Here are the visionaries who won India’s first honours in various fields such as literature, film awards, music and reporting.

Dhan Gopal Mukerji 

First Indian to win any literary award (Newbery Medal 1927) for Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon

Vinoba Bhave 

First Indian recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1958 for Community Leadership

Rabindranath Tagore 

First Indian Noble Laureate. Won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913) for Gitanjali

Pandit Ravi Shankar

First Indian to win Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East in 1967

Bhanu Athaiya

First Indian to win Academy Award (1983) for designing the costumes of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.

KD Jadhav

First Indian to win an Olympic medal (Bronze) for wrestling at Helsinki in 1952

Arundhati Roy 

First Indian to win Man Booker Prize Man Fiction for God of Small Things in 1997

Gobind Bihari Lal

First Indian to win the Pulitzer Prize in Reporting Category (1937)

Sivaji Ganesan

First Indian actor to win an international film award (Afro Asian film awards 1960) for Veerapandia Kattabomman.

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