MISS INDIA

'Femina Miss India' is an annual, national beauty pageant held in India and organized by Femina, a women's magazine published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, a media group owned by the Sahu Jain family, which also houses the Times of India and Filmfare magazine. The use of 'Miss India' is in no way trademarked.

Contents
History
List of winners
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1971
1970
1969
1968
1967
1966
1965
1964
1962
1961
1960
1959
1954
1953
1952
1947
Reference
See also
External links

History

In the 1940s and 1950s, a small, conservative contest was held by the press where the title was bestowed. From 1959 into the late 1980s, Eve's Weekly, a rival magazine, held its own "Miss India" contest. Star TV, one of India's largest channels, also has held a Television-based "Miss India" contest.
The Femina Miss India competition began in 1964 as a small, closed-off event. From that year, Femina gained the local license to the international Miss Universe competition. Towards the end of the 1960s, it picked up licenses to both Miss World and the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest. In the early 1990's, it finally picked up the license for Miss International. Femina Miss India has been held annually, except for 1989.
'Miss India' are the winners of the Miss India beauty pageant held annually. Starting 1964, the pageant has been held by the Femina magazine, and is referred to as 'Femina Miss India'. Prior to 1964, Miss India was selected by Eve's weekly in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962. In 1947 and 1952, the winners were chosen by the Indian press.
Miss India has been participating in the Miss Universe pageant since 1952, starting with Indrani Rehman; and in the Miss World pageant since 1959, starting with Fleur Ezekiel. After the Femina Miss India pageant was established, the practice was to send the winner to the Miss Universe pageant and the runner-up to the Miss World contest, but in 2007, this was changed to send the winner to Miss World and the first runner-up to Miss Universe. Usually a second-runner up or an independent pageant winner would be sent to international pageants like Miss Asia, Miss International and Miss Asia-Pacific. Starting from 1997, the practice of choosing a single winner or "Miss India" was changed to instead elect representatives to the different international pageants, and three winners, who receive equal prizes and status but are called Miss India winners, are chosen, and designated Miss India World, Miss India Universe and Miss India Asia-Pacific. As of 2002, the third winner would no longer be sent to Miss Asia-Pacific, but to the newly formed Miss Earth pageant.
The awards for 1989 were given at the end of the year (December); hence there was no separate contest for 1990. No contest was held in 1989. In 1988 Eve's Weekly winners Miss India International - Shikha Swaroop and Miss India and Miss Bombay - Shabnam Patel, went on to win Miss MaxFactor in 1989 were very close and almost a tie and therefore both beauty queen's featured for the first time on all the magazine covers together, as stated by Eve's Weekly editor Gulshan Ewing.
The year 1994 was a landmark year for the pageant industry in India when the Bengali Tigress, Sushmita Sen won the Miss Universe title after winning the Miss India crown. Sushmita Sen became the first Indian woman ever to win the Miss Universe crown. The same year the runner-up of Miss India, Aishwarya Rai, won the Miss World title. Both the Miss Universe and Miss World contests were won by Miss Indias Sushmita Sen (Miss India) and Aishwarya Rai (Miss India 94 runner-up) respectively. Today Rai is a global star and a leading Bollywood actress.
The success of Sushmita Sen spawned a lot of coaching institutions which were set up to groom girls in pageant participation skills. The number of participants in the preliminary rounds of the pageant has increased considerably. Pageant winners are also groomed for months in preparation for the international contest.
In 2000 three of the Miss India winners happened to win their respective international pageants - Lara Dutta (Miss Universe), Priyanka Chopra (Miss World) and Diya Mirza (Miss Asia-Pacific).
In 2007, there was another change where the title of Femina Miss India-Universe was brought to the 1st Runner-Up title and the title of Femina Miss India-World was the winner's title.

List of winners

Here is a list of women who have won the Miss India title. The names of those who have won the competition at the international level (Miss Universe, Miss World, etc.) are mentioned in bold.
__NOTOC__
2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996 - 1995 - 1994 - 1993 - 1992 - 1991 - 1990 - 1989 - 1988 - 1987 - 1986 - 1985 - 1984 - 1983 - 1982 - 1981 - 1980 - 1979 - 1978 - 1977 - 1976 - 1975 - 1974 - 1973 - 1972 - 1971 - 1970 - 1969 - 1968 - 1967 - 1966 - 1965 - 1964 - 1962 - 1961 - 1960 - 1959 - 1954 - 1953 - 1952 - 1947'

2007

★ Miss India World - Sarah-Jane Dias

★ Miss India Universe - Puja Gupta, later among the top 10 finalists at the Miss Universe 2007 pageant held in Mexico City

★ Miss India Earth - Pooja Chitgopekar
indian representative at miss tourism queen international- mahima chowdhary( unplaced)

2006

★ Miss India Universe - Neha Kapur, later placed among the top 20 semi-finalists at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Natasha Suri, top 17 semi-finalist, second runner up (beach beauty), second runner up (dress designer award), top 10 (talent round) at the Miss World 2006 pageant held in Warsaw, Poland

★ Miss India Earth - Amruta Patki, 1st runner-up at the Miss Earth 2006 pageant held in Manila, Philippines

★ Miss India International - Sonali Sehgal, top 12 semifinalist Miss International 2006 in China.

