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| India | Introduction | Back to Top |
India (in Hindi, Bharat), officially Republic of India, federal democracy in southern Asia and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, comprising, with Pakistan and Bangladesh, the subcontinent of India. India is the seventh-largest country in the world and the second most populous, after China. It geographically consists of the entire Indian peninsula and portions of the Asian mainland. India is bordered on the north by Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, China, and Bhutan; on the south by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, which separate it from Sri Lanka, and the Indian Ocean; on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan; on the east by Myanmar (Burma), the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh, which almost cuts off north-east India from the rest of the country. With Jammu and Kashmir (the definitive status of which has not been determined), India has an area of 3,287,263 sq km (1,269,219 sq mi). The capital of India is New Delhi, and the country's largest city is Mumbai (formerly Bombay).
Population 913,200,000 (1996 estimate) Population Density 277 people/sq km (717 people/sq mi) (1996 estimate) Urban/Rural Breakdown 27% Urban 73% Rural Largest Cities Mumbai9,925,891 Delhi7,206,704 Calcutta4,309,819 (1991 census) Largest Metropolitan Areas Mumbai12,596,243 Calcutta11,021,915 Delhi 8,419,084 (1991 census) Ethnic Groups 72% Indo-Aryans 25% Dravidians 3% Other including Mongoloids Languages Official Languages Hindi English Other Languages 16 regional languages, including Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Oriya, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, and Bhojpuri, plus many local languages Religions 82% Hinduism 12% Islam 6% Other including Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism
| India | Provinces | Back to Top |
28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
| India | People | Back to Top |
India is one of the world’s most populous countries, with a population (2001 estimate) of 1,029,991,145 and an average population density of 325 persons per sq km (843 per sq mi) in 2001. An estimated 72 percent of India’s inhabitants live in rural areas. The population grew by nearly 24 percent between 1981 and 1991, down slightly from 25 percent growth between 1971 and 1981. It is estimated that the rate of growth will slow even further in the coming decades, but India’s population nevertheless is expected to continue to increase. The annual growth rate in 1997 was 1.6 percent.
Religion is very important in India, with deep historical roots; Hinduism and Buddhism both originated here. Most people in India practice Hinduism with Islam a distant second. Other important religions include Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Indo-European languages stem originally from Sanskrit. Present-day languages in this family formed in the 14th and 15th centuries. These include Hindi and Urdu, which are similar as spoken languages. Hindi, spoken mainly by Hindus, is written in script called Devanagari and draws on Sanskrit vocabulary. Urdu is spoken mostly by Muslims and uses Persian Arabic script. Tamil is the oldest of the four main Dravidian languages, with a literary history that begins in the 1st century ad.
| India | History | Back to Top |
About 2500 bc Civilization sprang up in the Indus River valley. About 1500 BC Aryan tribes invaded India and settled mainly in the Punjab region of India. Their arrival set off a series of wars. 326 BC Alexander the Great began to conquer India before his own troops forced him to turn back. 321 BC Chandragupta founded the Mauryan Empire. India's first empire, it grew to encompass nearly all of the Indian subcontinent before disintegrating in the 2nd century BC. About ad 100-450 Sanskrit culture thrived under the Kushan Empire, and later under the Gupta Empire. Trade with the Middle East and the Roman Empire greatly enriched India. 510 Invading Huns destroyed Gupta power in India. 1175-about 1200 Islamic invaders from Afghanistan overran much of northern India. They founded the Delhi Sultanate. 1398 The Mongol conqueror Tamerlane sacked Delhi. The Delhi Sultanate split into small warring kingdoms.
1498 The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut. Portugal soon dominated Indian Ocean trade. 1526 Babur, a central Asian Turk, founded the Mughal Empire. Art and architecture flourished, producing such monuments as Agra's Taj Mahal. 1600 The English East India Company was founded and quickly established trading posts in India. 1739 The Persian king Nadir Shah invaded India and plundered Delhi, critically weakening the Mughal Empire. 1757 English East India Company forces under Robert Clive won control of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey. The company soon expanded its control over much of the Indian Peninsula. 1857-1859 The Sepoy Rebellion erupted. Indian forces massacred British residents at Delhi, Lucknow, and many other places. British forces crushed the revolt, and the British government exiled the Mughal emperor and assumed direct control of India. 1885 The Indian National Congress was founded, marking the beginning of the Indian independence movement. 1919 British forces killed more than 400 Indians and wounded over 1200 in the Amritsar Massacre. 1920-1921 Mohandas Gandhi introduced nonviolent tactics that transformed the Indian independence movement into a popular campaign. 1947 British India was divided into the independent states of India and Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first prime minister. War broke out between India and Pakistan over the territory of Jammu and Kashmir 1948 Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated.
1949 India and Pakistan signed a cease-fire agreement that divided Jammu and Kashmir into two sectors, but the status of the region remained unresolved. Fighting broke out again in 1965 and 1971. 1974 India exploded an atomic bomb, and as the first South Asian nation to do so, altered the balance of power in South Asia. 1984 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh members of her security guard. 1990s Tensions increased between India and Pakistan over the continuing conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. 1996 Elections swept the Congress Party, which had dominated India's government since independence, from power. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) captured the largest number of parliament seats. No party won a majority, however, and a BJP coalition was quickly replaced by a shaky left-center coalition involving the Congress Party. 1998 The BJP and its allies won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections and made Hindu nationalist leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee prime minister. Vajpayee's government conducted nuclear tests, spurring Pakistan to do the same and arousing fears of a regional arms race.
| India | Culture | Back to Top |
For almost all Indians the family is the most important social unit. There is a strong preference for extended families, consisting of two or more married couples (often of more than a single generation), who share finances and a common kitchen. Marriage is virtually universal, and divorce rare. Almost all marriages are arranged by family elders on the basis of caste, degree of consanguinity, economic status, education (if any), and astrology. Brides traditionally move to their husband's village. Among the elite, however, nonarranged love marriages are increasingly common.
there is a clear order of social precedence and influence based on gender, age, and, in the case of a woman, the number of her male children. The senior male typically is the recognized family head, and his wife is the person who regulates the tasks assigned to female family members. Males enjoy higher status than females; boys are often pampered while girls are relatively neglected. This is reflected in significantly different rates of mortality and morbidity between the sexes, allegedly (though reliable statistics are lacking) in occasional female infanticide, and increasingly in the abortion of females following prenatal gender testing. This pattern of preference is largely connected to the institution of dowry, since the family's obligation to provide a suitable dowry to the bride's new family represents a major financial liability. Traditionally, women were expected to treat their husbands as if they were gods, and obedience of wives to husbands remains a strong social norm.
its culture absorbed outside influences. Sculpture derived from the Greeks developed a uniquely Indian style over time (the Gandhara school). Musical instruments brought by the Muslims in the 15th century were incorporated into existing musical methods in Hindu devotional poetry and song. Similar patterns are found in painting and architecture in the period of Mughal rule and patronage. British rule had no influence on classical music, but popular music was changed, particularly in the 20th century. Prose literature, and to a lesser extent poetry, was transformed by the model of the English novel, short story, and romantic poem. The British adapted Indian domestic architecture (the bungalow) and blended Mughal, Hindu, and European forms into a distinctive monumental architecture, visible most significantly in New Delhi.
| India | Life | Back to Top |
The life of Indians is centered in the family. Extended families often live together, with two or more adult generations, or brothers, sharing a house. In much of the countryside, neighboring houses share a wall, so from the street one sees a continuous wall pierced by doorways. In other areas, in the south for example, the main house will have a veranda on the street, with an open courtyard behind. As farmers prosper, they change from adobe construction to brick plastered with cement, and from a tile or thatch roof to a flat concrete or corrugated metal one. Most home activity is outside in the compound courtyard or on the verandas of the house.
| India | Land | Back to Top |
India consists geographically of the entire Indian Peninsula and portions of the Asian mainland. The length of India from north to south is 3,050 km (1,900 mi); from east to west it is 2,950 km (1,830 mi). The Himalayas , the loftiest mountain system in the world, form the northern limit of India. This great, geologically young mountain arc is about 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometres) long, stretching from the peak of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan-held Jammu and Kashmir to the Namcha Barwa peak in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
India also has two island chains, each forming its own union territory. The Andaman and Nicobar island chain lies east of the mainland between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.Excluding the portions of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by India but occupied by Pakistan or China, India has an area of 3,165,596 sq km (1,222,243 sq mi). India’s land frontier the length of its border with other countries measures more than 15,200 km (9,400 mi).
