India
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This article is about the Republic of India. For other uses, see India
(disambiguation).
"Bharat" redirects here. For other uses, see Bharat (disambiguation).

Republic of India

Bhārat Gaṇarājya
(see other local names)

Flag

State emblem

Motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)

"Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]

Anthem: "Jana Gana Mana"[2][3]

"Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[4][2]

National song
"Vande Mataram" (Sanskrit)
"I Bow to Thee, Mother"[a][1][2]
 Area controlled by India shown in dark green;
regions claimed but not controlled shown in light green

Capital New Delhi

28°36′50″N 77°12′30″E

Largest city Mumbai (city proper)

Delhi (metropolitan area)

Hindi
Official languages
English[b][7]
Recognised None[8][9][10]
national languages
Recognised
State level and
regional languages
Eighth Schedule[11]

Indigenous 447 languages[c]

Languages

Religion  79.8% Hinduism
(2011) 14.2% Islam
2.3% Christianity
1.7% Sikhism
0.7% Buddhism
0.4% Jainism
0.23% Unaffiliated
0.65% others[14]
See Religion in India

Demonym(s) Indian

Membership UN, WTO, BRICS, SAARC, SCO, G4
nations, Group of
 Five, G8+5, G20, Commonwealth of
Nations

Government Federal parliamentary constitutional republic

• President Ram Nath Kovind

• Vice President Venkaiah Naidu
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde
• Speaker of the Lok Om Birla
Sabha
• Deputy Chairman of Harivansh Narayan Singh
the Rajya Sabha

Legislature Parliament

• Upper house Rajya Sabha

• Lower house Lok Sabha

Independence 
from the United Kingdom
• Dominion 15 August 1947
• Republic 26 January 1950

Area
• Total 3,287,263[2] km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)[d] (7th)
• Water (%) 9.6

Population
• 2018 estimate 1,352,642,280[15][16] (2nd)

• 2011 census 1,210,854,977[17][18] (2nd)
• Density 406.9/km2 (1,053.9/sq mi) (19th)

GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate
• Total  $12.363 trillion[19] (3rd)

• Per capita  $9,027[19] (118th)

GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate
• Total  $3.202 trillion[19] (5th)

• Per capita  $2,338[19] (139th)

Gini (2013) 33.9[20]
medium · 79th

HDI (2018)  0.647[21]
medium · 129th

Currency Indian rupee (₹) (INR)

 Time zone UTC+05:30 (IST)
DST is not observed

Date format dd-mm-yyyy[e]

Mains electricity 230 V–50 Hz

Driving side left[22]

Calling code +91

ISO 3166 code IN

Internet TLD .in (others)

India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[23] is a country

in South Asia. It is the second-most populous country, the seventh-largest country by
area, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian
Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on
the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;[f] China, Nepal,
and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian
Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and
Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000
years ago.[24] Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-
gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in
human genetic diversity.[25] Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western
margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus
Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE.[26] By 1200 BCE, an archaic
form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the
northwest, unfolding as the language of the Rigveda, and recording the dawning
of Hinduism in India.[27] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the
northern regions.[28] By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged
within Hinduism,[29] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social
orders unlinked to heredity.[30] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-
knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.[31] Their
collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity,[32] but also marked by the
declining status of women,[33] and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised
system of belief.[g][34] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-
languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[35]
In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism put down
roots on India's southern and western coasts.[36] Muslim armies from Central
Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,[37] eventually establishing the Delhi
Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval
Islam.[38] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting
composite Hindu culture in south India.[39] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting
institutionalised religion.[40] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of
relative peace,[41] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[h][42] Gradually
expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a
colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.[43] British Crown rule began
in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,[44] but technological
changes were introduced, and ideas of education, modernity and the public life took
root.[45] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted
for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule.[46] In
1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a
Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid
large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.[47][48]
India has been a secular federal republic since 1950, governed in a
democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic
society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to 1,211 million in 2011.
[49]
 During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64
annually to US$1,498, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a
comparatively destitute country in 1951,[50] India has become a fast-growing major
economy, a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class.
[51]
 It has a space programme which includes several planned or
completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings
play an increasing role in global culture.[52] India has substantially reduced its rate of
poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality.[53] India is a nuclear
weapons state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes
over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th
century.[54] Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender
inequality, child malnutrition,[55] and rising levels of air pollution.[56] India's land
is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots.[57] Its forest cover comprises 21.4% of
its area.[58] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's
culture,[59] is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
o 2.1Ancient India
o 2.2Medieval India
o 2.3Early modern India
o 2.4Modern India
 3Geography
 4Biodiversity
 5Politics and government
o 5.1Politics
o 5.2Government
o 5.3Administrative divisions
 6Foreign, economic and strategic relations
 7Economy
o 7.1Industries
o 7.2Socio-economic challenges
 8Demographics, languages, and religion
 9Culture
o 9.1Art, architecture and literature
o 9.2Performing arts and media
o 9.3Society
 o 9.4Clothing
o 9.5Cuisine
o 9.6Sports and recreation
 10See also
 11Notes
 12References
 13Bibliography
 14External links

Etymology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (Third Edition 2009), the name "India" is
derived from the Classical Latin India, a reference to South Asia and an uncertain
region to its east; and in turn derived successively from: Hellenistic
Greek India ( Ἰνδία); ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός); Old Persian Hindush, an eastern
province of the Achaemenid empire; and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu,
or "river," specifically the Indus river and, by implication, its well-settled southern
basin.[60][61] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which
translates as "The people of the Indus".[62]
The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ( listen)), mentioned in both Indian epic
poetry and the Constitution of India,[63][64] is used in its variations by many Indian
languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied
originally to a region of the Gangetic Valley,[65][66] Bharat gained increased currency
from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[63][67]
Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ( listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India, introduced
during the Mughal Empire and used widely since. Its meaning has varied, referring to
a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its
near entirety.[63][67][68]

History
Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India
Ancient India

(Top) A pre-14th century CE manuscript of the Rigveda, which was composed from 1500 BCE to 1200
BCE and subsequently orally transmitted. (Bottom) The "Battle at Lanka," a scene from the Sanskrit
epic Ramayana—composed between 700 BCE and 200 CE—was illustrated by Sahibdin, an artist of the
17th century.

