, 558 and its population density
was 10.
Before 1962, the State of Arunachal
Pradesh was popularly known as the
North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), and
was constitutionally a part of Assam. In
1972, it was constituted as a Union
Territory and renamed Arunachal
Pradesh. On 20 February 1987, it
became the 24th state of India.

• UT with Highest Population in India
• Delhi is the UT with Highest
Population in India. According to
2001 census, Delhi has a population
of 13,850,507. Out of the total
population, the male population is
7,607,234 and the female
population is 6,243,273. In
1991, Delhi had a population of
9,420,644 (Male -
5,155,512, Female - 4,265,132).
Between 1991 and 2001, Delhi
observed a decadal population
growth rate of 47.02%. According to
2001 census, Delhi has a literacy
rate of 81.67% (Male Literacy rate -
87.33, Female Literacy Rate -
74.71). Sex Ratio of Delhi is 821.
Delhi became a Union Territory in
1956 and with the enactment of the
National Capital Territory
Act, 1991, Delhi got a Legislative
Assembly.
• UT with Highest Population Density
in India
• Delhi is the UT with highest
population density. According to
2001 census, Delhi has a population
density of 9340 persons/sq km.
Total population of Delhi (as per
2001 census) is 13.80 million and its
area is 1483 sq km. In 1991, total
population of Delhi was 9,420,644
and its population density was
6,352.
Delhi was made the capital of
Indian in 1911. It was made a Union
Territory in 1956. Delhi is
surrounded by Haryana on all sides
except the east where it borders
with Uttar Pradesh. Under the 69th
Constitutional amendment Delhi
got a Legislative Assembly with the
enactment of a National Capital
Territory Act, 1991.

• UT with Lowest Population in India
• Lakshadweep is the UT with lowest
population in India. According to 2001
census, Lakshadweep has a population
of 60,650. Out of the total population,
the male population is 31,131 and the
female population is 29,519. In 1991,
Lakshadweep had a population of
51,707 (Male - 26,618, Female -
25,089). Between 1991 and 2001,
Lakshadweep observed a decadal
population growth rate of 17.30%.
According to 2001 census, Lakshadweep
has a literacy rate of 86.66% (Male
Literacy rate - 92.53, Female Literacy
Rate - 80.47). Sex Ratio of Lakshadweep
is 947. Capital of Lakshadweep is
Kavaratti. Principal languages of
Lakshadweep are Jeseri (Dweep
Bhasha) and Mahal.
• UT with Lowest Population Density in
India
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands is the UT
with lowest population density in India.
According to 2001 census, the
population density of Andaman &
Nicobar Islands is 43. The total
population of Andaman & Nicobar
Islands (as per 2001 census) is 3,56,152
and its area is 8,249 sq km. In 1991, the
population of Andaman & Nicobar
Islands was 280,661 and its population
density was 34.
Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a group
of 572 islands lying in the Bay of Bengal.
The original inhabitants of the islands
lived in the forests on hunting and
fishing. There are four Negrito
tribes, viz, the Great
Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and
Sentinalese in the Andaman group of
islands and two Mongoloid
tribes, viz, Nicobarese and Shompens in
the Nicobar group of islands.

Adventure
• Adventurous Feats By Indians
• Indians have been quite adventurous by nature.
There are many instances throughout the
history of Indian civilization which corroborate
this fact. In ancient days Indian merchants used
to travel to different corners of world. In recent
times too, Indians have performed several
adventurous feats. An Indian was amongst the
first persons to conquer Mount Everest. Santosh
Yadav, is amongst the few women in the world
to have scaled Mount Everest twice. There are
numerous such awe-inspiring feats by Indians.
• First Indian Man to Swim English Channel
• Mihir Sen was the first Indian man to swim
English Channel. He achieved this feat on
September 27, 1958, when he crossed the
Channel in 14 hours and 45 minutes. In the
process, Mihir Sen also became the first Asian
to swim the English Channel.
Mihir Sen was born on November 16, 1930, in
Purulia, West Bengal. His father was a doctor in
Cuttack. He went to England to study law but
was attracted towards swimming. After
achieving the feat of swimming across English
Channel, Mihir Sen went on to achieve several
other milestones. In the year 1966, Mihir Sen
swam across the seven seas of the five
continents. In April 1966, braving high tides and
shark-infested waters, he swam across the Palk
Straits, the sea between India and Sri Lanka. In
August, he crossed the Straits of Gibraltar
between Spain and Morocco and one month
later became the world's first man to swim the
Straits of Dardanelles. In the same year Mihir
Sen also swam across the Bosphorus and the
Panama Canal.
Mihir Sen was awarded the Padma Shri in 1959
and Padma Bhushan in 1967.