Its southernmost island is only 200 km (120 mi) from the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Lakshadweep island group is located off India’s southwest coast. It also has 7,600 km (4,700 mi) of coastline, including the island territories, or 5,600 km (3,500 mi) of coastline without the islands.Between these extremes the mountains fall across India, southern Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. The width of the system varies between 125 and 250 miles.Within India the Himalayas are divided into three longitudinal belts, called the Outer, Lesser, and Great Himalayas. At each extremity there is a great bend in the system's alignment, from which a number of lower mountain ranges and hills spread out.
| India | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
India is home to abundant plant and animal life and has a wide range of climates that accommodate a diversity of species throughout the country. Broadly classified, there are seven major regions for plant and animal life in India: the arid Indus Plain, the Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas, Assam Valley, the Malabar Coast, the peninsular plateau, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India has an estimated 45,000 species of plants, 33 percent of which are native. There are 15,000 flowering plant species, 6 percent of the world’s total. About 3,000 to 4,000 of the total number of plant species are believed to be in danger of extinction.
| India | Economy | Back to Top |
Under British rule in the 19th century, India’s cottage industries and thriving trade were virtually destroyed to make way for European manufactured goods, paid for by exports of agricultural products such as cotton, opium, and tea. Beginning in the late 19th century a modern industrial sector and an extensive infrastructure of railways and irrigation works were slowly built with British and Indian capital. Nevertheless, India’s economy stagnated during the last 30 or so years of British rule. At independence in 1947 India was desperately poor, with an aging textile industry as its only major industrial sector.
no more than one-fifth of India's vast labour force is employed in the so-called “organized” sector of the economy (e.g., mining, plantation agriculture, factory industry, utilities, and modern transportation, commercial, and service enterprises), but that small fraction generates a disproportionate share of the nation's gross domestic product, supports most of the middle- and upper-class population, and generates most of the economic growth. It is the organized sector to which most government regulatory activity applies and in which trade unions, chambers of commerce, professional associations, and other institutions of modern capitalist economies play a significant role. Much of the organized sector is unionized, and strikes are frequent and often protracted. Many of the unions are affiliated with one of a number of government-recognized and regulated all-India “central” trade union organizations, several of which have membership in the millions. The more important of these are affiliated with national political parties. Apart from rank-and-file labourers, the organized sector engages most of India's professionals and virtually all of its vast pool of scientists and technicians.
| India | Communications | Back to Top |
mediocre service; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; major objective is to continue to expand and modernize long-distance network in order to keep pace with rapidly growing number of local subscriber lines; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but, with telephone density at about two for each 100 persons and a waiting list of over 2 million, demand for main line telephone service will not be satisfied for a very long time domestic: local service is provided by microwave radio relay and coaxial cable, with open wire and obsolete electromechanical and manual switchboard systems still in use in rural areas; starting in the 1980s, a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced for local and long-distance service; long-distance traffic is carried mostly by coaxial cable and low-capacity microwave radio relay; since 1985 significant trunk capacity has been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a domestic satellite system with 254 earth stations; mobile cellular service is provided in four metropolitan cities international: satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); nine gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gaidhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 4 submarine cables - LOCOM linking Chennai (Madras) to Penang; Indo-UAE-Gulf cable linking Mumbai (Bombay) to Al Fujayrah, UAE; India-SEA-ME-WE-3, SEA-ME-WE-2 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay); Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay) (2000)
| Brunei | Languages | Back to Top |
Hindi is the main language of more than 40 percent of the population. It was therefore made India’s official language in 1965. English, which was associated with British rule, was retained as an option for official use because some non-Hindi speakers, particularly in Tamil Nadu, opposed the official use of Hindi. English is spoken by as many as 5 percent of Indians, and various Dravidian languages are spoken by about 25 percent. No single language other than Hindi, however, can claim speakers among even 10 percent of Indians. Many Indians speak more than one language, especially those who live in cities or near state borders, which were redrawn in 1956 in part to conform to linguistic boundaries. Because the languages of both northern and southern families are internally related, much like the Romance and Germanic languages of Europe, learning a second language is not difficult.