By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or Homo sapiens, had arrived on the
Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[69][70][71] The earliest
known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[72] After
6500 BCE, evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of
permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and
other sites in what is now Balochistan.[73] These gradually developed into the Indus
Valley Civilisation,[74][73] the first urban culture in South Asia,[75] which flourished during
2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India.[76] Centred around cities
such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied
forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-
ranging trade.[75]
During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned
from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[77] The Vedas, the oldest
scriptures associated with Hinduism,[78] were composed during this period,[79] and
historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the
upper Gangetic Plain.[77] Most historians also consider this period to have
encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the
north-west.[78] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and
free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations
impure, arose during this period.[80] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence
from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.
[77]
 In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number
of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[81] as well as by nearby traces of
agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[81]
Clockwise from upper left: (a) A map of the rough extent of the empire of Ashoka, ca 250 BCE; (b) The
map of India, ca 350 CE; (c) Cave 26 of the rock-cut Ajanta Caves, fifth century CE

In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms
of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major
oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[82][83] The
emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which
became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its
exemplar, Mahavira.[84] Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha,
attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the
life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India.[85][86][87] In
an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,
[88]
 and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century
BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as
the Mauryan Empire.[89] The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the
subcontinent except the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been
separated by large autonomous areas.[90][91] The Mauryan kings are known as much
for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's
renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[92][93]
The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and
200 CE, the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and
the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and
with West and South-East Asia.[94][95] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal
control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[96][89] By the 4th
and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration
and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later
Indian kingdoms.[97][98] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion,
rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself.[99] This renewal was
reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an
urban elite.[98] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian
science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[98]
Medieval India
(left) A map of India in 1022 CE; (right) Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, completed in 1010 CE

The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms
and cultural diversity.[100] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-
Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was
defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[101] When his successor attempted to
expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[101] When the
Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by
the Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and
the Cholas from still farther south.[101] No ruler of this period was able to create an
empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.[100] During this
time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing
agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-
traditional ruling classes.[102] The caste system consequently began to show regional
differences.[102]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil
language.[103] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of
Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.
[103]
 Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in
great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well.[104] Temple
towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another
urbanisation.[104] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia,
as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became
part of modern-
day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Java.
[105]
 Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this
transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in
Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.[105]

(left) India in 1398 CE, during the Delhi Sultanate (marked "Afghan empire" in the map); (right) The Qutub
Minar, 73 metres (240 ft) tall, completed by the Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish

After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-
horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly
overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of
the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[106] The sultanate was to control much of North
India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the
Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its
own laws and customs.[107][108] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th
century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central
Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men,
mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby
creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.[109][110] The sultanate's raiding and
weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the
indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[111] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and
building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control
much of peninsular India,[112] and was to influence South Indian society for long
afterwards.[111]
Early modern India

Clockwise from upper left: (a) India in 1525 at the onset of Mughal rule; (b) India in 1605 during the rule
of Akbar; (c) A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort

In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,[113] fell
again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian
warriors.[114] The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came
to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices[115]
[116]
 and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[117] leading to more systematic, centralised,
and uniform rule.[118] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially
under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed
through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[117] The
Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[119] and
mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[120] caused
peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[118] The relative peace maintained by
the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic
expansion,[118] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles,
and architecture.[121] Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such
as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions
during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both
recognition and military experience.[122] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave
rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and
eastern India.[122] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to
seek and control their own affairs.[123]
Clockwise from top left: (a) India under British East India Company rule in 1795; (b) India in 1848; (c) A
two mohur gold coin issued by the Company in 1835 with the bust of William IV, King on the obverse, and
the face value in English and Persian, on the reverse

By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance
being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the
English East India Company, had established coastal outposts.[124][125] The East India
Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military
training and technology led it to increasingly flex its military muscle and caused it to
become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in
allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline
the other European companies.[126][124][127][128] Its further access to the riches of Bengal
and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annexe or
subdue most of India by the 1820s.[129] India was then no longer exporting
manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with
raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.
[124]
 By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament
and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the company
began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas like education, social reform,
and culture.[130]
Modern India
Main article: History of the Republic of India

1909 map of the British Indian Empire

Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and
1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East
India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These
included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the
population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them,
railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction
in Europe.[131][132][133][134] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this
time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and
perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and
summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many
regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule.[135]
[136]
 Although the rebellion was suppressed by 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.[137][138] In the decades following, public life gradually
emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National
Congress in 1885.[139][140][141][142]
The rush of technology and the commercialisation 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 far-away markets.[143] There was an increase in
the number of large-scale famines,[144] and, despite the risks of infrastructure
development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated
for Indians.[145] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in
the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal
consumption.[146] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[147] notably reduced
the cost of moving goods,[147] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[146]

Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mumbai, 6 July 1946

After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[148] 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 nonviolent movement of
non-co-operation, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the
leader and enduring symbol.[149] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was
enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting
elections.[150] The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World
War II, the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim
nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered
by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.[151]
Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in
1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic.[152] It has remained a
democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent
press.[153] Economic liberalisation, which began in the 1990s, has created a large
urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing
economies,[154] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual
teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[153] Yet, India is also shaped by
seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[153] by religious and caste-related
violence;[155] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[156] and by separatism in Jammu
and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[157] It has unresolved territorial disputes
with China[158] and with Pakistan.[158] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique
among the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic
successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to
be achieved.[159]

Geography
Main article: Geography of India

India's orographical features include the Ganges and Indus plains, the Western and Eastern Ghats,

the Thar desert, the Aravalli hills, and Satpura and Vindhya ranges.

