India

India, officially the Republic of India (in Hindi, भारत गणराज्य, Bhārat Gaṇarājya; in English, Republic of India), is a sovereign country located in South Asia. With its 1,357 million inhabitants (2022 estimate), it is the second country in the world by population. Its area is 3,287,263 km², which places it in seventh place among the largest countries on the planet.

It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south, the Arabian Sea to the west, and the Bay of Bengal to the east, along a coastline of more than 7,517 km. India also borders Pakistan to the west; to the north with China, Nepal and Bhutan and to the east with Bangladesh and Burma. Also, India is located near the islands of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. Its capital is New Delhi and its most populous city is Bombay.

Home to the Indus Valley culture and a historic region for its trade routes and great empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified for its cultural and commercial wealth for most of its long history. Four of the world's major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism - originated there, while other religions such as Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived during the 1st millennium, shaping various cultures of the region.

Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid In the 19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947, following a struggle for independence that was marked by a nonviolence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi.

India is a federal republic made up of 28 states and eight union territories with a system of parliamentary democracy. As of 2017, the Indian economy is the third largest in the world and sixth in terms of nominal GDP. The economic reforms of 1991 have transformed it into one of the fastest growing economies; however, it still suffers from problems such as high levels of poverty, illiteracy, pandemics, malnutrition, and constant violations of women's rights. As of 2016, the richest 10% of the population owns 55% of the national income. In addition to a religiously plural, multilingual and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to diverse flora and fauna in different protected habitats.

In addition, the Republic of India is one of the ten countries with a nuclear arsenal and is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, since, under its current terms, it would not allow it to maintain its atomic weapons. India jumped from 140th to 177th place between 2016 and 2018 in the Environmental Performance Index compiled by researchers from Yale and Columbia universities. In particular, the study highlights the "alarming" deterioration of air quality.

India is characterized by great social inequality. The richest 1% of the population earns more than 20% of the total national income in 2021, while the poorest 50% only earns 13% of the total national income. India is currently among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the ''Global Inequality Report 2022'', which rates India as a 'country poor and very unequal with a wealthy elite''.

Some languages of India including English and Hindi are: Bengali, Hindi, Maithili, Nepali, Sanskrit, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese, Dogri, Kannada, Gujarati, Bodo, Meitei (officially known as Manipuri), Oriya, Marathi, Santali, Telugu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Malayalam, Konkani and Kashmiri.

Etymology

The name "India" derives from the word Indo, which comes from the Persian word hindu (/jíndu/), from the Sanskrit Sindhu (/sínd^Ju), the historical local name for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as ινδοί (/indoí/), the people of the Indus River. The Constitution of India and several languages spoken in the country also recognize Bharat (pronounced [ˈbʱɑːrʌt̪]) as the official name of the state.

Bharat derives from the name of the legendary king of Hindu mythology Bharata.^{[citation needed]} Hindustan ―originally a Persian word for the 'land of the Hindus'―, refers to northern India but is also sometimes used as a synonym for the entire country.

National symbols

The main national symbols of the country are its flag, its emblem and its anthem. India also has other national symbols such as the song Vande Mataram (composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji and which has the same status as the national anthem) or several significant animal species of the country. In addition to the national symbols, each state and union territory has its own symbols. In addition to the flag, emblem, anthem and national song, India has various national symbols: the national bird (the common peacock), the national flower (the sacred lotus or Indian lotus), the national tree (the banyan tree), the national calendar, the national animal (the tiger) and the currency symbol (₹).

History

Ancient India

55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, also known as Homo sapiens, had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had previously evolved. The oldest known remains of modern humans in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. After 6500 B.C. C., evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, the construction of permanent structures, and the storage of agricultural surpluses appeared at Mehrgarh and other sites in present-day Balochistan, Pakistan. These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilization, the first urban culture in South Asia, which flourished during 2500-1900 BCE. C. in what is now Pakistan and western India. Centered on cities like Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Dholavira and Kalibangan, and relying on various forms of subsistence, the civilization strongly engaged in handicraft production and extensive trade.

During the period 2000–500 B.C. C., many regions of the subcontinent passed from Chalcolithic cultures to those of the Iron Age. The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed during this period and have been analyzed by historians to postulate a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic plain. This period is also considered by most historians to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the northwest. The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants but excluded indigenous people by labeling their occupations unclean, emerged during this period. On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organization. In southern India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period, as well as nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.