★ Miss India Tourism International - Tanya Vakil, 1st runner up at Miss Tourism Queen International 2006.

2005

★ Miss India Universe - Amrita Thapar

★ Miss India World - Sindhura Gadde, later placed among the top 15 semi-finalists at Miss World

★ Miss India Earth - Niharika Singh

★ Representative at Miss international - Vaishali Desai

2004

★ Miss India Universe - Tanushree Dutta, later placed among the Top 10 at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Sayali Bhagat (first won by Lakshmi Pandit, who was later found to be married, so she had to give up her title, Sayali, who was earlier Miss India-Earth was promoted to the status of Miss India-World.

★ Miss India Earth - Jyoti Brahmin, later placed among the Top 16 Semifinalists at Miss Earth

★ Miss India Asia -Pacific -Simran Chandok

★ Miss India international - Mihika Verma

2003

★ Miss India Universe - Nikita Anand

★ Miss India World - Ami Vashi, later 3 runner up at Miss World 2003

★ Miss India Earth - Swetha Vijay

★ Miss India International - Shonali Nagrani, later 1 runner up at Miss International 2003

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Shonal Rawat , later 1 runner up at Miss Asia Pacific

2002

★ Miss India Universe - Neha Dhupia, later ninth at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Shruti Sharma semifinalist in miss world 2002

★ Miss India Earth - Reshmi Ghosh

★ Miss India 1^st Runner Up - Gauhar Khan, later Representative at Miss International

★ Miss India 2^nd Runner Up - Tina Chhatwal, Later second runner up at Miss Asia-Pacific

2001

★ Miss India Universe - Celina Jaitley, later fourth runner-up at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Sara Corner

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific - Maheshwari

★ Miss India Earth - Shamita Singha, later fifth place at Miss Earth (first contestant from India ever to compete)

★ Miss India International - Kanwal Toor, later semi-finalist Miss International

2000

★ Miss India Universe- Lara Dutta, later Miss Universe, 2000 (also Miss Intercontinental 1997)

★ Miss India World - Priyanka Chopra, later Miss World, 2000

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific International- Diya Mirza, later Miss Asia-Pacific, 2000

★ Miss India International- Gayatri Joshi, later semifinalist at Miss International 2000

1999

★ Miss India Universe - Gul Panag, later sixth place at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Yukta Mookhey, later Miss World, 1999

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Shivangi Parikh

★ Representative at Miss International - Srikrupa Murali

1998

★ Miss India Universe - Lymaraina D'Souza, later seventh place at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Annie Thomas

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Vitika Aggarwal

★ Representative at Miss International - Swetha Jaishankar, later second runner-up at Miss International.

1997

★ Miss India Universe - Nafisa Joseph, later tenth place at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Diana Hayden, later Miss World, 1997

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific - Divya Chauhan later 1 runner up at Miss Asia Pacific 1997

★ Miss India International - Dia Abraham, later 1 runner up at Miss International 1997

1996

★ Miss India Universe- Sandhya Chib, later seventh place at Miss Universe, 1996

★ Miss India World - Rani Jeyraj, later third runner-up at Miss World, 1996

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific - Mini Menon, later semi-finalist at Miss Asia Pacific 1996

★ Representative at Miss International - Fleur Dominique Xavier

1995

★ Miss India Universe - Manpreet Brar, later first runner-up at Miss Universe

★ Miss India World - Preeti Mankotia

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific - Ruchi Malhotra, later first runner-up at Miss Asia Pacific

★ Representative at Miss International - Priya Gill

1994

★ Miss India Universe - Sushmita Sen, later Miss Universe, 1994

★ Miss India World - Aishwarya Rai, later Miss World, 1994

★ Miss India International - Francesca Hart

★ Miss India Asia-Pacific - Swetha Menon, later semi-finalist at Miss Asia-Pacific, 1994

★ Miss Tourism World Wide - Barkha Madan, later fourth place, 1994

1993

★ Miss India - Namrata Shirodkar, later sixth place at Miss Universe

★ Miss India first runner-up - Karminder Kaur

★ Miss India 2^nd Runner-Up - Pooja Batra

1992

★ Miss India - Madhu Sapre, later second runner-up at Miss Universe, 1992

★ Miss India World - Shyla Lopez

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Mehroo Jal Mistry

★ Miss India International - Kamal Sandhu

1991

★ Miss India Universe - Christablle Howie

★ Miss India - Ritu Singh, later became the 2^nd Runner-up at Miss Asia World.