The average onset dates and wind directions during India's southwest summer monsoon
 Fishing boats are moored and lashed together during an approaching monsoon storm whose dark clouds
can be seen overhead. The scene is a tidal creek in Anjarle, a coastal village in Maharashtra.

India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic
plate, a part of the Indo-Australian Plate.[160] India's defining geological processes
began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern
supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor
spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[160] Simultaneously, the
vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian
Plate.[160] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both
created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to
under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[160] Immediately south of the
emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with
river-borne sediment[161] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[162] Cut off from
the plain by the ancient Aravalli Range lies the Thar Desert.[163]
The original Indian Plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically
most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges
in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in
the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[164] To the
south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the
west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats;[165] the
plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years
old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′
and 35° 30′ north latitude[i] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.[166]
India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance,
5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres
(1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains.[167] According to
the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the
following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and
46% mudflats or marshy shores.[167]
Flowing near Hampi is the Tungabhadra river, a tributary of the peninsular Krishna river, which empties into
the Bay of Bengal. The circular shape of the coracle makes it stable in rivers with rocky outcrops.[168]

Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include

the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.
[169]
 Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's
extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods
and course changes.[170][171] Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent
their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and
the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[172] and the Narmada and
the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[173] Coastal features include the
marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern
India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh.[174] India has two archipelagos:
the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[175]
The Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both
of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons.
[176]
 The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in,
keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar
latitudes.[177][178] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden
south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the
majority of India's rainfall.[176] Four major climatic groupings predominate in
India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[179]

Biodiversity
Main articles: Forestry in India and Wildlife of India

A 1909 map showing India's forests, bush and small wood, cultivated lands, steppe, and desert

A 2010 map shows India's forest cover averaged out for each state.
 India has the majority of the world's wild tigers, nearly 3,000 in 2019,[180] Shown here is Maya, a Bengal
tigress of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra.

India is a megadiverse country, a term employed for 17 countries which display

high biological diversity and contain many species exclusively indigenous,
or endemic, to them.[181] India is a habitat for 8.6% of all mammal species, 13.7%
of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2%
of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[182][183] Fully a third of Indian
plant species are endemic.[184] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity
hotspots,[57] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high
endemism.[j][185]
India's forest cover is 701,673 km2 (270,917 sq mi), which is 21.35% of the country's
total land area. It can be subdivided further into broad categories of canopy density,
or the proportion of the area of a forest covered by its tree canopy.[186] Very dense
forest, whose canopy density is greater than 70%, occupies 2.61% of India's land
area.[186] It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands,
the Western Ghats, and Northeast India.[187] Moderately dense forest, whose canopy
density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.59% of India's land area.[186] It
predominates in the temperate coniferous forest of the Himalayas, the moist
deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous teak forest of central
and southern India.[187] Open forest, whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%,
occupies 9.14% of India's land area,[186] and predominates in the babul-
dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan Plateau and the western Gangetic
plain.[187]
Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are
the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural
Indian herbal medicine,[188] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul,[189] which is
displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[190] and under which the Buddha is
recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment,[191]
Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the
southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years
ago.[192] India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species.
However, volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many
endemic Indian forms.[193] Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through
two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas.[187] This had the effect of
lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting
with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians.[183] Notable endemics are
the vulnerable[194] hooded leaf monkey[195] and the threatened[196] Beddom's toad[196][197] of
the Western Ghats.

A Chital (Axis axis) stag attempts to browse in the Nagarhole National Park in a region covered by
a moderately dense[k] forest.[187]

India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of

endangered forms.[198] These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges
river dolphin. Critically endangered species include: the gharial, a crocodilian;
the great Indian bustard; and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which has become
nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[199] The
pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has
critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of national
parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In
1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act[200] and Project Tiger to safeguard
crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and
amendments added in 1988.[201] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife
sanctuaries and thirteen biosphere reserves,[202] four of which are part of the World
Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under
the Ramsar Convention.[203]

Politics and government

Politics
Main article: Politics of India

Social movements have long been a part of democracy in India. The picture shows a section of
25,000 landless people in the state of Madhya Pradesh listening to Rajagopal P. V. before their 350 km
(220 mi) march, Janadesh 2007, from Gwalior to New Delhi to publicise their demand for further land
reform in India.[204]

India is the world's most populous democracy.[205] A parliamentary republic with

a multi-party system,[206] it has eight recognised national parties, including the Indian
National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional
parties.[207] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political culture,[208] and the
BJP right-wing.[209][210][211] For most of the period between 1950—when India first
became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in the
parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with
the BJP,[212] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the
creation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[213]
In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962,
the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in
1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after
his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, who went on
to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971. Following public
discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was
voted out of power in 1977; the then-new Janata Party, which had opposed the
emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. Voted back into
power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira
Gandhi was assassinated; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an
easy victory in the general elections later that year. The Congress was voted out
again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in
alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; that government too proved relatively
short-lived, lasting just under two years.[214] Elections were held again in 1991; no
party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as the largest single party, was able
to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao.[215]
At the Parliament of India in New Delhi, US president Barack Obama is shown here addressing
the members of parliament of both houses, the lower, Lok Sabha, and the upper, Rajya Sabha, in a joint
session, 8 November 2010.