• First Indian Woman to Climb Mount
Everest
• Bachendri Pal is the first Indian woman
to climb Mount Everest. She achieved
this feat on 23rd May 1984. Bachendri
Pal was part of the fourth
expedition, named Everest 84. She was
one of the members of the elite group of
six Indian women and eleven men who
were part of the group. Bachendri Pal
was the only woman in the group to
reach the summit.
Bachendri Pal was born in 1954 in Nakuri
village, Garhwal. Her first exposure to
mountaineering was at the age of
12, when during a picnic she along with
several schoolmates climbed a 13,123
feet high peak. After completing her
studies, she joined the Nehru Institute of
Mountaineering (NIM). In 1982, while at
NIM, she climbed Gangotri (21,900 ft)
and Rudugaria (19,091 ft). In
1985, Bachendri Pal led an Indo-
Nepalese Everest Expedition team
comprising of only women. The
expedition created seven world records
and set benchmarks for Indian
mountaineering.
• First Indian Woman to Swim Across
English Channel
• Arati Saha was the first Indian woman to
swim across English Channel. She
achieved this feat on 29 September
1959. Arati Saha swam from Cape Gris
Nez, France to Sandgate, England. She
swam the 42 miles in 16 hours 20
minutes, and hoisted the flag of India at
Sandgate. For her achievement Arati
Saha was awarded Padmashri in the year
1960. Arati Saha was also the first Asian
woman to swim across English Channel.
Later, Anita Sood became the fastest
Asian woman to cross English Channel.
Arati Saha was born on 24 September
1940 in Kolkata, West Bengal. Right from
her childhood, she was interested in
swimming. From 1945 to 1951 she won
22 State competitions including an all-
India record in 1949. She also took part
in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. Arati
Saha died of jaundice on 23 August
1994. In 1998, Indian government issued
a stamp in her memory.

• First Man to Climb Mount Everest
Without Oxygen
• Phu Dorji was the first man to climb
Mount Everest without oxygen. He
reached the Summit of Everest on May
9, 1984 via the standard South East
Ridge route on the expedition from
India led by Darshan Kumar Khullar. Phu
Dorji was also part of the 3rd Everest
expedition under the leadership of
Capt. M.S. Kohli in 1965. Before the
1965 expedition, there were two
Everest expeditions in 1960 and
1962, but both the expeditions failed
due to adverse weather in the Everest
region. Phu Dorji along with Maj.
Bhahuguna, Harish Rawat, and HPS
Ahluwalia reached the summit on 29
May 1965. Phu Dorji died in May 1987
in the Kanchanjunga Expedition of
Assam Rifles.
• First Man to Climb Mount Everest
Twice
• Nawang Gombu is the first man to climb
Mount Everest twice. He reached the
summit of Everest with the American
expedition in 1963 and with the Indian
expedition in 1965. Nawang Gombu is
the nephew of the legendary Tenzing
Norgay, the first man to reach Everest in
1953.
Nawang Gombu was part of the
American Expedition in 1963, led by
Norman Dyhrenfurth. The expedition
was supported by the National
Geographic Society. Nawang Gombu
reached Everest on May 1, 1963 at 1 PM
along with Jim Whittaker. In the
process, Whittaker became the first
American to reach Everest. Nawang
Gombu conquered Everest second time
in 1965 as part of the Third Indian
Expedition, with Captain M.S Kohli as
leader. He reached the summit on May
20, 1965 along with A.S. Cheema.

