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OFFICIAL NAME:
Republic of India
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective --Indian(s).
Population (2003 est.): 1.05 billion; urban 27.8%.
Annual growth rate: 1.6%.
Density: 319/sq. km.
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid 2%, others.
Religions: Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including
Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5%.
Languages: Hindi, English, and 16 other official languages.
Education: Years compulsory- -9 (to age 14). Literacy --55.2%.
Health: Infant mortality rate --61/1,000. Life expectancy --63
years.
Work force (est.): 416 million. Agriculture --63%; industry and commerce --22%; services
and government --11%; transport and communications --4%.
Geography
Area: 3.29 million sq. km. (1.27 million sq. mi.); about one-third
the size of the U.S.
Cities: Capital --New Delhi (pop. 12.8 million, 2001 census). Other
major cities --Mumbai, formerly Bombay (16.4 million); Kolkata, formerly
Calcutta (13.2 million); Chennai, formerly Madras (6.4 million); Bangalore
(5.7 million); Hyderabad (5.5 million); Ahmedabad (5 million); Pune (4 million).
Terrain: Varies from Himalayas to flat river valleys.
Climate: Alpine to temperate to subtropical monsoon.
Government
Type: Federal republic.
Independence: August 15, 1947.
Constitution: January 26, 1950.
Branches: Executive --president (chief of state), prime minister (head
of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative --bicameral
parliament (Rajya Sabha or Council of States, and Lok Sabha or House of the
People). Judicial --Supreme Court.
Political parties: Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress (I), Janata Dal (United),
Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, and numerous regional
and small national parties.
Political subdivisions: 28 states,* 7 union territories.
Suffrage: Universal over 18.
Economy
GDP: $576 billion (2003); $648 billion (2004 est.).
Real growth rate: 8.2% (2003).
Per capita GDP: $543 (2003); $602 (2004 est.).
Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium,
limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds, crude oil.
Agriculture: 22.7% of GDP. Products --wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds,
sugar, cotton, jute, tea
Industry: 26.6% of GDP. Products --textiles, jute, processed food, steel,
machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum,
chemicals, computer software.
Services and transportation: 50.7% of GDP.
Trade: Export s--$62 billion; agricultural products, engineering goods,
precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts,
tea. Software exports --$12.5 billion. Imports --$76 billion;
petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils,
fertilizers, chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel. Major trade partners --U.S.,
EU, Russia, Japan, Iraq.
PEOPLE
Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over
15% of the world's population. Only China has a larger population. Almost
33% of Indians are younger than 15 years of age. About 70% of the people
live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns
and cities. Over thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded
from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West;
Indian people and culture have absorbed and changed these influences to produce
a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.
Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social and
political organization in India today. The government has recognized
18 languages as official; Hindi is the most widely spoken.
Although 81% of the people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 126
million Muslims--one of the world's largest Muslim populations. The population
also includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.
The caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined
hierarchies. Sanskrit sources refer to four social categories, priests
(Brahmin), warriors (kshatriya), traders (vayisha) and farmers (shudra).
Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe
reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the
tribes and low castes once known as ‘untouchables.' In reality,
society in India is divided into thousands of jatis, local, endogamous
groups, organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity
and pollution. Despite economic modernization and laws countering
discrimination against the lower end of the class structure, the
caste system remains an important source of social identification
for most Hindus and a potent factor in the political life of the
country. Content provided by US State Dept. To read more visit them online at : http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm |
