INDIA…..

MERA DESH BHARAT MAHAN —-

(Akshay Kumar Sahoo, Orissa)

Population: 1,147,995,898

 

Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent

about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants

created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4^th

and 3rd centuries B.C. – which reached its zenith under ASHOKA –

united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta

dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science,

art, and culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and

Turkic in the 12th were followed by those of European traders,

beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain

had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian

armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars.

Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI

and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent

was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim

state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971

resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh.

India‘s nuclear weapons testing in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct

its own tests that same year. The dispute between the countries

over the state of Kashmir is ongoing, but discussions and

confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions

since 2002. Despite impressive gains in economic investment

and output, India faces pressing problems such as significant

overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty,

and ethnic and religious strife.

 

·  Geography

·  People

·  Government

·  Economy

·  Communications

·  Transportation

·  Military

 

Dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important

Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga, third

tallest mountain in the world, lies on the border with Nepal.

 

Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea

and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

Geographic coordinates: 20 00 N, 77 00 E

Area: total: 3,287,590 sq km
land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq kmSize comparison: slightly more

than one-third the size of the US

Land Boundaries: total: 14,103 km
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km,

Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

Coastline: 7,000 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Terrain: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to

rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in nort

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

Natural resources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore,

manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds,

petroleum, limestone, arable land

Land use: arable land: 48.83%
permanent crops: 2.8%
other: 48.37% (2005)

Irrigated land: 558,080 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards: droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread

and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms;

earthquakes

Current Environment Issues: deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing;

desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions;

water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides;

tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population

is overstraining natural resources

International Environment Agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental

Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,

Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered

Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,

Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,

Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Population: 1,147,995,898 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 31.5% (male 189,238,487/female 172,168,306)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 374,157,581/female 352,868,003)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,285,796/female 31,277,725) (2008 est.)

Median age: total: 25.1 years
male: 24.7 years
female: 25.5 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.578% (2008 est.)

Birth rate: 22.22 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female
total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 32.31 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 36.94 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 27.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.25 years
male: 66.87 years
female: 71.9 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.76 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate: 0.9% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS – people living with HIV/AIDS: 5.1 million (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS – deaths: 310,000 (2001 est.)

Nationality: noun: Indian(s)
adjective: Indian

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and

other 3% (2000)

Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%,

other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

Languages: Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%,

Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%,

Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%

note: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language

for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national

language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other

official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati,

Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi,

and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken

widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 61%
male: 73.4%
female: 47.8% (2001 census)

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of India
conventional short form: India
local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
local short form: India/Bharat

Government type: federal republic

Capital: name: New Delhi
geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E
time difference: UTC+5.5

(10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions: 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, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura,

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK)

National holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950)

Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times

Legal system: based on English common law; judicial review of

legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations;

separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Pratibha PATIL (since 25 July 2007);

Vice President Hamid ANSARI (since 11 August 2007)
head of government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH (since 22 May 2004)
cabinet: Cabinet 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 (no term limits); election last held

21 July 2007 (next to be held in July 2012); vice president elected

by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held

12 August 2002 (next to be held August 2007); prime minister chosen

by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections;

election last held April – May 2004 (next to be held May 2009)
election results: Pratibha PATIL elected president; percent of vote – 65.8%;

Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT – 34.2%

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 whom 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 20 April through 10 May 2004

(next must be held by May 2009)
election results: People’s Assembly – percent of vote by party – NA;

seats by party – INC 147, BJP 129, CPI (M) 43, SP 38, RJD 23, DMK 16,

BSP 15, SS 12, BJD 11, CPI 10, NCP 10, JD (U) 8, SAD 8, PMK 6, JMM 5,

LJSP 4, MDMK 4, TDP 4, TRS 4, independent 6, other 29, vacant 13;

note – seats by party as of December 2006

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (one chief justice and 25 associate

justices are appointed by the president and remain in office until they

reach the age of 65 or are removed for “proved misbehavior”)

Political parties and leaders: Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI];

Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Rajnath SINGH]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD

[Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI

[Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M

[Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK [M. KARUNANIDHI];

Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal

(United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADAV]; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM

[Shibu SOREN]; Left Front (an alliance of Indian leftist parties);

Lok Jan Shakti Party or LJSP [Ram Vilas PASWAN];

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK

[V. Gopalswamy VAIKO]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP

[Sharad PAWAR]; Pattali Makkal Katchi or PMK [S. RAMADOSS];

Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV];

Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV];

Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL];

Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telangana Rashtriya

Samithi or TRS [K. Chandrashekhar RAO]; Telugu Desam

Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; United Progressive

Alliance or UPA [Sonia GANDHI] (India’s ruling party

coalition of 12 political parties); note – India has dozens

of national and regional political parties; only parties or

coalitions with four or more seats in the People’s Assembly are listed

Political pressure groups and leaders: All Parties Hurriyat

Conference in the Kashmir Valley (separatist group); Bajrang Dal

(religious organization); National Socialist Council of Nagaland

in the northeast (separatist group); Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

(religious organization); Vishwa Hindu Parishad (religious organization
other: numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations;

various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy

International organization participation: ADB, AfDB (nonregional members),

ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, C, CERN (observer), CP, EAS,

FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC,

IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU,

ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS (observer), MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS

(observer), OPCW, PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO

(observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO,

UNIFIL, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL,

WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador

Ranendra SEN
chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008;

note – Consular Wing located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1]  (202) 939-7000 
FAX: [1] (202) 265-4351
consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission:

Ambassador David C. MULFORD
embassy: Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [91] (011) 2419-8000
FAX: [91] (11) 2419-0017
consulate(s) general: Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay)

Executive branch: chief of state: President Pratibha PATIL

(since 25 July 2007); Vice President Hamid ANSARI

(since 11 August 2007) head of government: Prime Minister

Manmohan SINGH (since 22 May 2004) cabinet: Cabinet

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 (no term limits); election

last held 21 July 2007 (next to be held in July 2012); vice

president elected by both houses of Parliament for a

five-year term; election last held 12 August 2002

(next to be held August 2007); prime minister chosen

by parliamentary members of the majority party

following legislative elections; election last held April –

May 2004 (next to be held May 2009) election results:

Pratibha PATIL elected president; percent of vote – 65.8%;

Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT – 34.2%

 

India‘s diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming,

modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries,

and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of

economic growth, accounting for more than half of India’s output

with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the

work force is in agriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance

(UPA) government to articulate an economic reform program that

includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the

rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has

reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Higher limits on

foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors,

such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitive

categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on

economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India’s vast and

growing market. Privatization of government-owned industries

remains stalled and continues to generate political debate; populist

pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front

allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has

posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade

since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India

achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, and again in 2007, significantly

expanding production of manufactures. India is capitalizing on its

large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language

to become a major exporter of software services and software workers.

Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress

in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth combined

with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation

concerns in 2006 and 2007, leading to a series of central bank

interest rate hikes that have slowed credit growth and eased

inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental

social, economic, and environmental problem.

GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.989 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate): $1.099 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP – real growth rate: 9.2% (2007 est.)

GDP – per capita (PPP): $2,700 (2007 est.)

GDP – composition by sector: agriculture: 17.6%
industry: 29.4%
services: 52.9% (2007 est.)

Labor force: 516.4 million (2007 est.)

Labor force – by occupation: agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003)

Unemployment rate: 7.2% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line: 25% (2007 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.6%
highest 10%: 31.1% (2004)

Distribution of family income – Gini index: 36.8 (2004)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.4% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 34.6% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget: revenues: $141.8 billion
expenditures: $178.3 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt: 58% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2007 est.)

Agriculture – products: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane,

potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish

Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel,

transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software

Industrial production growth rate: 8.9% (2007 est.)

Electricity – production: 661.6 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity – consumption: 488.5 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity – exports: 67 million kWh (2005)

Electricity – imports: 1.764 billion kWh (2005)

Oil – production: 834,600 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil – consumption: 2.438 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil – exports: 350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil – imports: 2.098 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil – proved reserves: 5.7 billion bbl (2007 est.)

Natural gas – production: 28.68 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas – consumption: 34.47 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas – exports: 0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas – imports: 5.793 billion cu m (2005)

Natural gas – proved reserves: 1.056 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance: -$19.35 billion (2007 est.)

Exports: $150.8 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports – commodities: petroleum products, textile goods, gems

and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures

Exports – partners: US 15.1%, UAE 8.8%, China 8.4%, UK 4.3% (2006)

Imports: $230.2 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports – commodities: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals

Imports – partners: China 10.5%, US 7.8%, Germany 4.5%, Singapore 4.5%

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $275 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt – external: $148.1 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment – at home: $95.28 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment – abroad: $37.62 billion (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares: $818.9 billion (2006)

Currency (code): Indian rupee (INR)

Exchange rates: Indian rupees per US dollar – 41.487 (2007),

45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003)

Fiscal year: 1 April – 31 March

Telephones in use: 49.75 million (2005)

Cellular Phones in use: 233.62 million (2007)

Telephone system: general assessment: recent deregulation

and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have

prompted rapid growth; local and long distance service provided

throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily

concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking

place with the recent admission of private and private-public

investors, but combined fixed and mobile telephone density

remains low at about 20 for each 100 persons nationwide and

much lower for persons in rural areas; fastest growth is in cellular

service with modest growth in fixed lines
domestic: mobile cellular service introduced in 1994 and organized

nationwide into four metropolitan areas and 19 telecom circles each

with about three private service providers and one state-owned service

provider; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the

form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world’s largest domestic

satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT),

with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)
international: country code – 91; a number of major international

submarine cable systems, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites

at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with a landing site

at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with a landing

site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa – Far East (SAFE) with a

landing site at Cochin, the i2i cable network linking to Singapore

with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras),

and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras),

provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both

voice and data traffic; satellite earth stations – 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)

and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating

from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras),

Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam

Radio broadcast stations: AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998)

Television broadcast stations: 562 (1997)

Internet country code: .in

Internet hosts: 2.306 million (2007)

Internet users: 60 million (2005)

Airports: 346 (2007)

Airports (paved runways): total: 250
over 3,047 m: 18
2,438 to 3,047 m: 52
1,524 to 2,437 m: 75
914 to 1,523 m: 84
under 914 m: 21 (2007)

Airports (unpaved runways): total: 96
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 40
under 914 m: 47 (2007)

Heliports: 30 (2007)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 9 km; gas 7,488 km; liquid petroleum

gas 1,861 km; oil 7,883 km; refined products 6,422 km (2007)

Railways: total: 63,221 km
broad gauge: 46,807 km 1.676-m gauge (17,343 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 13,290 km 1.000-m gauge (165 km electrified);

3,124 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2006)

Roadways: total: 3,383,344 km
paved: 1,603,705 km
unpaved: 1,779,639 km (2002)

Waterways: 14,500 km
note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on

canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2006)

Merchant marine: total: 493 ships (1000 GRT or over) 8,272,533

GRT/14,117,658 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 104, cargo 232, carrier 1, chemical tanker 19,

container 12, liquefied gas 19, passenger 3, passenger/cargo 11,

petroleum tanker 91, roll on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 12 (China 1, Hong Kong 1, UAE 8, UK 2)
registered in other countries: 59 (Barbados 1, Comoros 2, Cyprus 1,

Dominica 2, Gibraltar 1, Liberia 2, Malta 3, Panama 29, Singapore 10,

St Kitts and Nevis 1, St Vincent and the Grenadines 6, unknown 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals: Chennai, Haldia, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla,

Kolkata (Calcutta), Mormugao, Mumbai (Bombay), New Mangalore,

Vishakhapatnam

Military branches: Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force,

Coast Guard

Military service age and obligation: 16 years of age for voluntary

military service; no conscription (2008)

Manpower available for military service: males age 16-49:

301,094,084 females age 16-49: 283,047,141 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service: males age

16-49: 231,161,111 females age 16-49: 236,633,962 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures – percent of GDP: 2.5% (2006)

 

Thanks …my friend…Amudy..