Miscellaneous
• Miscellaneous
• There are several interesting
facts about India which
cannot be classified into a
particular category. For
example, which is the largest
library in India, which is the
largest auditorium in India or
which is the largest museum
in India.
• Largest Auditorium in India
• Sri Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai is the
largest auditorium in India. The hall has an
interesting history. In 1943, a few music
oriented minds of Mumbai such as Dr.
Iyengar, Rao Saheb, Anantha Iyer, P R
Sundaraja Iyengar, Srinivasa Iyer, S Seshadri
and others joined hands to form a cultural
organization called Krishna Gana Sabha. The
Sabha used to organize regular music and
dance festivals in Mumbai. In 1951, the late
prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
while addressing one such gathering at
Metro theatre, lamented at the lack of a
large hall in Mumbai. In response to
Panditji's call, a number of prominent music
lovers came together and their efforts
culminated in the birth of Shanmukhananda
Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha in September
1952 at the Podar College Hall. In 1964 when
the gigantic Shanmukhananda hall came up
in Kings' Circle (Matunga), Pandit Nehru
acclaimed the hall as the biggest in the east
of Suez.

• Largest Botanical Garden of India
• Indian Botanical Garden situated in
Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata is the
largest botanical garden of India.
The gardens exhibit a wide variety of
rare plants and have a collection of
over 12,000 specimens spread over
109 hectares. The garden is
renowned for The Great Banyan an
enormous banyan tree (Ficus
bengalhensis) that is considered to
be the largest tree in the world. It
has a circumference of more than
330 metres. The gardens are also
famous for their rich collection of
orchids, bamboos, palms, and plants
of the screw pine genus. Indian
Botanical Gardens were previously
known as Royal Botanic Gardens and
were founded in 1786 by the British
East India Company.
• Largest Library in India
• The National Library in Kolkata is the largest
library in India. It is an institution of National
importance under the Department of
Culture, Ministry of Tourism & Culture,
Government of India. National Library is
situated on a scenic 30 acres Belvedere
Estate, in Kolkata. The library is designated to
collect, disseminate and preserve the printed
material produced in the country.
The origins of the National Library can be
traced back to 1836 when the Calcutta Public
Library was established. The then Governor
General, Lord Metcalf transferred 4,675
volumes from the library of the College of
Fort William to the Calcutta Public Library. In
1891, the Imperial Library was formed by
combining a number of Secretariat libraries.
Lord Curzon, the then Governor General of
India, conceived the idea of opening a library
for the use of the public. He amalgamated
Calcutta Public Library with the Imperial
Library. The library was formally opened to
the public on 30th January 1903 at Metcalf
Hall, Kolkata. After independence, the library
was renamed as the National Library.

• Largest Museum in India
• Indian Museum in Kolkata is the largest
museum in India. It is the ninth oldest
regular museum of the world and
oldest institution of its kind in Asia
Pacific region. Indian Museum is a
multipurpose and multi disciplinary
institution of national importance. The
museum was established at the Asiatic
Society, the earliest learned body in the
country on 2nd February 1814. Dr.
Nathaniel Wallich, a Danish
botanist, was the founder curator of the
museum. Indian Museum was
transferred to the present building in
1878 with two galleries. Today, the
museum has over sixty galleries of
Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geolog
y, Zoology and Botany
sections, spreading over ten thousand
square feet area. Many rare specimens
of both Indian and Trans-Indian origin
relating to Humanities and Natural
Science are preserved and displayed in
museum.
• Largest Planetarium in India
• The M. P. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata is
the largest planetarium in India. The
planetarium started functioning from
September 29, 1962 as an
educational, scientific and research
institution and was formally
inaugurated on July 2, 1963 by the first
Prime Minister of India Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru. M. P. Birla
Planetarium is established on an acre of
land leased by the West Bengal
Government.
Since its inception, M. P. Birla
Planetarium has designed and
presented more than 350 astronomical
projects dealing with many facets of
astronomy, astro-physics, Celestial
Mechanics, Space Science, History of
astronomy, Centenaries of famous
astronomers as well as mythology
concerning stars and planets. The
Planetarium owns an astronomical
observatory equipped with a Celestron
C-14 Telescope with accessories such as
ST6 CCD Camera, Solar Filter etc.