In the late Vedic period, around the VI century BCE. In BC, the small states and chiefdoms of the Gangetic plain and northwestern regions had consolidated into sixteen major oligarchies and monarchies known as mahajanapadas. The emerging urbanization gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism rose to prominence during the lifetime of its model, Mahavira. Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, attracted followers from all walks of life except the middle class. The chronicle of the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. In a time of increasing urban wealth, both religions held renunciation as an ideal, and both established enduring monastic traditions. Politically, in the III century B.C. C., the kingdom of Magadha had been annexed or reduced to other states to emerge as the Maurya Empire. The empire was once thought to control most of the subcontinent except for the southern tip, but its central regions are now believed to have been separated by large autonomous areas. Mauryan kings are known as much for empire-building and determined management of public life as Asoka is for his renunciation of militarism and extensive advocacy of Buddhist dhamma.

The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that between 200 B.C. C. and 200 d. C., the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with western and southeast Asia. In northern India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to further subordination of women. In the fourth and fifth centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration and taxation on the great Gangetic plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than ritual management, began to take hold. This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite. Classical Sanskrit literature also flourished, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.

Medieval India

India's early medieval age, AD 600-1200. C., is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 AD. C., he tried to expand to the south, was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan. When his successor tried to expand eastward, he was defeated by King Pala of Bengal. When the Chalukyas tried to expand south, they were defeated by the Pallavas from further south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and Cholas from still further south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands far beyond its core region. During this time, pastoralist peoples, whose lands had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy, accommodated themselves within caste society, as did the new non-traditional ruling classes. Consequently, the caste system began to show regional differences.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language. They were imitated throughout India and led to both the revival of Hinduism and the development of all the modern languages of the subcontinent. Indian royalty, large and small, and the temples they frequented drew large numbers of citizens to the capital cities, which also became economic centers. Temple cities of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanization. In the eighth and ninth centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of what is now Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Merchants, scholars, and sometimes Indian armies participated in this broadcast; Southeast Asians also took the lead, with many of them residing in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.

After the X century, the Muslim nomadic clans of Central Asia, using fast horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, they repeatedly invaded the plains of northwestern South Asia, eventually leading to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206. The sultanate was to control much of northern India and make many raids into the South India. Though disruptive to Indian elites at first, the sultanate largely left its vast population of non-Muslim subjects to their own laws and customs. Repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders, in the 13th century century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on Western Asia and central, setting the stage for centuries of migration of soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists and craftsmen from that region to the subcontinent, thus creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. Raids by the sultanate and the weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara empire. Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and drawing on the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of mainland India, and was to influence South Indian society for a long time afterward.

Map of British Raj

Early Modern India

In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, again fell to mobility. superiority and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The resulting Mughal Empire did not do away with the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices, and diverse and inclusive ruling elites led to a more systematic, centralized, and uniform government. Eschewing tribal ties and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their distant kingdoms through loyalty, expressed through a Perianized culture, to an emperor who held near-divine status. The economic policies of the Mughal state, deriving most income from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver coin, saw peasants and artisans enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire for much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in increased patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture. Newly coherent social groups in North and West India, such as the Marathas, Rajputs, and Sikhs, gained military and governance ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. The expansion of trade during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian business and political elites along the southern and eastern coasts of India. As the empire disintegrated, many of these elites were able to seek out and control their own affairs.

At the beginning of the 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political domination increasingly blurred, several companies European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established outposts on the coast. The East India Company's control of the seas, increased resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength and made it attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control of the Bengal region in 1765 and push other European companies aside. His greater access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increase in the strength and size of his army enabled him to annex or subdue most of India in the 1820s. India was no longer exporting manufactured goods as it had long been, but which supplied the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the beginning of India's colonial period. At this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British Parliament and having effectively become an arm of the British administration, the company began more consciously to enter non-economic areas such as education, social reform, and culture.

Modern India

Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. Lord Dalhousie's appointment in 1848 as Governor-General of the East India Company laid the foundation for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, surveillance of the population, and education of citizens. Technological changes—including railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced soon after its introduction to Europe. However, discontent with the company also grew during this time and sparked the Indian rebellion of 1857. Fueled by various resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes and summary treatment of some landlords and wealthy princes, the rebellion shook many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of the Company's government. Although the rebellion was suppressed in 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British Government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest. In the following decades, public life gradually emerged throughout India, eventually leading to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.

The avalanche of technology and commercialization of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of distant markets. There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines, and despite the infrastructure development risks borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was created for Indians. There were also salutary effects: cash crops, especially in the newly canalized Punjab, led to increased food production for domestic consumption. The rail network provided critical famine relief, markedly reduced the cost of freight transportation, and aided the nascent Indian-owned industry.