| India | Politics | Back to Top |
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [C. Jayalalitha JAYARAM]; All India Forward Bloc or AIFB [Prem Dutta PALIWAL (chairman), Chitta BASU (general secretary)]; Asom Gana Parishad [Prafulla Kumar MAHANTA]; Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [Kanshi RAM]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Bangaru LAXMAN, president]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist or CPI/ML [Vinod MISHRA]; Congress (I) Party [Sonia GANDHI, president]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK (a regional party in Tamil Nadu) [M. KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National League [Suliaman SAIT]; Janata Dal (Secular) [H. D. Deve GOWDA]; Janata Dal (United) or JDU [Sharad YADAV, president, I. K. GUJRAL]; Kerala Congress (Mani faction) [K. M. MANI]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKO]; Muslim League [G. M. BANATWALA]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; National Democratic Alliance, a 16-party alliance including BJP, DMK, Janata Dal (U), SHS, Shiromani Akali Dal, Telugu Desam, BJD, Rinamool Congress]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV]; Revolutionary Socialist Party or RSP [Tridip CHOWDHURY]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV, president]; Shiromani Akali Dal [Prakash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena [Bal THACKERAY]; Tamil Maanila Congress [G. K. MOOPANAR]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP (a regional party in Andhra Pradesh) [Chandrababu NAIDU]; Trinamool Congress [Mamata BANERJEE]
| India | Government | Back to Top |
Political parties play an important role in India’s democracy. For many years a centrist national party known as the Congress Party was the most powerful political party in India. Established in 1885 as the Indian National Congress, it led India in the struggle for independence. Its members have included influential figures such as Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. With few exceptions, the Congress Party provided the country’s prime ministers until the mid-1990s. The Congress, also known since 1977 as the Congress (I) Party, significantly declined in popular support in the 1990s after allegations of corruption.
1947-64 Jawaharlal Nehru Congress 1964-66 Lal Bahadur Shastri Congress 1966-77 Indira Gandhi Congress (I) 1977-79 Morarji Desai Janata 1979-80 Charan Singh Janata/Lok Dal 1980-84 Indira Gandhi Congress (I) 1984-89 Rajiv Gandhi Congress (I) 1989-90 Viswanath Pratap Singh Janata Dal 1990-91 Chandra Shekhar Janata Dal (Socialist) 1991-96 P. V. Narasimha Rao Congress (I) 1996 Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party 1996-97 H. D. Deve Gowda Janata Dal 1997 Inder Kumal Gujral Janata Dal 1998- Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party.
| India | Legal | Back to Top |
Legal system: based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Executive branch: chief of state: President Kocheril Raman NARAYANAN (since 25 July 1997); Vice President Krishnan KANT (since 21 August 1997) head of government: Prime Minister Atal Behari VAJPAYEE (since 19 March 1998) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term; election last held 14 July 1997 (next to be held NA July 2002); vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 16 August 1997 (next to be held NA August 2002); prime minister elected by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held NA October 1999 (next to be held NA October 2004) election results: Kocheril Raman NARAYANAN elected president; percent of electoral college vote - NA%; Krishnan KANT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - NA%; Atal Behari VAJPAYEE elected prime minister; percent of vote - NA% Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members, up to 12 of which are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms) elections: People's Assembly - last held 5 September through 3 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - BJP alliance 40.8%, Congress alliance 33.8%, other 25.4%; seats by party - BJP alliance 304, Congress alliance 134, other 107 Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65)
| India | organization | Back to Top |
AfDB, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MIPONUH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
| India | Education | Back to Top |
India’s official goal for education since independence in 1947 has been to ensure compulsory education for all up to age 14. A lack of money and effort put into primary education, however, has hampered the achievement of that goal. At independence 25 percent of males and 8 percent of females were literate. In 2001 those figures had been raised to 80 percent of males and 66 percent of females—73 percent of the overall population. The government invests comparatively more in secondary and tertiary schools, particularly colleges and universities. There was no serious political demand for primary education until the 1990s, when a grassroots movement arose to organize volunteers and conduct campaigns for universal adult literacy.
| India | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army, Navy (including naval air arm), Air Force, various security or paramilitary forces (includes Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, Rashtriya Rifles, and National Security Guards)
Military manpower - military age: 17 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 280,204,502 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 164,410,461 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 10,879,384 (2001 est.)
| India | International Disputes | Back to Top |
boundary with China in dispute; status of Kashmir with Pakistan; water-sharing problems with Pakistan over the Indus River (Wular Barrage); a portion of the boundary with Bangladesh is indefinite; exchange of 151 enclaves along border with Bangladesh subject to ratification by Indian parliament; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty Island
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