• Largest Prison in India
• Tihar Jail Complex in New Delhi is the
largest prison complex in India. It
comprises of nine prisons in the Tihar
Complex with a sanction capacity of
4800 prisoners and one District Jail at
Rohini with a sanction capacity of 1050
prisoners. Before 1958, the Jail was
located at Delhi Gate area of Delhi. In
1958, the prison was transferred from
Delhi Gate to its present site in Tihar
Village in western part of New Delhi. In
the beginning, only one Central Jail was
commissioned with the lodging capacity
of 1267 prisoners. Till 1966, the
administrative control of the Jail was
with the Government of Punjab. In
1966, the control of Tihar Jail was
transferred to the Delhi
Administration, Delhi in 1966.
• Largest Zoo in India
• The Zoological Garden in Kolkata is the
largest Zoo in India. It is spread over an
area of about 100 acres. The Zoo is
located on Belvedre road in Kolkata and
was established in 1876. The zoo is home
to a rich variety of birds, animals, and
reptiles.
The origins of the Zoo can be traced back
to 1873, when, the then Governor Sir
Richard Temple proposed the formation
of a zoo in Calcutta. Sir C.L. Lendal
corroborated it. Finally, the Government
allotted land for this purpose responding
to the joint petition of the Asiatic Society
and Agri-Horticultural Society. The zoo
was inaugurated on the January 1, 1876
by King Edward VII.
Zoological Garden, Kolkata is credited
with bringing back the rare Manipur Brow
Antlered Deer from near extinction. The
zoo was first to have bred Giraffes and
has produced Tigions, and Litigons as a
cross breeding experiment. The artificial
lake of the zoo attracts a large number of
migratory birds every year.

Government
• Indian Government
• India has a federal form of government.
The federal structure consists of
individual State Governments and a
Union Government which is commonly
referred as Central Government. The
Central Government is headed Prime
Minister and State Governments are
headed by Chief Ministers. The Central
Government exercises its broad
administrative powers in the name of
the President of India, who is the Head
of State. The President acts on the
advice of the Prime Minister and his
council of Ministers.
• First Female Indian Cabinet Minister
• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the first
female Indian Cabinet Minister. She was
part of Jawaharlal Nehru's first Cabinet.
She was assigned the Ministry of Health
and continued to be the Health Minister
of India until 1957. As the Health
Minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the
moving force behind the
conceptualization and building of the
All India Institute of Medical Sciences in
New Delhi.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was born on 2nd
February 1889 in the princely family of
Kapurthala. She received her higher
education in England. On her return to
India she came in touch with Gopal
Krishna Gokhale and later with
Mahatma Gandhi. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
actively participated in freedom
struggle. She was also the first woman
member of Hindustani Talimi Sangh.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur died on 2nd
October 1964.

• First Indian President to Die in Office
• Dr. Zakir Hussain, was the first Indian President
to die in office before completing his term. He
was the Third President of the India. On 9 May
1967, Zakir Hussain was declared elected as the
Head of the State and was formally sworn in as
the President of the Indian Republic four days
later. He breathed his last on the morning of 3
May 1969.
Zakir Hussain was born on February 8, 1897 in a
Pathan family at Qaimganj in the District of
Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. He was
instrumental in the establishment of Jamia
Millia Islamia in 1920. Zakir Hussain later went
to the University of Berlin in Germany for higher
studies in 1923 and did doctorate in Economics.
He later on became Vice-Chancellor of Jamia
Millia. In 1948, Dr. Zakir Hussain was appointed
Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim
University. He served as Governor of Bihar from
1957 to 1962. He was awarded Padma Vibushan
in 1954 and Bharat Ratna in 1963. Zakir Hussain
was sworn in, as the second Vice-President on
13May 1962.
• First Indian Prime Minister to Lose an Election
• Indira Gandhi was the first Indian Prime Minister to
lose an election. She was defeated by Raj Narain, a
candidate of Janata Party, in 1977 Lok Sabha
elections from Rai Bareli constituency. Raj Narain
was earlier defeated by Indira Gandhi in 1971
elections. He had accused Indira Gandhi of corrupt
electoral practices and filed election petition
against her. The Allahabad High Court on 12 June
1975 upheld the accusations and set aside election
of Indira Gandhi and also disqualified her to
contest Lok Sabha election for next 6 years. In
response to the verdict, Indira Gandhi imposed
Emergency. The Emergency was lifted in 1977 and
in the subsequent Lok Sabha elections, Indira
Gandhi lost

