India
India is officially known as the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy. 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; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China, and Nepal to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. India lies within the Indo Himalaya ecozone and contains three biodiversity hotspots. One of 17 mega diverse countries, it hosts 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all piscine, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species. Habitat ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Less than 12% of India's landmass bears thick jungle. India is the world's most populous democracy. A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system, it six recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties. The Congress is considered centre-left or "liberal" in Indian political culture, and the BJP centre-right or "conservative". 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, as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalitions at the Centre.
Certain Indian Symbols: Flag Triclour Emblem Samath Loin Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Game Hockey Flower Lotus Fruit Mango Tree Banyan Bird Indian Peafowl Land Animal Royal Bengal Tiger
River - Ganges
States and Union Territories The districts in turn are further divided into taluks and ultimately into villages. There are 28 states and 7 union territories of India. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim
24. 25. 26. 27. 28.
Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal
Union Territories: A. B. C. D. E. F. G. Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu Lakshadweep National Capital Territory of Delhi Puducherry
General Information Aside from continuing strategic relations with Russia, India has wide ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, India has played an influential role 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 thirty-five UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. India is also an active participant in various multilateral forums, most notably the East Asia Summit. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with the developing nations of South America, Asia and Africa. With 1.6 million active troops, the Indian military is the third largest in the world. India's armed forces consists of an Indian Army, Navy, Air, and auxiliary forces such as the Paramilitary Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Strategic Forces Command. The President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The official Indian defence budget for 2011 stands at US$36.03 billion (or 1.83% of GDP). According to a 2008 SIPRI report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing power stood at US$72.7 billion. In 2011 the annual defence budget increased by 11.6 per cent, although this does not include money that goes to the military through other branches of government.
India has become the world's largest arms importer, receiving 9% of all international arms transfers during the period from 2006 to 2010. Much of the military expenditure is focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. With 1,210,193,422 citizens reported in the 2011 provisional Census, India is the world's second most populous country. India's population grew at 1.76% per annum during the last decade down from 2.13% per annum in the previous decade (19912001). The human sex ratio in India, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males, the lowest since independence. India's median age was 24.9 in the 2001 census. There are about 60 physicians per 100,000 people in India. The percentage of Indians living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001. Yet, in 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas.The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males. Kerala is the most literate state; Bihar the least. During the Vedic age (c. 1700-500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu philosophy, mythology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and practices which still exist today, such as dhrma, krma, yga and moka, were established. India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Jainismamong the nation's major religions. The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras, theBhakti movement, and by Buddhist philosophy.
