India (
i//), officially the
Republic of India (
Bhārat Gaṇarājya),
[12][c] is a country in
South Asia. It is the
seventh-largest country by area, the
second-most populous country with
over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous
democracy in the world. Bounded by the
Indian Ocean on the south, the
Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the
Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with
Pakistan to the west;
[d] China,
Nepal, and
Bhutan to the north-east; and
Burma and
Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives; in addition, India's
Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with
Thailand and
Indonesia.
Home to the ancient
Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the
Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four world religions—
Hinduism,
Buddhism,
Jainism, and
Sikhism—originated here, whereas
Judaism,
Zoroastrianism,
Christianity, and
Islam arrived in the 1st millennium
CE and also helped shape the region's
diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the
British East India Company from the early 18th century and
administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a
struggle for independence that was marked by
non-violent resistance led by
Mahatma Gandhi.
The
Indian economy is the world's tenth-largest by
nominal GDP and third-largest by
purchasing power parity (PPP).
[14] Following
market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the
fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a
newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of
poverty,
corruption,
malnutrition,
inadequate public healthcare, and
terrorism. A
nuclear weapons state and a
regional power, it has the
third-largest standing army in the world and ranks
ninth in military expenditure among nations. India is a
federal constitutional republic governed under a
parliamentary system consisting of
29 states and 7 union territories. India is a
pluralistic,
multilingual, and a multi-ethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of
wildlife in a variety of
protected habitats.
Etymology
The name
India is derived from
Indus, which originates from the
Old Persian word
Hinduš. The latter term stems from the
Sanskrit word
Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the
Indus River. The
ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as
Indoi (Ινδοί), which translates as "the people of the Indus". The geographical term
Bharat (
pronounced [ˈbʱaːrət̪] (
listen)), which is recognised by the
Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by
many Indian languages in its variations.
[17] The
eponym of
Bharat is
Bharata, a theological figure that Hindu scriptures describe as a legendary emperor of ancient India.
Hindustan (
[ɦɪnd̪ʊˈst̪aːn] ( listen)) was originally a
Persian
word that meant "Land of the Hindus"; prior to 1947, it referred to a
region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan. It is occasionally
used to solely denote India in its entirety.
History
Ancient India
Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived in South Asia 73–55,000 years back, though the earliest authenticated human remains date to only about 30,000 years ago. Nearly contemporaneous
Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the
Bhimbetka rock shelters in
Madhya Pradesh. Around 7000 BCE, the first known
Neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in
Mehrgarh and other sites in western Pakistan. These gradually developed into the
Indus Valley Civilisation, the first urban culture in South Asia; It flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India. 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.
During the period 2000–500 BCE, in terms of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the
Chalcolithic to the
Iron Age. The
Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed during this period, and historians have analysed these to posit a
Vedic culture in the
Punjab region and the upper
Gangetic Plain. Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of
Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west. 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, and small tribal units gradually coalesced into monarchical, state-level polities. On the
Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation. In southern India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of
megalithic monuments dating from this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.
In the late
Vedic period, around the 5th 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.
The emerging urbanisation and the orthodoxies of this age also created
heterodox religious movements, two of which became independent
religions. 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. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar,
Mahavira. In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up
renunciation as an ideal, 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.
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. 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.
The
Sangam literature of the
Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the southern peninsula was being ruled by the
Cheras, the
Cholas, and the
Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the
Roman Empire and with
West and
South-East Asia. In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women. By the 4th and 5th centuries, the
Gupta Empire
had created in the greater Ganges Plain a complex system of
administration and taxation that became a model for later Indian
kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself. The renewal was reflected in a flowering of
sculpture and
architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.
Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and
Indian science,
astronomy,
medicine, and
mathematics made significant advances.
Medieval India
The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. 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. When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the
Pala king of
Bengal. 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. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.
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. The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first
devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language. They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all
modern languages of the subcontinent. 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. Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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. The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous
Vijayanagara Empire. Embracing a strong
Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.
Early modern India
Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595
In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. 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 and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule. 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. The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in greater patronage of
painting, literary forms, textiles, and
architecture. 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.
Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian
commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern
India. As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs. The "single most important power" that emerged in the early modern period was the
Maratha confederacy.
[76]
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.
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; both these factors were crucial in allowing the
Company to gain control over the
Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies.
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.
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.
By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British
parliament and itself effectively made an arm of British
administration, the Company began to more consciously enter non-economic
arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.
Modern India
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. 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. Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and to 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. In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the
Indian National Congress in 1885.
[94]
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. There was an increase in the number of large-scale
famines,
and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian
taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.
There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in
the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal
consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, notably reduced the cost of moving goods, and helped nascent Indian-owned industry. After World War I, in which
some one million Indians served,
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 non-violent movement of non-cooperation, of
which
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.
During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British;
the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was beset with crises:
Indian participation in World War II,
the Congress's final push for non-cooperation, 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.
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. In the 60 years since, India has had a mixed record of successes and failures. It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an activist Supreme Court, and a largely independent press. 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, and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture. Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; by
religious and
caste-related violence; by
Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies; and by
separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and
in Northeast India. It has unresolved territorial disputes with
China, and with
Pakistan. The India–Pakistan nuclear rivalry came to a head in 1998.
India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's new
nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom
from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be
achieved.
Geography
A topographic map of India
India comprises the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the
Indian tectonic plate, and part of the
Indo-Australian Plate.
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. Simultaneously, the vast
Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to
subduct under the
Eurasian plate. 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. Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast
trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment and now constitutes the
Indo-Gangetic Plain. Cut off from the plain by the ancient
Aravalli Range lies the
Thar Desert.
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. 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;
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
[e] and 68° 7' and 97° 25' east longitude.
[120]
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.
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.
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the
Ganges and the
Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the
Bay of Bengal. 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. 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; and the
Narmada and the
Tapti, which drain into the
Arabian Sea. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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. Four major climatic groupings predominate in India:
tropical wet,
tropical dry,
subtropical humid, and
montane.
Biodiversity
India lies within the
Indomalaya ecozone and contains three
biodiversity hotspots. 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.
Endemism is high among plants, 33%, and among
ecoregions such as the
shola forests. 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. Under 12% of India's landmass bears thick jungle. 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.
Many Indian species descend from
taxa originating in Gondwana, from which the
Indian plate separated more than 105 million years
before present.
Peninsular India's subsequent
movement towards and collision with the
Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species.
Epochal volcanism and climatic changes 20 million years ago forced a mass extinction. Mammals then entered India from Asia through two
zoogeographical passes flanking the rising Himalaya. Thus, while 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians are endemic, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are. Among them are the
Nilgiri leaf monkey and
Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172
IUCN-designated
threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms. These include the
Asiatic lion, the
Bengal tiger, and the
Indian White-rumped Vulture, which, by ingesting the carrion of
diclofenac-laced cattle, nearly went extinct.
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 substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted the
Wildlife Protection Act[141] and
Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.
[142] India hosts
more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and
thirteen biosphere reserves,
[143] four of which are part of the
World Network of Biosphere Reserves;
twenty-five wetlands are registered under the
Ramsar Convention.
[144]
Politics
India is the world's most populous democracy. A
parliamentary republic with a
multi-party system, it has 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.
[149]
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 three 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: it lasted just under two years.
Elections were held again in 1991; no party won an absolute majority.
But the Congress, as the largest single party, was able to form a
minority government led by
P. V. Narasimha Rao.
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. 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. 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.
[154] In the
2014 general election,
Bharatiya Janata Party became the first political party since 1984 to
win a majority and govern without the support of other parties.
[155]
Government
India is a
federation with a
parliamentary system governed under the
Constitution of India, which serves as 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 federal government and the
states. The government abides by constitutional
checks and balances. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950, states in its
preamble that India is a
sovereign,
socialist,
secular,
democratic republic. India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.
The federal government comprises
three branches:
- Executive: The President of India is the head of state and is elected indirectly by a national electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.
- Appointed by the president, the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament. The executive branch of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice-president, and the Council of Ministers—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.