Between the 1870s and 1890s, nearly forty million Indians died from successive famines. According to historian Niall Ferguson, "there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect and indifference to the plight of the starving," but no direct responsibility, as the colonial administration simply remained passive. On the contrary, for the journalist Johann Hari: "Far from doing nothing during the famine, the British did a lot, to make things worse. The authorities would have continued to promote exports to the metropolis without worrying about the millions of deaths on Indian soil. Historian Mike Davis also supports the idea that "London was eating India's bread" during the famine. In addition, Viceroy Robert Lytton forbade the hungry, who were sometimes described as "indolent" or "incompetent for the job. Newspapers in areas not affected by the famine were instructed to report as little about it as possible. According to Mike Davis, Lord Lytton was guided by the idea that "by sticking to liberal economics, he was helping the Indian people in the dark".

After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served, a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a non-violent non-cooperation movement, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the enduring leader and symbol. During the 1930s, the British enacted slow law reform; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was plagued by crises: India's involvement in World War II, Congress's latest push for noncooperation, and a revival of Muslim nationalism. All were crowned by the advent of independence in 1947, but moderated by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.

Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, finalized in 1950, which established a secular, democratic republic. It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent. Economic liberalization, which began in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and increased its geopolitical influence. Indian films, music and spiritual teachings play an increasingly important role in world culture. However, India is also shaped by seemingly unbreakable poverty, both rural and urban; by caste-related violence and religions; by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies; and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast India. It has unresolved territorial disputes with China and Pakistan. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newest nations; however, despite its recent economic successes, the liberation of its disadvantaged population from misery remains a goal that has not yet been achieved.

Government and politics

The Constitution of India entered into force on 26 January 1950, three years after the declaration of independence.

The Constitution of India, the longest of any independent nation in the world, came into force on January 26, 1950. The preamble to the Constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic. India has a bicameral Parliament, which is governed under the Westminster system. Its form of government was traditionally described as "quasi-federalist" with a strong tendency towards centralization, with the states having weaker power, but since the late 1990s, federalism has grown more and more, as a result of political, economic and social changes.

The President of India is the head of state and is indirectly elected by an electoral college, serving a five-year term. The Prime Minister is the head of government and exercises most functions of the executive branch.^{[citation needed]} Appointed by the president, for a five-year term, the prime minister is usually sympathetic to the party or political alliance that has the majority of the seats in the lower house of parliament.^{[citation needed]} The executive branch consists of the president, the vice-president, and the Council of Ministers (the cabinet being its Committee Executive), headed by the Prime Minister. Any Minister of the Council must be a member of any House of Parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive branch is subordinated to the legislative branch, with the Prime Minister and his Council directly monitored by the lower house of Parliament.

The legislature in India is represented by the bicameral Parliament, called the Sansad, which consists of the upper house, called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the lower house called the Lok Sabha (house of the people). The Rajya Sabha nominally numbers 245 members. In March 2022 the Rajya Sabha had 236 members. Rajya Sabha deputies serve six-year terms. (Every two years a third of the seats are renewed.) 233 members are elected indirectly, that is, by the Parliaments of the states and union territories. 12 members are appointed by the president. The Lok Sabha has a maximum of 552 members: up to 530 representing the states, up to 20 representing the union territories, and up to two representing the Anglo-Indian community. The latter are appointed by the president if he thinks the Anglo-Indian community is not sufficiently represented in Parliament. The other members of the Lok Sabha are elected every five years directly by the voting population.

India has a unitary three-tier judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, twenty-one high courts, and a large number of lower courts. original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental human rights and over disputes between the state and federal governments, as well as jurisdiction over appeals to higher courts. It is judicially independent, and has the power to declare and pass laws and to repeal the laws of any state that are perceived as unconstitutional. The role that it exercises as the best interpreter of the Constitution, is one of the most important functions of this institution.

Politics

The Parliament of India in New Delhi.

India is the most populous democracy in the world. For much of the country's independent life, the federal government has been run by the Indian National Congress (INC). Politics in the states is dominated by various national parties, including the INC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), and other regional parties. From 1950 to 1990, except for two brief periods, the INC enjoyed a parliamentary majority. The INC fell from power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata party won the election, due in part to general discontent with then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's declaration of a state of emergency. In 1989, a National Front coalition led by the Janata Dal party, in alliance with a Left Front coalition won the elections, but managed to stay in power for only two years. In the 1991 elections, no political party won a vote. absolute majority, so the INC formed a minority government under the command of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, who remained in power for five years.