A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996. Several
short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government
briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United
Front coalitions, which depended on external support. In 1998, the BJP was able to
form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition government to
complete a five-year term.[216] Again in the 2004 Indian general elections, no party
won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party,
forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had
the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP. The UPA returned
to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, and it no longer
required external support from India's communist parties.[217] That year, Manmohan
Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to
be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term.[218] In the 2014 general election, the BJP
became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the
support of other parties.[219] The incumbent prime minister is Narendra Modi, a
former chief minister of Gujarat. On 20 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind was elected
India's 14th president and took the oath of office on 25 July 2017.[220][221][222]
Government
Main articles: Government of India and Constitution of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, was designed between 1911 and 1931
by British architects, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for the Viceroy of India during the British Raj.[223]

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of

India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic
and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority
rights protected by law". Federalism in India defines the power distribution between
the union and the states. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26
January 1950,[224] originally stated India to be a "sovereign, democratic republic;" this
characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic
republic".[225] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with
a strong centre and weak states,[226] has grown increasingly federal since the late
1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[227][228]

National symbols[1]

Flag Tiranga (Tricolour)

Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital

Language None[8][9][10]

Anthem Jana Gana Mana

Song "Vande Mataram"

Currency ₹ (Indian rupee)

Calendar Saka

Bengal tiger
Animal
River dolphin

Indian peafowl

Flower Lotus

Fruit Mango

Tree Banyan
 River Ganges

Game Not declared[229]

The Government of India comprises three branches:[230]

 Executive: The President of India is the

ceremonial head of state,[231] who is elected indirectly for
a five-year term by an electoral college comprising
members of national and state legislatures.[232]
[233]
 The Prime Minister of India is the head of
government and exercises most executive power.
[234]
 Appointed by the president,[235] the prime minister is by
convention supported by the party or political
alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of
parliament.[234] The executive of the Indian government
consists of the president, the vice president, and
the Union Council of Ministers—with the cabinet being
its executive committee—headed by the prime minister.
Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of
one of the houses of parliament.[231] In the Indian
parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to
the legislature; the prime minister and their council are
directly responsible to the lower house of the
parliament. Civil servants act as permanent executives
and all decisions of the executive are implemented by
them.[236]
 Legislature: The legislature of India is
the bicameral parliament. Operating under
a Westminster-style parliamentary system, it comprises
an upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of
States) and a lower house called the Lok Sabha (House
of the People).[237] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body
of 245 members who serve staggered six-year terms.
[238]
 Most are elected indirectly by the state and union
territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their
state's share of the national population.[235] All but two of
the Lok Sabha's 545 members are elected directly by
popular vote; they represent single-member
constituencies for five-year terms.[239] The remaining
two members are nominated by the president from
among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the
president decides they are not adequately represented.
[240]

 Judiciary: India has a three-tier unitary independent

judiciary[241] comprising the supreme court, headed by
the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large
number of trial courts.[241] The supreme court has original
jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and
over disputes between states and the centre and
 has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts.[242] It has
the power to both strike down union or state laws which
contravene the constitution,[243] and invalidate any
government action it deems unconstitutional.[244]
Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of India
See also: Political integration of India

A clickable map of the 28 states and 8 union territories of India

States (1–28) & Union territories (A–H)

 1. Andhra  19. Odisha
Pradesh  20. Punjab
 2. Arunachal  21. Rajasthan
Pradesh  22. Sikkim
 3. Assam  23. Tamil Nadu
 4. Bihar  24. Telangana
 5. Chhattisgarh  25. Tripura
 6. Goa  26. Uttar Pradesh
 7. Gujarat  27. Uttarakhand
 8. Haryana  28. West Bengal
 9. Himachal  A. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Pradesh
 B. Chandigarh
 10. Jharkhand
 C. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and
 11. Karnataka Diu
  12. Kerala
 13. Madhya
 D. Jammu and Kashmir
Pradesh
 E. Ladakh
 14. Maharashtra
 F. Lakshadweep
 15. Manipur
 G. National Capital Territory of Delhi
 16. Meghalaya
 H. Puducherry
 17. Mizoram
 18. Nagaland

India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories.[245] All states, as

well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National
Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the
Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly
ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under
the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[246] There
are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district
and village levels.[247]

Foreign, economic and strategic relations

Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces
During the 1950s and 60s, India played a pivotal role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[248] From left to
right: Gamal Abdel Nasser of United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Josip Broz
Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru in Belgrade, September 1961.

In the 1950s, India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a

leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[249] After initially cordial relations with
neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962, and was widely thought to
have been humiliated. India has had tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan; the
two nations have gone to war four times: in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three of
these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir, while the fourth, the
1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[250] In
the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host
country: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an
armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup d'état attempt in the Maldives. After the
1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with
the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.[251]
Aside from ongoing its special relationship with Russia,[252] India has wide-
ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, it has played key
roles in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade
Organization. The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to
serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in
the East Asia Summit, the G8+5, and other multilateral forums.[253] India has close
economic ties with South America,[254] Asia, and Africa; it pursues a "Look East"
policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan,
and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving
economic investment and regional security.[255][256]
The Indian Air Force contingent marching at the 221st Bastille Day military parade in Paris, on 14 July
2009. The parade at which India was the foreign guest was led by the India's oldest regiment, the Maratha
Light Infantry, founded in 1768.[257]

China's nuclear test of 1964, as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of

Pakistan in the 1965 war, convinced India to develop nuclear weapons.[258] India
conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional
underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has
signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.[259] India
maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability
as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.[260][261] It is developing
a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[262][263] Other
indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class
aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[264]
Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and
military co-operation with the United States and the European Union.[265] In 2008,
a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States.
Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic
Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on
India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the
sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[266] India subsequently signed co-operation
agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[267] France,[268] the United
Kingdom,[269] and Canada.[270]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India (left, background) in talks with President Enrique Peña Nieto of
Mexico during the former's visit to Mexico, June 2016

The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with
1.395 million active troops, they compose the world's second-largest military. It
comprises the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian
Coast Guard.[271] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or
1.83% of GDP.[272] For the fiscal year spanning 2012–2013, US$40.44 billion was
budgeted.[273] According to a 2008 Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI) report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing
power stood at US$72.7 billion.[274] In 2011, the annual defence budget increased by
11.6%,[275] although this does not include funds that reach the military through other
branches of government.[276] As of 2012, India is the world's largest arms importer;
between 2007 and 2011, it accounted for 10% of funds spent on international arms
purchases.[277] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against
Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[275] In May
2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite, a
gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[278] In October 2018, India signed
a US$5.43 billion (over ₹400 billion) agreement with Russia to procure four S-400
Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-
range missile defence system.[279]

Economy
Main article: Economy of India

Clockwise from top: (a) A farmer in northwestern Karnataka ploughs his field with a tractor even as another
in a field beyond does the same with a pair of oxen. In 2018, 44% of India's total workforce was employed
in agriculture.[280] (b) Women tend to a recently planted rice field in Junagadh district in Gujarat. 57% of
India's female workforce was employed in agriculture in 2018.[281] (c) India is the world's largest producer of
milk, with the largest population of cattle. In 2018, nearly 80% of India's milk was sourced from small farms
with herd size between one and two, the milk harvested by hand milking.[282]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2019 was

nominally worth $2.9 trillion; it is the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates,
and is around $11 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity, or PPP.[19] With
its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and
reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[283] India is one of the world's fastest-growing
economies.[284] However, the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per
capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP.[285] Until 1991, all Indian governments
followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics.
Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the
outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation
to liberalise its economy;[286] since then it has moved slowly towards a free-market
system[287][288] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[289] India
has been a member of WTO since 1 January 1995.[290]
The 513.7-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of
2016.[271] The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and
the agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$70 billion
in 2014, the largest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 25 million
Indians working in foreign countries.[291] Major agricultural products include: rice,
wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[245] Major industries include:
textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food
processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and
software.[245] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from
6% in 1985.[287] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[292] In 2011, India was
the world's tenth-largest importer and the nineteenth-largest exporter.[293] Major
exports include: petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering
goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.[245] Major imports include: crude
oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[245] Between 2001 and 2011, the
contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14%
to 42%.[294] India was the world's second largest textile exporter after China in the
2013 calendar year.[295]
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[287] India
has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st
century.[296] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle
classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[297] Though ranking 51st
in global competitiveness, as of 2010, India ranks 17th in financial market
sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th
in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies.[298] With seven of the world's top
15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009, the
country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the
United States.[299] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected
to become fifth-largest by 2030.[297] However, barely 2% of Indians pay income taxes.
[300]

Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$329 in

1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,265 in 2010, to an estimated
US$1,723 in 2016. It is expected to grow to US$2,358 by 2020.[19] However, it has
remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries like Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the
near future. Its GDP per capita is higher than Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal,
Afghanistan and others.[301]
A panorama of Bangalore, the centre of India's software development economy. In the 1980s, when the
first multinational corporations began to set up centres in India, they chose Bangalore because of the large
pool of skilled graduates in the area, in turn due to the many science and engineering colleges in the
surrounding region.[302]

According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at

purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[303] During
the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of
8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050.
[303]
 The report highlights key growth factors: a young and rapidly growing working-age
population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and
engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a
rapidly growing middle-class.[303] The World Bank cautions that, for India to achieve its
economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport
infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of labour
regulations, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.[304]
According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by the Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU) which was created by comparing more than 400 individual
prices across 160 products and services, four of the cheapest cities were in
India: Bangalore (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[305]
Industries

A tea garden in Sikkim. India, the world's second largest-producer of tea, is a nation of one billion tea
drinkers, who consume 70% of India's tea output.

India's telecommunication industry, the world's fastest-growing, added 227 million

subscribers during the period 2010–2011,[306] and after the third quarter of 2017, India
surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world
after China.[307]
The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased
domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[308] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.
[309]
 India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42
gigawatts is renewable.[310] At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed
2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5%
of Indian GDP, and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[311]
The pharmaceutical industry in India is among the significant emerging markets for
the global pharmaceutical industry. The Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to
reach $48.5 billion by 2020. India's R & D spending constitutes 60% of
the biopharmaceutical industry.[312][313] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in
the world.[314][315] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing
its revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at
June 2013 exchange rates).[316]
Socio-economic challenges

Female health workers about to begin another day of immunisation against infectious diseases in 2006.
Eight years later, and three years after India's last case of polio, the World Health Organization on 11
February 2014 declared India to be polio-free.[317]

Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-
economic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living
below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.[318] The
proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.[319] Under the World Bank's
later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[l][321] 30.7% of India's children under the
age of five are underweight.[322] According to a Food and Agriculture
Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[323][324] The Mid-
Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[325]
According to a 2016 Walk Free Foundation report there were an estimated
18.3 million people in India, or 1.4% of the population, living in the forms of modern
slavery, such as bonded labour, child labour, human trafficking, and forced begging,
among others.[326][327][328] According to the 2011 census, there were 10.1 million child
labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6 million from 12.6 million in 2001.[329]
Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the
per-capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that
of the poorest.[330] Corruption in India is perceived to have decreased. According to
the Corruption Perceptions Index, India ranked 78th out of 180 countries in 2018 with
a score of 41 out of 100, an improvement from 85th in 2014.[331][332]

Demographics, languages, and religion

Main articles: Demographics of India, Languages of India, and Religion in India
India by population density, religion, language
The population density of India by natural divisions, based on the Indian census of 1901

Population density of India by each state, based on the Indian census of 2011

The prevailing religions of South Asia based on district-wise majorities in the 1901 census

The language families of South Asia

With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[333] India
is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% from
2001 to 2011,[334] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).
[334]
 The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000
males.[333] The median age was 27.6 as of 2016.[271] The first post-colonial census,
conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[335] Medical advances made in the last
50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green
Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly.[336]
The average life expectancy in India is at 68 years—69.6 years for women, 67.3
years for men.[337] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians.[338] Migration
from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in India's recent history.
The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.
[339]
 Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.[340][341] The level of urbanisation
increased further from 27.81% in the 2001 Census to 31.16% in the 2011 Census.
The slowing down of the overall population growth rate was due to the sharp decline
in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991.[342] According to the 2011 census, there
are 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among
them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in
decreasing order by population.[343] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46%
among females and 82.14% among males.[344] The rural-urban literacy gap, which
was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The
improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas.[342] Kerala is the
most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[344]

The interior of San Thome Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Christianity is believed to have been introduced
to India by the late 2nd century by Syriac-speaking Christians.

India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of

the population) and Dravidian (spoken by 24% of the population). Other languages
spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan language families.
India has no national language.[345] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the
official language of the government.[346][347] English is used extensively in business and
administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[5] it is important
in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union
territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in
particular 22 "scheduled languages".
The 2011 census reported the religion in India with the largest number of followers
was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining
were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and
others[m] (0.9%).[14] India has the world's largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian,
and Bahá'í populations, and has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for
a non-Muslim majority country.[348][349]
Culture
Main article: Culture of India

A Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab

Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[350] During the Vedic period (c. 

1700 – c. 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu
philosophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and
practices which still exist today, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga, and mokṣa, were
established.[62] India is notable for its religious diversity,
with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the
nation's major religions.[351] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by
various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[352] the Yoga
Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[351] and by Buddhist philosophy.[353]
Art, architecture and literature
Main articles: Architecture of India and Indian literature

A Jain woman washes the feet of Bahubali Gomateswara at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka.

Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Mughal

architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with
imported styles.[354] Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours. Vastu
shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni
Mayan,[355] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[356] it employs
precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.
[357]
 As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a
series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha
mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[358] The Taj Mahal, built
in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his
wife, has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the jewel of Muslim
art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".
[359]
 Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th
century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[360]
The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in
the Sanskrit language.[361] Major works of Sanskrit literature include the Rigveda (c.
1500 BCE – 1200 BCE), the epics: Mahābhārata (c. 400 BCE – 400 CE) and
the Ramayana (c. 300 BCE and later); Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of
Śakuntalā, and other dramas of Kālidāsa (c. 5th century CE) and Mahākāvya poetry.
[362][363][364]
 In Tamil literature, the Sangam literature (c. 600 BCE – 300 BCE) consisting
of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.[365][366][367][368] From the 14th
to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic
change because of the emergence of devotional poets like Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru
Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and
expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly
from classical traditions.[369] In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in
social questions and psychological descriptions. In the 20th century, Indian literature
was influenced by the works of the Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore,
[370]
 who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Performing arts and media
Main articles: Music of India, Dance in India, Cinema of India, and Television in
India

India's National Academy of Performance Arts has recognised eight Indian dance styles to be classical.
One such is Kuchipudi shown here.

Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical

music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the
northern Hindustani and southern Carnatic schools.[371] Regionalised popular forms
include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form
of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the
better-known folk dances are: the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam,
the Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand, Odisha and West
Bengal, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the lavani of
Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological
elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy
of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil
Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala, kuchipudi of
Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, odissi of Odisha, and the sattriya of Assam.
[372]
 Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[373] Often
based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social
and political events, Indian theatre includes: the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West
Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of
Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and
the yakshagana of Karnataka.[374] India has a theatre training institute the National
School of Drama (NSD) that is situated at New Delhi It is an autonomous
organisation under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.[375] The Indian film
industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[376] Established regional
cinematic traditions exist in
the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Mar
athi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[377] The Hindi language film industry
(Bollywood) is the largest sector representing 43% of box office revenue, followed by
the South Indian Telugu and Tamil film industries which represent 36% combined.[378]
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of
communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.[379][380] The state
monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels
have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[381] Today, television is
the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there
are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite or cable connections
compared to other forms of mass media such as the press (350 million), radio
(156 million) or internet (37 million).[382]
Society

Muslims offer namaz at a mosque in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

Main article: Culture of India

Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste
system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions
found in the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands
of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[383] India
declared untouchability to be illegal[384] in 1947 and has since enacted other anti-
discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace in urban India,
and in international or leading Indian companies, caste-related identification has
pretty much lost its importance.[385][386]
Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal
joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming
common in urban areas.[387] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent,
have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders.[388] Marriage is
thought to be for life,[388] and the divorce rate is extremely low,[389] with less than one in
a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[390] Child marriages are common, especially
in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal
marriageable age.[391] Female infanticide in India, and lately female foeticide, have
created skewed gender ratios; the number of missing women in the country
quadrupled from 15 million to 63 million in the 50-year period ending in 2014, faster
than the population growth during the same period, and constituting 20 percent of
India's female electorate.[392] Accord to an Indian government study, an additional 21
million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care.[393] Despite a
government ban on sex-selective foeticide, the practice remains commonplace in
India, the result of a preference for boys in a patriarchal society.[394] The payment
of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[395] Deaths resulting
from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry
laws.[396]
Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Diwali, Ganesh
Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas,
and Vaisakhi.[397][398]
Clothing
Main article: Clothing in India
Women in sari at an adult literacy class in Tamil Nadu; right: a man in dhoti, wearing a woollen shawl
in Varanasi

The most widely worn traditional dress in India, for both women and men, from
ancient times until the advent of modern times, was draped.[399] For women it
eventually took the form of a sari, a single long piece of cloth, famously six yards
long, and of width spanning the lower body.[399] The sari is tied around the waist and
knotted at one end, wrapped around the lower body, and then over the shoulder.
[399]
 In its more modern form, it has been used to cover the head, and sometimes the
face, as a veil.[399] It has been combined with an underskirt, or Indian petticoat, and
tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening, It is also commonly worn with an
Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's
end, passing over the shoulder, now serving to obscure the upper body's contours,
and to cover the midriff.[399]
For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body
garment.[400] It too is tied around the waist and wrapped.[400] In south India, it is usually
wrapped around the lower body, the upper end tucked in the waistband, the lower
left free. In addition, in northern India, it is also wrapped once around each leg before
being brought up through the legs to be tucked in at the back. Other forms of
traditional apparel that involve no stitching or tailoring are the chaddar (a shawl worn
by both sexes to cover the upper body during colder weather, or a large veil worn by
women for framing the head, or covering it) and the pagri (a turban or a scarf worn
around the head as a part of a tradition, or to keep off the sun or the cold).[400]
From top left to bottom right (a) Women (from l. to r) churidars and kameez, with back to the camera; in
jeans and sweater; in pink Shalwar kameez shopping; (b) a boy in kurta with chikan embroidery; (c) girls in
the Kashmir region in embroidered hijab; (d) a tailor in pagri and kameez working outside a fabric shop

Until the beginning of the first millennium CE, the ordinary dress of people in India
was entirely unstitched.[401] The arrival of the Kushans from Central Asia, circa 48 CE,
popularised cut and sewn garments in the style of Central Asian favoured by the elite
in northern India.[401] However, it was not until Muslim rule was established, first with
the Delhi sultanate and then the Mughal Empire, that the range of stitched clothes in
India grew and their use became significantly more widespread.[401] Among the
various garments gradually establishing themselves in northern India during
medieval and early-modern times and now commonly worn are:
the shalwars and pyjamas both forms of trousers, as well as the
tunics kurta and kameez.[401] In southern India, however, the traditional draped
garments were to see much longer continuous use.[401]
Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are
held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around
the waist.[402] The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on
the bias, in which case they are called churidars. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.
[403]
 The side seams are left open below the waist-line,[404]), which gives the wearer
greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older
kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-
inspired set-in sleeves. The kameez may have a European-style collar, a Mandarin-
collar, or it may be collarless; in the latter case, its design as a women's garment is
similar to a kurta.[405] At first worn by Muslim women, the use of shalwar kameez
gradually spread, making them a regional style,[406][407] especially in the Punjab region.
 
[408] [409]

A kurta, which traces its roots to Central Asian nomadic tunics, has evolved

stylistically in India as a garment for everyday wear as well as for formal occasions.
[401]
 It is traditionally made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered
decoration, such as chikan; and it can be loose or tight in the torso, typically falling
either just above or somewhere below the wearer's knees.[410] The sleeves of a
traditional kurta fall to the wrist without narrowing, the ends hemmed but not cuffed;
the kurta can be worn by both men and women; it is traditionally collarless,
though standing collars are increasingly popular; and it can be worn over
ordinary pyjamas, loose shalwars, churidars, or less traditionally over jeans.[410]
In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in
urban settings in northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear,
transformed instead into one for formal occasions.[411] The traditional shalwar kameez
is rarely worn by younger women, who favour churidars or jeans.[411] The kurtas worn
by young men usually fall to the shins and are seldom plain. In white-collar office
settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.
[411]
 For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle- and upper classes often
wear bandgala, or short Nehru jackets, with pants, with the groom and
his groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars.[411] The dhoti, the once universal
garment of Hindu India, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwoven form
of khadi allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,[412] is seldom seen
in the cities,[411] reduced now, with brocaded border, to the liturgical vestments of
Hindu priests.
Cuisine
Main article: Indian cuisine
From top, left to right: (a) South Indian vegetarian thali, or platter; (b) an Assamese thali (c) Chicken biryani
from Hyderabad, (d) Pork vindaloo from Goa, (e) Home-cooked lunch delivered to the office by
the tiffin wallah; (f) Railway mutton curry from Odisha.

Indian cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines. Given
the range of diversity in soil type, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations,
these cuisines vary substantially from each other, using locally available spices,
herbs, vegetables, and fruit. Indian foodways have been influenced by religion, in
particular Hindu cultural choices and traditions.[413] They have been also shaped by
Islamic rule, particularly that of the Mughals, by the arrival of the Portuguese on
India's southwestern shores, and by British rule. These three influences are
reflected, respectively, in the dishes of pilaf and biryani; the vindaloo; and
the tiffin and the Railway mutton curry.[414] Earlier, the Columbian exchange had
brought the potato, the tomato, maize, peanuts, cashew nuts, pineapples, guavas,
and most notably, chilli peppers, to India. Each became staples of use.[415] In turn,
the spice trade between India and Europe was a catalyst for Europe's Age of
Discovery.[416]
The cereals grown in India, their choice, times, and regions of planting, correspond
strongly to the timing of India's monsoons, and the variation across regions in their
associated rainfall.[417] In general, the broad division of cereal zones in India, as
determined by their dependence on rain, was firmly in place before the arrival of
artificial irrigation.[417] Rice, which requires a lot of water, has been grown traditionally
in regions of high rainfall in the northeast and the western coast, wheat in regions of
moderate rainfall, like India's northern plains, and millet in regions of low rainfall,
such as on the Deccan Plateau and in Rajasthan.[418][417]
The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked in plain fashion, and
complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.[419] The latter
includes lentils, pulses and vegetables spiced commonly with ginger and garlic, but
also more discerningly with a combination of spices that may
include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon and others as informed by
culinary conventions.[419] In an actual meal, this mental representation takes the form
of a platter, or thali, with a central place for the cooked cereal, peripheral ones, often
in small bowls, for the flavourful accompaniments, and the simultaneous, rather than
piecemeal, ingestion of the two in each act of eating, whether by actual mixing—for
example of rice and lentils—or in the folding of one—such as bread—around the
other, such as cooked vegetables.[419]
 Play media
A tandoor chef in the Turkman Gate, Old Delhi, makes Khameeri roti (a Muslim style of bread
with sourdough).

A notable feature of Indian food is the existence of a number of distinctive vegetarian

cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.
[420]
 The appearance of ahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in
many religious orders early in Indian history, especially Upanishadic
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, is thought to have been a notable factor in the
prevalence of vegetarianism among a segment of India's Hindu population,
especially in southern India, Gujarat, and the Hindi-speaking belt of north-central
India, as well as among Jains.[420] Among these groups, strong discomfort is felt at
thoughts of eating meat,[421] and contributes to the low proportional consumption of
meat to overall diet in India.[421] Unlike China, which has increased its per capita meat
consumption substantially in its years of increased economic growth, in India the
strong dietary traditions have contributed to dairy, rather than meat, becoming the
preferred form of animal protein consumption accompanying higher economic
growth.[422]
In the last millennium, the most significant import of cooking techniques into India
occurred during the Mughal Empire. The cultivation of rice had spread much earlier
from India to Central and West Asia; however, it was during Mughal rule that dishes,
such as the pilaf,[418] developed in the interim during the Abbasid caliphate,[423] and
cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern
India from regions to its northwest.[424] To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia,
onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.[424] Rice grown to the
southwest of the Mughal capital, Agra, which had become famous in the Islamic
world for its fine grain, was partially cooked and layered alternately with the sauteed
meat, the pot sealed tightly, and slow cooked according to another Persian cooking
technique, to produce what has today become the Indian biryani,[424] a feature of
festive dining in many parts of India.[425] In food served in restaurants in urban north
India, and internationally, the diversity of Indian food has been partially concealed by
the dominance of Punjabi cuisine. This was caused in large part by an
entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab region who had been
displaced by the 1947 partition of India, and had arrived in India as refugees.[420] The
identification of Indian cuisine with the tandoori chicken—cooked in
the tandoor oven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural
Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally
from Central Asia—dates to this period.[420]
Sports and recreation
Main article: Sport in India

During a twenty-four-year career, Sachin Tendulkar has set many batting records in cricket. The picture
shows him about to score a record 14,000 runs in test cricket while playing Australia in Bangalore on 10
October 2010.

In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such

as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of
Asian martial arts, such as kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, and marma adi,
originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga,
is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of
Indian grandmasters.[426][427] Pachisi, from which parcheesi derives, was played on a
giant marble court by Akbar.[428]
The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis
players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.
[429]
 India has a comparatively strong presence in shooting sports, and has won
several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships, and the
Commonwealth Games.[430][431] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded
internationally include badminton[432] (Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are two of the
top-ranked female badminton players in the world), boxing,[433] and wrestling.
[434]
 Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-
eastern states.[435]

Girls play hopscotch in Juara, Madhya Pradesh. Hopscotch has been commonly played by girls in rural
India.[436]
Cricket is the most popular sport in India.[437] Major domestic competitions include
the Indian Premier League, which is the most-watched cricket league in the world
and ranks sixth among all sports leagues.[438]
India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events:
the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World
Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy;
the 2010 Hockey World Cup; the 2010 Commonwealth Games; and the 2017 FIFA
U-17 World Cup. Major international sporting events held annually in India include
the Chennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian
Masters. The first Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011 but has been
discontinued from the F1 season calendar since 2014.[439] India has traditionally been
the dominant country at the South Asian Games. An example of this dominance is
the basketball competition where the Indian team won three out of four tournaments
to date.[440]

See also
 India portal

 Asia portal

 Outline of India

Notes
1. ^ "[...] Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to
such alterations in the words as the Government may authorise as
occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played
a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured
equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with
it."(Constituent Assembly of India 1950).
2. ^ According to Part XVII of the Constitution of India, Hindi in
the Devanagariscript is the official language of the Union, along
with English as an additional official language.[5][1][6] States and
union territories can have a different official language of their own
other than Hindi or English.
3. ^ Different sources give widely differing figures, primarily based on
how the terms "language" and "dialect" are defined and grouped.
Ethnologue, produced by the Christian evangelist organisation SIL
International, lists 461 tongues for India (out of 6,912 worldwide),
447 of which are living, while 14 are extinct.[12][13]
4. ^ "The country's exact size is subject to debate because some
borders are disputed. The Indian government lists the total area as
3,287,260 km2(1,269,220 sq mi) and the total land area as
3,060,500 km2 (1,181,700 sq mi); the United Nations lists the total
area as 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi) and total land area as
2,973,190 km2 (1,147,960 sq mi)."(Library of Congress 2004).
5. ^ See Date and time notation in India.
6. ^ The Government of India also regards Afghanistan as a
bordering country, as it considers all of Kashmir to be part of India.
However, this is disputed, and the region bordering Afghanistan is
administered by Pakistan. Source: "Ministry of Home Affairs
 (Department of Border Management)"  (PDF). Archived from the
original  (PDF)  on 17 March 2015. Retrieved  1 September 2008.
7. ^ " A Chinese pilgrim also recorded evidence of the caste system
as he could observe it. According to this evidence the treatment
meted out to untouchables such as the Chandalas was very
similar to that which they experienced in later periods. This would
contradict assertions that this rigid form of the caste system
emerged in India only as a reaction to the Islamic conquest.[34]
8. ^ "Shah Jahan eventually sent her body 800 km (500 mi) to Agra
for burial in the Rauza-i Munauwara ("Illuminated Tomb") – a
personal tribute and a stone manifestation of his imperial power.
This tomb has been celebrated globally as the Taj Mahal."[42]
9. ^ The northernmost point under Indian control is the
disputed Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir; however,
the Government of India regards the entire region of the former
princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Gilgit-
Baltistan administered by Pakistan, to be its territory. It therefore
assigns the latitude 37° 6′ to its northernmost point.
10. ^ A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographical region which has
more than 1,500 vascular plant species, but less than 30% of its
primary habitat.[185]
11. ^ A forest cover is moderately dense if between 40% and 70% of
its area is covered by its tree canopy.
12. ^ In 2015, the World Bank raised its international poverty line to
$1.90 per day.[320]
13. ^ Besides specific religions, the last two categories in the 2011
Census were "Other religions and persuasions" (0.65%) and
"Religion not stated" (0.23%).

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a b c d

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a b c d

Archived from  the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 1

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