• First Indian Prime Minister to Resign From
Office
• Morarji Desai was the first Indian Prime
Minister to resign from office. He became Prime
Minister of Janata Party led fractious coalition
government in 1977. He resigned in 1979, when
Charan Singh pulled out of the Janata Party.
Morarji Desai was born on February 29, 1896 in
Bhadeli village of Gujarat. Morarji Desai worked
as a Deputy Collector in the then Bombay
Province from 1918 to 1930. In 1930, he
resigned from the Government service and
plunged into freedom struggle. When the first
Congress Government assumed office in 1937
Morarji Desai became Minister for
Revenue, Agriculture, Forest and Co-operatives
in the Ministry headed by Shri B.G. Kher in the
then Bombay Province.
In 1952, Morarji Desai became the Chief
Minister of Bombay. After the reorganisation of
the States, he joined the Union Cabinet as
Minister for Commerce and Industry on
November 14, 1956. Later, he took the Finance
portfolio on March 22, 1958. He was a Deputy
Prime Minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet in
1967. He died on April 10, 1995.
• First IT-enabled District Headquarter in India
• Palakkad in Kerala was declared as the first IT-
enabled District Headquarter in India on October
26, 2004. Palakkad was the first district
headquarter in India to utilise the benefits of
Information Technology for its citizen service
structure. Information is made available through
multi-channel service delivery access points like
touch screen kiosks, interactive voice response
systems, SMS, service counters, e-mail and
internet kiosks.
Palakkad lies near the Palghat Gap, a pass in the
Western Ghats that connects Kerala to the plains
of the state of Tamil Nadu to the east. The
nearest airport from Palakkad is Coimbatore, (52
km). As per 2001 census, Palakkad had a
population of 130,736 and a literacy rate of 81%.

• First Woman Chief Minister in India
• Sucheta Kriplani was the first woman Chief
Minister in India. She was Chief Minister of India
from 1963 to 1967. She had a reputation of
being a firm administrator. Her tenure was
marked by a visible sense of fairness and
transparency. The first-ever strike by the state
employees which continued for 62 days took
place during her regime. She relented only
when the employees' leaders agreed for
compromise.
Sucheta Kriplani was born as Sucheta
Mazumdarin Ambala, Haryana. She received her
education from Indraprastha College and
St.Stephen's College, Delhi. She became a
lecturer at the Banaras Hindu University. In
1936, she married socialist leader Acharya
Kriplani. Sucheta Kriplani actively participated in
Quit India Movement. She was elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957 and served as a
Minister of State for Small Scale Industries. In
1962, she was elected to the U.P Assembly from
Kanpur and served in the Cabinet in 1962. She
retired from politics in 1971 and died in 1974.
• First Woman Governor of a State in India
• Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to become
the governor of a state in India. After
independence she became the Governor of
Uttar Pradesh and died in office in 1949.
Sarojini Naidu is famously known as Bharatiya
Kokila (The Nightingale of India). She was born
on February 13, 1879. She attained national
fame for entering Madras University at the age
of twelve. She joined the Indian independence
movement, in the wake of the aftermath of
partition of Bengal in 1905. In 1925 she was
elected as the President of the Congress, the
first Indian woman to hold the post. She raised
the issues of welfare of youth, dignity of labour,
women's emancipation and nationalism.
Sarojini Naidu was also a renowned poet.

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