The years between 1996 and 1998 were a period of turmoil in the federal government with various short-lived alliances trying to stabilize the country. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition that excluded both the BJP and the INC. In 1998, the BJP formed with other smaller parties the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which was victorious and became the first non-congressional government to finish a full five-year term. In the 2004 general election, the BJP the INC won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha and formed a government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), supported by various left-wing parties and members of the opposition to the BJP. The UPA again came to power in the 2009 general elections; however, the representation of left-wing parties within the coalition was significantly reduced. Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term since the 1962 election, in which Jawaharlal Nehru was re-elected to his position. In the 2014 elections, Narendra Modi with the Indian People's Party was elected president and re-elected in the 2019 elections as the country's prime minister.

Media

By 2018, India will have 17,000 newspaper headlines, 550 radio stations and 880 satellite TV channels. At the national level, four daily newspapers account for three-quarters of the Hindi readership, as do the four major national English-language dailies. Media ownership is largely concentrated in the hands of a few large groups. There is "no limit to the concentration of ownership in print, broadcast or digital media in the country" and there is no regulatory body for the media sector.

Media owners are frequently involved in politics, such as billionaires Subhash Chandra and Shobhana Bhartia, owners of the Zee News group and HT Media respectively, both of whom are elected to Parliament. At the local level, as the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) points out: "The main television channel in the state of Odisha is owned by the Panda family, one of whose prominent members, Baijayant Jay Panda, is none other than the National Vice President and official spokesperson for the BJP, Prime Minister Modi's party. Similarly, in the state of Assam, the owner of the main channel, NewsLive, is the wife of one of the key ministers of the regional executive, also dominated by the BJP. "Thus, political parties and the business community have considerable influence over information in India.

In recent years, violence against journalists has increased in the country. On social media, nationalist groups are carrying out, according to RSF, "appalling coordinated hate campaigns and calls for assassination against journalists who dare to speak or write about disturbing issues".

Foreign Relations and Armed Forces

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in 2018 with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad.

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI "Flanker" is the most advanced aircraft in the Indian Air Force.

Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relations with most nations. It played a prominent role in the 1950s, when it came out in favor of the independence of the European colonies in Africa and Asia. India was involved in two brief military interventions in two neighboring countries: the Peacekeeping Force of the India in Sri Lanka and in Operation Cactus in the Maldives. India is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. After the Sino-Indian War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, relations between India and the Soviet Union declined, and continued this form until the end of the Cold War. India has fought two wars with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. A third war between India and Pakistan in 1971 led to the creation of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Additional friction and conflicts have taken place between the two nations over the Siachen Glacier. In 1999, India and Pakistan fought an undeclared war in Kargil.

India and Russia share a broad economic and technological relationship. Here Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with former Russian President Dmitri Medvédev at the 34th G8 Summit.

In recent years, India has played an influential role in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). India has provided around 55,000 Indian military and security personnel. Indian police to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has consistently refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (TPCEN) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), preferring to maintain sovereignty over its nuclear program. Recent overtures by the Government of India have strengthened relations with the United States, China and Pakistan. In the economic sphere, India has close relations with other developing nations in South America, Asia and Africa.

India maintains the fourth largest military force in the world, consisting of the army, navy, air force, and auxiliary forces such as paramilitary forces, coast guard, and strategic command forces. It has an active personnel of 1,325,000 soldiers and an active reserve of 1,747,000, in total its armed forces number 3,072,000 soldiers. The Prime Minister of India is the supreme commander of the armed forces. India maintains close defense cooperation with Russia and France, which are its main arms suppliers. The Defense Research and Development Organization of India (DRDO) oversees India's development of sophisticated weapons and military equipment, including ballistic missiles, fighter jets and tanks, to reduce India's reliance on imports from abroad. In 1974, India became a nuclear power, after conducting an initial nuclear test, Operation Smiling Buddha, and subsequently several underground tests in 1998. India maintains a &#34 nuclear policy.;not first use". On 10 October 2008, the Indo-American Civil Nuclear Agreement was signed, ending restrictions on trade in nuclear technology, making India the sixth country with the most de facto nuclear power in the world.

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), India has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

India	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

Territorial organization

The Republic of India is made up of 28 states and eight union territories (including the national capital territory of Delhi). All the states and the two union territories of Pondicherry and the National Capital of Delhi, they choose the pattern of their legislatures and governments by means of the Westminster model. The other six union territories are governed directly by the federal government, through various appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganization Act, the territory of India was divided on the basis of language. Since then, this structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is divided into administrative districts. The districts are further divided into tehsils and finally into villages.

India is divided into:

The 28 states and 8 territories of India.

28 states

8 Union Territories

Geography

Topographic Map of India

India occupies most of the Indian subcontinent, which lies on top of the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian plate.

The geological processes that defined India's current geographic location began seventy-five million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent, and then part of the supercontinent Gondwana, began to move northeast across what is it would later become the Indian Ocean. The subsequent collision of the subcontinent with the Eurasian plate, and subduction beneath it, gave rise to the Himalayas, the highest mountain system on the planet, which is now India's northern border. and in the northwest. On the ancient seafloor that emerged immediately south of the Himalayas, the movement of the plate created a large depression, which was gradually filled with sediments carried by rivers, and which now constitutes the Indus Plain. -Gangetic. To the west of this plain, and separated from it by the Aravalli range, is the Thar desert.

The original Indian plate now survives as Peninsular India, the oldest and most geologically stable part of India, extending as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel ranges run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat state to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand state. To the south, the remaining mainland territory, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked by the left and right by two coastal ranges, the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; the plateau contains the oldest rock formations in India, some over a billion years old. The extreme points of India are located at 6° 44' and 35° 30' north latitude and 68° 7' and 97° 25' east longitude.

India's coastline is 7,517 kilometers long; of this distance, 5,423 km belongs to mainland India and 2,094 km to the Andaman, Nicobar and Laccadive Islands. rocky shores, including cliffs, and 46% marshes or swampy shores.

The Himalaya forms the mountainous landscape of northern India. Photograph of the mountain range in the state of Uttarakhand.

The major rivers that flow substantially through India originate in the Himalayas, and include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, which flow into the Bay of Bengal. Major tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi, whose extremely low slope causes catastrophic flooding every year. The major peninsular rivers whose steeper slopes prevent flooding are the Godavari, Mahanadi, Kaveri and Krishná, which also flow into the Bay of Bengal; and the Narmada and Tapti, which flow into the Arabian Sea., on the west coast of India there are also the Rann of Kutch swamps, while on the eastern side of the country is the Sundarbans delta, which India shares with Bangladesh. Additionally, India has two archipelagos: the Laccadives, coral atolls off the southwestern coast of India, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the Andaman Sea.

India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, which favor the development of monsoons. The Himalayas keep out the cold katabatic winds from Central Asia, keeping most of the Indian subcontinent warmer. hotter than most locations at similar latitudes. The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting moisture-laden monsoon winds from the southwest, which between June and October, provide most of the precipitation of the country. The four main climatic zones that prevail in India are: tropical humid, tropical dry, subtropical humid and montaneous.

Flora and fauna

The territory of India is located within the Indomalaya ecozone, therefore it presents a large sample of biodiversity. As one of the seventeen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammals, 12.6% of all birds, 6.2% of all reptiles, 4.4% of all amphibians, 11.7% of all fish and 6% of phanerogams in the world. Extremely high levels of endemism exist in many of the country's ecoregions; overall, 33% of plant species in India are endemic.

India's forest cover ranges from the rainforests of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India, to the coniferous forests of the Himalayas. Between these extremes are the moist deciduous forest of eastern India; the dry deciduous forest of central and southern India; and the xerophytic forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic Plain. According to the latest report, less than 12% of the Indian landmass is covered by dense forests. Among the most important trees in India are medicinal neem, widely used in rural areas for herbal medicine and the preparation of home remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the Mohenjo-daro seals, was the tree where, according to tradition, the Buddha found enlightenment.

Many species from India are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, from which the Indian plate broke off. The subsequent movement of the plate towards present-day peninsular India and the collision with the Laurasian landmass, started a massive exchange of species. However, volcanism and climate changes 20 million years ago led to the extinction of many endemic species in India. Thereafter, various mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of India. emerging Himalayas. Consequently, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of endemic amphibians. Notable endemics include the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the Western Ghats carmine and brown toad. In addition, in India there are 172, or 2.9%, threatened species. These include the Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, and Bengal vulture, which nearly went extinct after eating the carrion of cattle treated with diclofenac..

In recent decades, human encroachments have created a threat to India's wildlife, and in response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, has been greatly expanded. In 1972, the Indian government enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and the Tiger Project, to protect crucial habitat for these animals; in addition, in 1980 the Forest Conservation Act was promulgated. Along with more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries, there are thirteen Biosphere Reserves in India, four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Biosphere; in addition to the fact that 25 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar agreement.

