First Indian amputee girl scales world’s highest peak Mount Everest on prosthetic leg. May 2013 .

Arunima ‘Sonu’ Sinha became the first Indian amputee to scale Mount Everest. This Indian girl surprised all with her exceedingly rare achievement of scaling the summit on a prosthetic leg.

History was created when 25 year old Arunima Sinha reached the 8,848 metre-high summit, of the world’s highest peak. She left the high camp at 6pm on Monday evening and arrived at the summit at 10.55am on May 21st, 2013 (Tuesday).

Arunima Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh (about 200 km from Lucknow) was a part of the 6 member Indian team ‘Eco Everest expedition’ from the Tata Group . Led by India’s former Border Security Force (BSF) staffer Love Raj Singh and accompanied by 9 sherpas on their successful ascent of the summit.

The former national level player, had lost her right leg, in an accident after being thrown off a moving train. Subsequently she joined Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) camp in Uttarakashi last year, where she was trained by Bachendra Pal, the first Indian woman to conquer Mount Everest.

Dr.Manmohan Singh, The Prime Minister of India conveyed his congratulations and added “Arunima’s achievement is an example not only to society at large, but also to women everywhere. This young woman looked adversity in the eye and when all seemed lost, decided to make something of her life in the most spectacular fashion possible.”

Arunima’s achievement coincides with the 60th anniversary of Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay’s feat on May 20th, 1953

India’s first Yoga University . May 2013 .

The country’s first private sector, self financed yoga university ‘Lakulish Yoga University’ was inaugrated on May 23rd, 2013 (Thursday) in Ahmedabad, by Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The University has been set up by the Surendranagar based Life Mission Trust which already runs several yoga training centres across the state and overseas. The newly appointed Vice Chancellor is Bansidhar Upadhyay. The Varsity founder Swami Rjarshi Muni said “..there would not be just one medium of teaching in the insititution”.

The University will award degrees for the 3-year courses. Students of the 3-year degree course will be taught Ashtang yoga, Karma, Knowledge, Bhakti yoga, Philosophy, Psychology, Anatomy, Ayurveda and Naturopahy.

The Gujarat government had earlier enacted a law for the creation of Yoga University in the State.

The Varsity is established in a lotus-shaped building on the Sarkhej – Gandhinagar highway on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Indian sisters are the ‘ first twins ‘ in the world to scale Mount Everest. May 2013 .

Twin sisters Nunshi Malik and Tashi Malik became the world’s first twins on May 19th, 2013 to scale Mount Everest, the earth’s highest mountain in the world .

The Uttarakhand sisters from Dehradun were with a 11 member joint Indian and Nepal army expedition. They reached the top with two sherpas, who incidentally were also twins.They were among a team of 135 other people who reached the top of Mount Everest at 8,848 meters above sea level.

Nunshi and Tashi Malik are children of Col.Virendra Singh Malik and Manju Malik of Johri village. The sisters havew previously also scaled Mount Kiliminjaro in Africa

Background: Other women from the state in the past who have reach the top peak of the world are Bachendri Pal (who was the first women mountaineer from the country to climb the mountain), Sumanlata Kuthiyal, Savita Martolaya and Kavita Burathoki.

India’s first ‘ Atlas of Thyroid Surgery ‘ published. May 2013 .

3 specialist ENT Surgeons, Dr.Madan Kapre, Dr.Devendra Mahore and anatomist Dr. Ashutosh Mangalagiri from Bhopal got together to provide a hand-on repository on thyroid surgery.

India’s first ‘Atlas of Thyroid Surgery’ was launched on May 11th in Nagpur by Dr.Ved Prakash, proChancellor and Chief Advisor at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Sawangi. It is a model guide on thyroid surgery for the post graduate medical students and thyroid surgeons.

It is the first time an ‘Atlas’ was put together keeping in mind the Indian context. This has been done previously in USA, Italy and Brazil. The uniquely Indian ‘Atlas of Thyroid Surgery’ was created as a byproduct of camps and workshops in the tribal villages of Central India ,with focus on Chikhaldara in Melghat. This scientific work was carried out with the support of the Rotary club of Nagpur South.

The foreword of the Atlas is written by Dr. Ashok Saha, a world renown authority on thyroid cancer, based in New York.

India’s first ‘ Miss World ‘ . 1966 . First Asian to win the ‘ Miss World ‘ title. 1966

Reita Faria was the first Indian to be crowned ‘Miss World’ in 1966. She was also the first Asian to win the ‘Miss World’ title in 1966.

The red sari with golden zari work bagged the ‘Best Evening Gown’ prize.

The brown eyed beauty Reita Faria made the whole world sit up and look at India. By winning the crown, she showed the way for later competitors giving them confidence that they too could take the world by storm. She could be the first international beauty queen to qualify as a doctor during her reign.

Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J.Group of Hospitals.  Born 1945 she hailed from Mumbai with ancestral ties to Tivim, Goa. After winning the crown, she turned down offers of modelling and films, fame and fortune, instead chose to focus on her medical studies.

She won the Miss Mumbai crown and subsequently won the Eve’s Weekly ‘Miss India’ contest. Dr.Reita Faria was a judge at ‘Femina Miss India’ 1996. She adjudicated the ‘Miss World’ competions 3 times and attended the 25th and 50th anniversary of the contest.

Dr.Reita Faria married endocrinologist Dr.David Powell and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has 2 Daughters,both in the medical profession and 5 grandchildren.

India’s first and only woman ‘Chief Election Commissioner of India'(CEC) . 1990 .

V. S. Rama Devi was India’s first and only woman Chief Election Commissioner till date (ie. April 18, 2013) for a brief periond November 26, 1990 to December 11, 1990. She was succeeded by T. N. Seshan.

She did her M.A and then obtained her LLM. Subsequently enrolled as an Advocate in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Then joined the Central Government Service as an officer belonging to the Group A service.

V.S. Rama Devi held several important assignments in her career. She was Governor of Himachal Pradesh (July 26, 1997 to December 01, 1999). Next she served as the First Woman Governor of Karnataka (December 02, 1999 to August 02, 2002).

Other key assignments of the talented Telugu bureaucrat were Honorary Advisor to the National Commission for Women(NCW), Member, Secretary – National Law Commission and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha (July 01, 1993 to July 25, 1997).

Rama Devi co-authored the book ‘Rajya Sabha at Work’.

V. S. Rama Devi was born in Chebrolu of West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Born January 15, 1934 – Tuesday , April 17, 2013 – age 79 years, Bangalore.

First Indian American and First Asian American elected to U.S. Congress. 1957 .

Dalip Singh Saund PhD., an American – created history by becoming the first Asian American, the first Indian American, the first Punjabi, the first Sikh to become a U.S. Congressman in 1957.

Saund ran for election as a ‘ Justice of the Peace ‘ in 1950 for Westmoreland township in California and won. As a Democrat, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, serving the 29th District of California from January 03, 1957 to January 03, 1963. Dalip Singh Saund served almost three terms in Congress.

Obtained his Bachelors degree in Mathematics, Prince of Wales College (Jammu), University of Punjab in 1919. Subsequently went to the US for higher education. Obtained his Masters degree (1922) and PhD (1924) both in Mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. He became an American citizen in 1949.

Saund married Marian Kosta. Dalip Singh Saund (born Chhajulwadi, Punjab, India  September 20th, 1899 – April 22nd, 1973) aged 73, Hollywood, California.

http://wwww.saund.org

India’s first arbitration centre . November 2009 .

India’s first arbitration centre – Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DAC)was launched in the capital on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 by Hon’ble Justice K G Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India in Delhi High Court.

The Centre will work under the aegis of the Delhi High Court and operate from within its premises. Its objective and goal was the speedy disposal of cases.

 

India’s first all-women post office for women . March 2013 .

The first all-women’s post office in New Delhi was on March 08th, 2013 – Friday  coinciding with the International Women’s Day.

The inaugration of the post office at Shashtri Bhawan, Central Delhi was done by Kapil Sibal ,Union Minister, Communication and Information Technology.

The post office called ‘Project Arrow Office’ has 3 counters – two multi-purpose services like speed post, registration, sale of IPO’s, booking of money orders and the third counter for sale of stamps. The entire post office to be manned exclusively by women.

India’s first commercial passenger train journey. April 1853 .

On April 16th 1853 – Tuesday, the first passenger locomotive at 3.30pm chugged from Bori Bunder (South Bombay) to Thane.

The first railyway train ran 21 miles from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane in 3 steam locomotives Sahib, Singh and Sultan. It carried about 400 invited guests in 14 railway carriages amidst gaiety, loud applause and the salute of 21 guns.