- In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the
legislature; the prime minister and his council are directly
responsible to the lower house of the parliament.
- Legislative: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. It operates under a Westminster-style parliamentary system and comprises the upper house called the Rajya Sabha ("Council of States") and the lower called the Lok Sabha ("House of the People"). The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body that has 245 members who serve in staggered six-year terms. Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population. All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote; they represent individual constituencies via five-year terms. The remaining two members are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides that they are not adequately represented.
- Judicial: India has a unitary three-tier independent judiciary that comprises the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 24 High Courts, and a large number of trial courts. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the centre; it has appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts. It has the power both to declare the law and to strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution. The Supreme Court is also the ultimate interpreter of the constitution.
Subdivisions
India is a federation composed of 29 states and 7
union territories. All states, as well as the union territories of
Puducherry and the
National Capital Territory of Delhi,
have elected legislatures and governments, both patterned on the
Westminster model. 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.
Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state
or union territory is further divided into administrative
districts. The districts in turn are further divided into
tehsils and ultimately into villages.
States
Union territories
Foreign relations and military
Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial
relations with most nations. In the 1950s, it strongly supported
decolonisation in Africa and Asia and
played a lead role in the
Non-Aligned Movement. In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of neighbouring countries: a
peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent a
coup d'état attempt in Maldives. India has
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. After waging the 1962
Sino-Indian War and the 1965 war with Pakistan, India pursued close military and economic
ties with the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.
Aside from ongoing strategic
relations with Russia, 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 Organisation. 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. India has close economic ties with South America,
[182] 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.
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. India conducted its
first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out
further 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. India maintains a "
no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a
nuclear triad capability as a part of its "
minimum credible deterrence" doctrine.
[188] It is developing a
ballistic missile defence shield and, in collaboration with Russia, a
fifth-generation fighter jet. Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of
Vikrant-class aircraft carriers and
Arihant-class nuclear submarines.
Since the end of the
Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military cooperation with the
United States and the
European Union. 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 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. India subsequently signed cooperation agreements involving
civilian nuclear energy with Russia, France, the
United Kingdom, and
Canada.
The
President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.325 million active troops, they compose the
world's third-largest military. It comprises the
Indian Army, the
Indian Navy, and the
Indian Air Force; auxiliary organisations include the
Strategic Forces Command and three
paramilitary groups: the
Assam Rifles, the
Special Frontier Force, and the
Indian Coast Guard. The official Indian
defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP. For the fiscal year spanning 2012–2013, US$40.44 billion was budgeted. 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%, although this does not include funds that reach the military through other branches of government.
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.
Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against
Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.
Economy
A washing plant for mined
iron ore in
Orissa.
India's iron ore reserves of 25 billion tonnes comprise 6% of global
reserves. India is the world's 4th largest producer and 3rd largest
exporter.
According to the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF), as of 2013, the Indian economy is nominally worth US$1.842
trillion; it is the eleventh-largest economy by market exchange rates,
and is, at US$4.962 trillion, the third-largest by
purchasing power parity, or PPP.
[9] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–12, India is one of the
world's fastest-growing economies. However, the country ranks 140th in the world in
nominal GDP per capita and 129th in
GDP per capita at PPP. 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; since then it has slowly moved towards a free-market system
[208] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows. India's recent economic model is largely capitalist. India has been a member of
WTO since 1 January 1995.
The 486.6-million worker
Indian labour force is the
world's second-largest, as of 2011.
The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3%
and the agricultural sector 18.1%. Major agricultural products include
rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.
Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport
equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software. In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.
[208] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%; In 2011, India was the world's
tenth-largest importer and the
nineteenth-largest exporter.
Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery,
software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals. Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,
[208] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.
Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle
classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030. 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.
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. India's consumer market, currently the world's
eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.
India's
telecommunication industry, the world's fastest-growing, added 227 million subscribers during the period 2010–11,
and after the first quarter of 2013, India surpassed Japan to become
the third largest smartphone market in the world after China and the
U.S.
[220]
India has the
world's second-largest mobile phone user base of 929.37 million users as of May 2012. