The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during the nineteenth century from suggestions by Charles Trevelyan, William Jones, Monier Monier-Williams and other scholars, and formalised by the Transliteration Committee of the Geneva Oriental Congress, in September 1894. IAST makes it possible for the reader to read the Indic text unambiguously, exactly as if it were in the original Indic script. It is this faithfulness to the original scripts that accounts for its continuing popularity amongst scholars.
South Asia or Southern Asia, is a term used to represent the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan SAARC countries and, for some authorities, adjoining countries to the west and east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
India is the second most populated country in the world with nearly a fifth of the world's population. According to the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects, the population stood at 1,324,171,354.
The Indian subcontinent is a southern region and peninsula of Asia, mostly situated on the Indian Plate and projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east. Politically, the Indian subcontinent includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, which flows through the length of Pakistan, and along a system of perennial, mostly monsoon-fed, rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra river in northwest India and eastern Pakistan. Aridification of this region during the 3rd millennium BCE may have been the initial spur for the urbanisation associated with the civilisation, but eventually also reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and to scatter its population eastward.
Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practised in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal tradition", or the "eternal way", beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the end of the Vedic period, and flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.
The economy of India is a developing mixed economy. It is the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country ranks 139th in per capita GDP (nominal) with $2,134 and 122nd in per capita GDP (PPP) with $7,783 as of 2018. After the 1991 economic liberalisation, India achieved 6-7% average GDP growth annually. Since 2014 with the exception of 2017, India's economy has been the world's fastest growing major economy, surpassing China.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a period of time, often annually. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) is arguably more useful when comparing differences in living standards between nations.
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a way of measuring economic variables in different countries so that irrelevant exchange rate variations do not distort comparisons. Purchasing power exchange rates are such that it would cost exactly the same number of, for example, US dollars to buy euros and then buy a basket of goods in the market as it would cost to purchase the same goods directly with dollars. The purchasing power exchange rate used in this conversion equals the ratio of the currencies' respective purchasing powers.
The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindush, equivalent to the Sanskrit word Sindhu,[20] which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River.[21] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".[22]
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages. Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets and seals of the Achaemenid era. Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Romania (Gherla), Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription. Recent research (2007) into the vast Persepolis Fortification Archive at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago have unearthed Old Persian tablets, which suggest Old Persian was a written language in use for practical recording and not only for royal display.
Hindush was an Indian province of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley circa 500 BC. According to Herodotus, it was the "easternmost province" of the empire. It is believed to have continued as a province until the invasion of the empire by Alexander the Great circa 326 BC.
Sanskrit is a language of ancient India with a history going back about 3,500 years. It is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and the predominant language of most works of Hindu philosophy as well as some of the principal texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Sanskrit, in its variants and numerous dialects, was the lingua franca of ancient and medieval India. In the early 1st millennium CE, along with Buddhism and Hinduism, Sanskrit migrated to Southeast Asia, parts of East Asia and Central Asia, emerging as a language of high culture and of local ruling elites in these regions.
The geographical term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced[ˈbʱaːɾət](listen)), which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country,[18][23] is used by many Indian languages in its variations. It is a modernisation of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which traditionally referred to the Indian subcontinent and gained increasing currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[18][24]
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework demarcating fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any country on earth. B. R. Ambedkar, chairman of the drafting committee, is widely considered to be its chief architect.
The following table lists the names of India in its official languages. The sole official language of India is Hindi in Devanagari script as per Article 343 of the Indian constitution and there is no national language for the country. English has the status of a "subsidiary official language". The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status, and official encouragement.
Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn](listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then. Its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety.[18][24][25] Currently, the name may refer to either the northern part of India or the entire country.[25]
Hindustan is the Persian name for India, broadly the Indian subcontinent, which later became an endonym. After the Partition of India, it continues to be used as a historic name for the Republic of India.
Middle Persian also known as Pahlavi or Parsik, is the Middle Iranian language or ethnolect of southwestern Iran that during the Sasanian Empire (224–654) became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions of the empire as well. Middle Persian is classified as a Western Iranian language. It descends from Old Persian and is the linguistic ancestor of Modern Persian.
The Mughal Empire or Mogul Empire was an empire in the Indian subcontinent, founded in 1526. It was established and ruled by the Timurid dynasty, with Turco-Mongol Chagatai roots from Central Asia, claiming direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur, and with significant Indian Rajput and Persian ancestry through marriage alliances; the first two Mughal emperors had both parents from Central Asian ancestry. The dynasty was Indo-Persian in culture, combining Persianate culture with local Indian cultural influences visible in its traits and customs.
The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[26] Nearly contemporaneous human rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.[27] 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.[28] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[29][28] the first urban culture in South Asia,[30] which flourished during 2500–1900BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India.[31] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilization engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.[30]
During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[32] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[33] were composed during this period,[34] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[32] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[33] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period.[35] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[32] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[36] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[36]
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.[37][38] 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.[39] 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.[40][41][42] In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[43] 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.[44] The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent excepting the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas.[45][46] 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.[47][48]
The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.[55] 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.[56] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[56] 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.[56] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.[55] 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.[57] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[57]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[58] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[58] 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.[59] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[59] 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.[60] 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.[60]
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.[61] 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.[62][63] 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.[64][65] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[66] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[67] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[66]
Early modern India
Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king in Persian, 1590–1595
In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers,[68] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[69] The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices[70][71] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[72] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[73] 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.[72] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[74] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[75] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[73] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,[73] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[76] 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.[77] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[77] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[78]
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.[79][80] 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.[81][79][82][83] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s.[84] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials, and many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.[79] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and effectively having been made an arm of British administration, the company began to more consciously enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.[85]
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.[86][87][88][89] 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.[90][91] 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.[92][93] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[94][95][96][97]
Jawaharlal Nehru (left) became India's first prime minister in 1947. Mahatma Gandhi (right) led the independence movement.
The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks—many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets.[98] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[99] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[100] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[101] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[102] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[102] and helped the nascent Indian-owned industry.[101]
After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[103] 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.[104] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[105] 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.[106]
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.[107] It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press.[108] Economic liberalisation, which was begun in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies,[109] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[108] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[108] by religious and caste-related violence;[110] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[111] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[112] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[113] and with Pakistan.[113] The India–Pakistan nuclear rivalry came to a head in 1998.[114] 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.[115]
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.[120] 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;[121] 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[lower-alpha 7] and 68° 7' and 97° 25' east longitude.[122]
India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains.[123] 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.[123]
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[124] Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient often leads to severe floods and course changes.[125] 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;[126] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[127] 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.[128] 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.[129]
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.[130] 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.[131][132] 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.[130] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[133]
The brahminy kite (Haliastur indus) hunts for fish and other prey near the coasts and around inland wetlands.
India lies within the Indomalaya ecozone and contains three biodiversity hotspots.[134] One of 17 megadiverse countries, it hosts 8.6% of all mammalian, 13.7% of all avian, 7.9% of all reptilian, 6% of all amphibian, 12.2% of all piscine, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[135][136] About 21.2% of the country's landmass is covered by forests (tree canopy density >10%), of which 12.2% comprises moderately or very dense forests (tree canopy density >40%).[137]Endemism is high among plants, 33%, and among ecoregions such as the sholaforests.[138] Habitat ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and North-East India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India; the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.[139] The medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies, is a key Indian tree. The luxuriant pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.
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 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.[156] 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.[157]
The Rashtrapati Bhavan is the official residence of the President of India.
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.[158] In the 2004 Indian general elections, again 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.[159] 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.[160] 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.[161] The incumbent Indian 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.[162][163][164]
Executive: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state,[172] who is elected indirectly for a five-year term by an electoral college comprising members of national and state legislatures.[173][174] The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[175] Appointed by the president,[176] the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[175] 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.[172] In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and his or her council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. The civil servants act as permanent executives and all decisions of the executive are implemented by them. [177]
Legislature: The legislature of India is the bicameralparliament. 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).[178] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245members who serve staggered six-yearterms.[179] Most are elected indirectly by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.[176] All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545members are directly elected by popular vote; they represent single-member constituencies for five-yearterms.[180] The remaining twomembers are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides that they are not adequately represented.[181]
India is a federal union comprising 29 states and 7 union territories.[186] All states, as well in addition to the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following on the Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[187] Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts. The districts are further divided into tehsils and ultimately into villages.
The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.395million 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.[207] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03billion, or 1.83% of GDP.[208] For the fiscal year spanning 2012–2013, US$40.44billion was budgeted.[209] According to a 2008 SIPRI report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing power stood at US$72.7billion.[210] In 2011, the annual defence budget increased by 11.6%,[211] although this does not include funds that reach the military through other branches of government.[212]As of 2012[update], India is the world's largest arms importer; between 2007 and 2011, it accounted for 10% of funds spent on international arms purchases.[213] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[211] In May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[214] In October 2018, India signed a US$5.43billion (over Rs 400billion) agreement with Russia to procure four S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-range missile defence system.[215]
The 513.7-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2016[update].[207] 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$70billion in 2014, the largest in the world, contributed to its economy by 25 million Indians working in foreign countries.[224] Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[186] Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.[186] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.[220] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[225] In 2011, India was the world's tenth-largest importer and the nineteenth-largest exporter.[226] Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures.[186] Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[186] Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.[227] India was the second largest textile exporter after China in the world in the calendar year 2013.[228]
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[220] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[229] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580million by 2030.[230] Though ranking 51st in global competitiveness, 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, as of 2010[update].[231] With 7 of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States, as of 2009[update].[232] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.[230] However, hardly 2% of Indians pay income taxes.[233]
Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita has steadily increased from US$329 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,265 in 2010, to an estimated US$1,723 in 2016, and is expected to grow to US$2,358 by 2020;[15] however, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future. However, it is higher than Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and others.[234]
According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[235] 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.[235] 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.[235] 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.[236]
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).[237]
India's telecommunication industry, the world's fastest-growing, added 227 million subscribers during the period 2010–11,[238] and after the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.[239]
The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–10,[240] and exports by 36% during 2008–09.[241] India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts is renewable.[242] At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[243]
The pharmaceutical industry in India is among the significant emerging markets for the global pharmaceutical industry. The Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to reach $48.5billion by 2020. India's R & D spending constitutes 60% of the biopharmaceutical industry.[244][245] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.[246][247] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–13, increasing its revenues from 204.4billion INR (Indian rupees) to 235.24billion INR (3.94 B US$ – exchange rate June 2013: 1 US$ approx. 60 INR).[248]
Socio-economic challenges
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,[249] the proportion having decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005;[250] under its later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[lower-alpha 8][252] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[253] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[254][255] The Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[256]
According to a Walk Free Foundation report in 2016, there were an estimated 18.3million 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.[257][258][259] According to the 2011 census, there were 10.1million child labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6million from 12.6million child labourers in 2001.[260]
With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[263] India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% during 2001–2011,[264] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[264] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[263] The median age was 27.6 as of 2016[update].[207] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361.1million people.[265] 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.[266] India continues to face several public health-related challenges.[267][268]
Life expectancy in India is at 68 years, with life expectancy for women being 69.6 years and for men being 67.3.[269] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians.[270] Migration from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in the recent history of India. The number of Indians living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.[271] Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.[272][273] 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 growth rate of population was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991.[274] 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.[275] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[276] The rural-urban literacy gap, which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in literacy rate in rural area is two times that in urban areas.[274]Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[276]
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.[277]Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[278][279]English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[4] 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 earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in the Sanskrit language.[293] 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.[294][295][296] In Tamil literature, Sangam Literature (c 600 BCE–300 BCE) consisting of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.[297][298][299][300] 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 such as 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.[301] 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 Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore,[302] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and had slow expansion for more than two decades.[311][312] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s and, since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[313] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012[update] there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462million with satellite and/or cable connections, compared to other forms of mass media such as press (350million), radio (156million) or internet (37million).[314]
Indian cuisine encompasses a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines, often depending on a particular state (such as Maharashtrian cuisine). Staple foods of Indian cuisine include pearl millet (IAST: Bājra), rice, whole-wheat flour (aṭṭa), and a variety of lentils, such as masoor (most often red lentils), toor (pigeon peas), urad (black gram), and mong (mung beans). Lentils may be used whole, dehusked—for example, dhuli moong or dhuli urad—or split. Split lentils, or dal, are used extensively.[315] The spice trade between India and Europe is often cited by historians as the primary catalyst for Europe's Age of Discovery.[316]
Top: Roti bread and sabzi (vegetable) stew are cooked outdoors in the Thar Desert using traditional Rajasthani methods. Bottom: The kitchen of a Hindu temple.
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".[317] India declared untouchability to be illegal[318] 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, the caste related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[319][320]
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.[321] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other elders in the family.[322] Marriage is thought to be for life,[322] and the divorce rate is extremely low.[323]As of 2001[update], just 1.6 percent of Indian women were divorced but this figure was rising due to their education and economic independence.[323]Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[324]Female infanticide and female foeticide in the country have caused a discrepancy in the sex ratio, as of 2005[update] it was estimated that there were 50 million more males than females in the nation.[325][326] However a report from 2011 has shown improvement in the gender ratio.[327] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[328]Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[329]
Cotton was domesticated in India by 4000 BCE. Traditional Indian dress varies in colour and style across regions and depends on various factors, including climate and faith. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as the sari for women and the dhoti or lungi for men. Stitched clothes, such as the shalwar kameez for women and kurta–pyjama combinations or European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular.[332] Use of delicate jewellery, modelled on real flowers worn in ancient India, is part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans.[333]
↑ "[...] 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).
1 2 Besides specific religions, the last two categories in the 2011 Census were "Other religions and persuasions" (0.65%) and "Religion not stated" (0.23%).
↑ "The country's exact size is subject to debate because some borders are disputed. The Indian government lists the total area as 3,287,260km2 (1,269,220sqmi) and the total land area as 3,060,500km2 (1,181,700sqmi); the United Nations lists the total area as 3,287,263km2 (1,269,219sqmi) and total land area as 2,973,190km2 (1,147,960sqmi)." (Library of Congress 2004).
↑ 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.
↑ In 2015, the World Bank raised its international poverty line to $1.90 per day.[251]
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1 2 3 "National Symbols | National Portal of India". India.gov.in. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017. The National Anthem of India Jana Gana Mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950.
↑ Thieme, P. (1970), "Sanskrit sindu-/Sindhu- and Old Iranian hindu-/Hindu-", in Mary Boyce; Ilya Gershevitch, W. B. Henning memorial volume, Lund Humphries, pp.447–450
1 2 Barrow, Ian J. (2003). "From Hindustan to India: Naming change in changing names". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 26 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/085640032000063977.
↑ Saez, Lawrence; Sinha, Aseema (2010). "Political cycles, political institutions and public expenditure in India, 1980–2000". British Journal of Political Science. 40 (1): 91–113. doi:10.1017/s0007123409990226.
Serge Gruzinski (13 January 2015), The Eagle and the Dragon: Globalization and European Dreams of Conquest in China and America in the Sixteenth Century, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN978-0-7456-8134-4
Sripati, V. (1998), "Toward Fifty Years of Constitutionalism and Fundamental Rights in India: Looking Back to See Ahead (1950–2000)", American University International Law Review, 14 (2): 413–496
Chang, J. H. (1967), "The Indian Summer Monsoon", Geographical Review, [American Geographical Society, Wiley], 57 (3), pp.373–396, doi:10.2307/212640, JSTOR212640
![India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-III)[1][12], a three-stage, medium-lift launch vehicle, lifts off at the Satish Dhawan Spare Centre in Andhra Pradesh. GSLV Mk III Lift Off 1.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/GSLV_Mk_III_Lift_Off_1.jpg/220px-GSLV_Mk_III_Lift_Off_1.jpg)