Northwest: Casimir (O Kashimir), disputed between Pakistan, China India	North: China	Northeast: Nepal
West: Pakistan		This: Bhutan
Southwest: Arabian Sea (Indian Ocean), Lacquered Sea (Indian Ocean) and Maldives	South: Bangladesh and the Indian Ocean	Sureste: Sri Lanka (marine border)

Economy

Bombay stock exchange building, the main indicator of the Indian economy.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, India's economy had followed socialist trends. It was in 1991 that the national economy became a market economy. This change in economic policy in 1991 came shortly after an acute crisis in the balance of payments, so since then emphasis has been placed on making the foreign trade and foreign investment a key sector of the Indian economy.

Over the past few decades the Indian economy has had an annual GDP growth rate of around 5.8%, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Additionally, India has the largest workforce in the world, at just over 516 million people. In terms of production, the agricultural sector represents 28% of GDP; the service sector and industry account for 54% and 18%, respectively. Major agricultural and livestock products include rice, wheat, oilseeds, cotton, jute, tea, sugar cane, potatoes, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry, and fish. The main industries are textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software trading. As of 2006, the India's trade had reached a relatively modest 24% of GDP in 2006, growing close to 6% since 1985. India's trade accounts for just over 1% of world trade. Major exports include petroleum derivatives, some textiles, precious stones, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and furs and skins. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, jewelry, fertilizers, and some chemicals..

India's GDP is $1.237 trillion, making it the world's 12th largest economy or fourth largest in purchasing power parity terms. However, India's nominal per capita income is US$1016, ranking 143rd in the world. In the late 2000s, India's average economic growth is 7.5% per year, although it is expected to double in the next decade.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2021 had a face value of $3.04 trillion; it is the fifth largest economy according to market exchange rates, and is around 10.219 trillion dollars, the third largest according to purchasing power parity (PPP).

Street vegetable stall in the city of Chennai (Tamil Nadu State). The vast majority of retail trade in India is disorganized.

However, the issue of access to employment is becoming a major issue. The number of jobs in the country decreased by 9 million between 2012 and 2019, while more than 1 million young people enter the labor market each year. As a result, the number of unemployed under the age of 29 went from 9 million in 2012 to 25 million in 2018, according to official statistics. On the other hand, 90% of jobs in India continue to be in the informal sector, characterized by the absence of employment contracts, insurance and pension contributions. The situation of peasants is also worrying. Every day, farmers commit suicide, riddled with debt; others are forced to abandon their plots of land and move to slums.

Despite its impressive economic growth in recent decades, India still contains the highest concentration of poor people in the world and has a high rate of malnutrition among children under three (46% in 2007). The percentage of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of $1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms Rp. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rp. 14, 3 in rural areas) fell from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005 Despite India's avoidance of famines in recent decades, half of all children are underweight the world average, one of the highest rates highest in the world and almost double the rate in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the fact that the Indian economy has grown steadily over the past two decades, this growth has been uneven, especially when comparing the quality of life in different social and economic groups, in various geographic regions and in rural and urban areas. The World Bank states that the highest priorities for the Indian government should be public sector reform, infrastructure construction, agricultural and rural development, removal of labor standards, reforms in the most backward states and the fight against HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.

Rice field in Tamilnadu

In recent years, extreme weather events, with recurring droughts, heat waves and cyclones, have been a major factor in declining farmers' incomes. According to the Center for Science and Environment, India's largest environmental NGO: "We are facing an agricultural crisis, with a wave of farmer suicides and peasant demonstrations tripling. The parties do not have the intelligence or the long-term vision to take the necessary measures. There is no comprehensive national action plan for prevention and adaptation.

The GDP calculation method was changed in 2014, which allowed growth figures to be artificially inflated. The unemployment rate is so high that the Ministry of Labor has not provided any statistics since 2016. The banking and railway sectors have begun to be privatized. In recent years, the already very low budgets for health and education (1.2% and 0.6% of GDP, respectively) have been reduced, as have other social expenses: employment subsidies, allowances for school canteens, plans access to drinking water. Regarding the issue of labor law, the amendments approved in 2018 further restrict union activities and will tend to facilitate dismissals and extend the weekly work hours of employees.

India is characterized by great social inequality. The richest 1% of the population earns more than 20% of the total national income in 2021, while the poorest 50% only earns 13% of the total national income. India is currently among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the ''Global Inequality Report 2022'', which rates India as a 'country poor and very unequal with a wealthy elite''.

Demographics

Map of population density in India.

With an estimated population of over 1.39 billion, India is the second most populous country in the world. The last fifty years have seen a rapid increase in the urban population due in large part to medical advances and the massive increase in agricultural productivity from the green revolution. India's urban population increased eleven times during the 20th century and is increasingly concentrated in large cities. In 2001 there were 35 cities with more than one million inhabitants, while the three largest cities (Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta) each had more than ten million inhabitants. However, in that same year more than 70% of India's population resided in rural areas.

India has also suffered from the effects of emigration. Crowds of Indian citizens have left for more developed countries to seek better living conditions, at the same time that British colonizers have used Indian laborers to repopulate other colonies of the British Empire. In countries like the United States, Canada, Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and, above all, the United Kingdom, there are numerous Indian communities, which in cities like New York or London are even grouped into specific neighborhoods.

Women attending a literacy class in Thiruputkuzhi.

More than 800 million Indians (80.5% of the population) are Hindus. Other religious groups with a presence in the country are: Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha'is and others. Adivasi make up 8.1% of the population. India has the third largest Muslim population in the world and has the largest Muslim population for a non-Muslim majority country.

India's literacy rate is 64.8% (53.7% for women and 75.3% for men). The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate at 91%, while Bihar has the lowest at just 47%. The masculinity ratio in India is 944 women for every 1,000 men. The average age is 24.9 years, while the population growth rate is 1.38% per year: each year there are 22.01 births per 1,000 people. According to the World Health Organization, 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking bad water and inhaling polluted air. Malaria is endemic in India. There are about 60 doctors for every 100,000 people in India.

Languages

India is the second most culturally, linguistically and genetically diverse geographic entity in the world, after the African continent. India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by approximately 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by approximately 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burmese language families.

According to the 1991 census, Hindi has the largest number of speakers, spoken by 40% of the Indian population, and is the official language of the republic. English (see Indian English) is widely used in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language;" it is also important in education, especially as a means of higher learning. In addition, each state and union territory has its own official languages, and the Constitution also recognizes as official 21 other languages that are either spoken by a significant section of the population, or are part of India's historical heritage and are called "classical languages". While Sanskrit and Tamil have been considered "classical languages" for many years, the Indian government has also granted "classical language" to Kanada and Telugu using their own criteria. Other widely spoken languages are Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil, among others. The number of dialects in India reaches more than 1652.

Demographic evolution

Demographic developments in India.

• 1951: 361 million
• 1961: 439 million.
• 1971: 548 million.
• 1981: 683 million.
• 1991: 846 million.
• 2001: 1028 million.
• 2011: 1210 million.

Religion

The 2011 census reported that the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remainder were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and others (0.9%). India has the largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian and Baha'i population. In addition, it has the third largest Muslim population, the largest for a country with a non-Muslim majority. According to a study published in 2022, in 2010 there were 40,000 Christian believers who had converted from Islam.

Main cities

Culture

In this painting by Raya Ravi Varma (1848-1906), there are several types of saris, traditional Indian clothing.

The culture of India is marked by a high degree of syncretism and pluralism. Indians have managed to preserve their previously established traditions while absorbing new customs, traditions and ideas from invaders and immigrants at the same time that extend their cultural influence to other parts of Asia, mainly Indochina and the Far East.

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Traditional Indian society is defined by a relatively strict social hierarchy. The caste system of India describes social stratification and restrictions on the Indian subcontinent, further defining social classes by thousands of hereditary endogamous groups, often referred to as jatis or castes..

Marriage and Divorce

Traditional values of Indian families are highly respected and the multigenerational and patriarchal family model has been the most common for centuries, although recently the nuclear family is becoming the model to be followed by the urban population. An overwhelming majority of Indians have their marriages arranged by their parents and other respected family members, with the consent of the bride and groom. Marriage is planned for life, so the divorce rate it is extremely low. Child marriage is still a common practice, with half of women in India getting married before the legal age of 18.

Clothing

Traditional Indian clothing varies in colors and styles from region to region and depends on various factors, including climate. Popular styles of dress include simple garments such as the sari for women and the dhoti for men; Other garments such as the salwar kameez for women and kurta-pajamas, European-style pants and shirts for men, are also popular.

Holidays and celebrations

Many of the Indian celebrations have a religious origin, although some are celebrated regardless of caste or creed. Some of the most popular holidays in the country are: Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Christmas and Vesak. Apart from these, India has three national holidays: the Republic Day, Diwali and Gandhi Jayanti. Another series of holidays, varying between nine and twelve days, are officially celebrated in each of the states of the republic. Religious practices are an integral part of daily life and are a matter of public concern. Normally these festivals tend to be a magnet for tourism, but the inhabitants remain faithful to the traditions.

Gastronomy

Indian species in the Mapusa market in Goa.

Indian cuisine features a heavy reliance on herbs and spices, with dishes often making subtle use of a dozen or more different seasonings; the country's cuisine is also known for its tandoori. In the tandoor, a clay oven used in India for 5,000 years, the meat remains with an "uncommon succulence" and it is possible to make the puffed flatbread known as naan. The staple foods are wheat (mainly in the north of the country), rice (especially in the south and east) and lentils. Many popular spices around the world originate from the Indian subcontinent, while capsicum, which is native to the Americas and was introduced by the Portuguese, is widely used by local people. Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine, uses six rasas and three gunas to help describe eatables. Over time, as animal sacrifices made by the Vedics were supplanted by the notion of the inviolable sacredness of the cow, vegetarianism was associated with a high religious level and became increasingly popular, a trend aided by the rise of Buddhist, Jain and bhakti norms. i> Hindus. India has the highest concentration of vegetarians in the world: a real consultation zada in 2006 found that 31% of Indians were lactovegetarians and another 9% were ovovegetarians. Among the most traditional and common eating customs are meals made near or on the ground, meals segregated by caste and gender, and the from the right hand or from a piece of roti (type of bread) instead of cutlery.

Arts

The Taj Mahal in Agra was built by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Page Majabharatawhich represents the mythical war of Kurukshetra.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji station in Bombay is a clear example of the mix between European and Indian architecture. It was declared a heritage of humanity in 2004.

Elefanta's caves were chosen World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987.

Indian architecture also varies widely regionally, as well as containing Buddhist, Muslim, and European influences. The stupa, open-air pagoda, gopuram, and sikhara are the most common types of Indian architecture. Famous buildings in India, such as the Taj Mahal, encourage the development of tourism in the country.

Indian music covers a wide range of regional traditions and styles. To a large extent, Indian classical music encompasses two major genres: Carnatic music, found mainly in the southern part of the country, and Hindustani classical music, generally developed in the north. The musical instruments typical of Indian music can be divided into classical, folk and foreign.

Like music, Indian dance also has various folk and classical forms. Among the best-known Indian dances are the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the chhau of West Bengal, the jharkhand and the sambalpuri of Orissa and the ghoomar of Rajasthan. Eight dance forms, many with narrative and mythological elements, have been recognized with classical dance status by the Indian National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam from the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak from Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam from Kerala, kuchipudi from Andhra Pradesh, manipuri from Manipur, odissi from Orissa and the sattriya from Assam.

Theatre in India often incorporates music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. The plays are often based on stories drawn from Hindu mythology, but also deal with more mundane themes such as epic romance stories. medieval and the news of recent social and political events.

The Indian film industry is the largest in the world. Bollywood, a neighborhood located in the city of Mumbai where Hindi-language films and commercials are made, has become the center of the most prolific film industry in the world, and its importance has recently been equaled with that of Hollywood. Traditional and commercial films are also made in areas where Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu are official languages.

The earliest works of Indian literature were originally transmitted orally, and centuries later were collected in written form. These works include texts from Sanskrit literature—such as the early Vedas, the epics Majabhárata and Ramaiana, the drama Abhijñanasakuntalam ('the recognition of Sakúntala') and poetry such as the Majakavia — and texts from Sangam literature in Tamil. Among the major contemporary Indian writers stands out Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

Sports

A Premier League match from India, between Chennai's Super Kings team and Calcutta's Knight Riders.

Officially, the national sport of India is field hockey, which is administered by the Hockey Federation of India. The Indian field hockey team won the 1975 World Championship, claiming eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games.

However, the most popular sport in the country is cricket. The India national cricket team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup and the 2007 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, as well as sharing the 2002 ICC Champions trophy with Sri Lanka. Cricket in India is administered by the Cricket Control Commission in India, and domestic competitions include the Ranji Cup, Duleep Cup, Deodhar Cup, Iranian Cup, and Challenger Series. The main T20 cricket league is the Indian Premier League.

Recently, tennis has become more popular, due to the victories of the Indian team in the Davis Cup. Football is also a very popular sport in North East India, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala. The India national football team has won the South Asian Football Federation Cup several times, but has failed to achieve either continental or world potential. Chess, which is commonly said to have originated in India, has also been gaining popularity with the increase in the number of Indian Grandmasters. Traditional sports include kabaddi, kho kho, and gilli-danda, which are practiced nationally. India is also home to many ancient martial arts, such as kalaripayatu and kalai varma.

In India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards are the most prestigious awards given for achievement in sports, while the Dronacharya Award is given for excellence in coaching. India hosted or co-hosted the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games, the 1987 and 1996 Cricket World Cup, it also hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 Cricket World Cup.