1990

★ Miss India Universe - Suzanne Sablok(Pillai), later semi-finalist (final 10) at Miss Universe; Second in the Swimsuit Round.

★ Miss India World - Naveeda Mehdi

1989

★ Miss India Universe - Suzanne Sablok(Pillai), later semi-finalist (final 10) at Miss Universe; Second in the Swimsuit Round.

★ Miss India World - Naveeda Mehdi

★ Miss India Earth - Maryam Neamati

1988

★ Miss India Universe- Dolly Minhas

★ Miss India World - Anuradha Kottoor

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Viola Anthony

★ Miss India International - Shikha Swaroop

★ Miss Bombay - Lalita Sukthankar

1987

★ Miss India Universe- Priyadarshini Pradhan

★ Miss India World - Manisha Kohli

★ Miss India International - Erika Maria d'Souza, later semifinalist at Miss Iinternational

★ Miss India Asia Pacific - Jasleem Kaur

1986

★ Miss India - Mehr Jessia

★ Miss India first runner-up - Maureen Lestourgen

1985

★ Miss India - Sonu Walia

★ Miss India first runner-up - Sharon Clarke

1984

★ Miss India - Juhi Chawla

★ Miss India first runner-up - Suchita Kumar

1983

★ Miss India - Rekha Hande

★ Miss India 1^st runner-up - Sweety Grewal

1982

★ Miss India -Pamela Singh

★ Miss India first runner-up - Uttara Mhatre

1981

★ Miss India - Ruchita Kumar, now known by the name Nandini Thackersey

★ Miss India first runner-up - Deepti Divakar

1980

★ Miss India - Sangeeta Bijlani

1979

★ Miss India - Swaroop Sampat

1978

★ Miss India - Alamjeet Chauhan

★ Miss India first runner-up - Kalpana Iyer, later 11th Place Miss World

1977

★ Miss India - Nalini Vishwanathan

★ Miss India first runner-up - Veena Prakash, withdrew from the Miss World contest because of India's policy against apartheid

1976

★ Miss India winner - Nafisa Ali^[1], later runner-up at the Miss International contest in 1977

1975

★ Miss India - Meenakshi Kurpad

★ Miss India first runner-up - Anjana Sood, later semi-finalist at Miss World

1974

★ Miss India - Shailini Dholakia, later semi-finalist at Miss Universe, 1974

1973

★ Miss India - Farzana Habib, later semi-finalist Miss Universe

★ Miss India first runner-up - ''none''

1972

★ Miss India - Roopa Satyan, later semi-finalist Miss Universe

★ Miss India first runner-up - Malathi Basappa, later fourth runner-up at Miss World

1971

★ Miss India - Raj Gill

★ Miss India first runner-up - Prema Narayan

1970

★ Miss India - Veena Sajnani

★ Miss India first runner-up - Heather Faville, later semi-finalist Miss World

★ Miss India second runner-up - Zeenat Aman, Miss Asia Pacific International, 1970.

1969

★ Miss India - Kavita Bhambani

★ Miss India first runner-up - Adina Shellim

1968

★ Miss India - Anjum Mumtaz Baig

★ Miss India first runner-up - Jane Coelho

1967

★ Miss India - Nayyara Mirza, now known by the name Nalini Patel

★ Miss India first runner-up - ''none''

1966

★ Miss India (Universe) - Yasmin Daji, later third runner-up Miss Universe, 1966

★ Miss India (World)- Reita Faria, later Miss World, 1966

1965

Persis Khambatta

1964

Meher Mistry, later known as Meher Castelino

1962

Ferial Karim, later semi-finalist Miss World

1961

Veronica Torcato

1960

Iona Pinto, first runner-up at the 1960 Miss International Pageant.

1959

Fleur Ezekiel, first Miss India to participate in Miss World

1954

★ Leela Naidu

1953

Peace Kanwal

1952

★ Indrani Rehman, first Miss India to participate in Miss Universe

★ Nutan

1947

Esther Victoria Abraham Khan

Reference

★ ''The Pride of India'', a cofffe table book on former Miss Indias, by Persis Khambatta, Miss India 1965

See also

★

External links

★ Femina Miss India official website

★ Complete Miss India history

★ Article in sify.com on successful Miss Indias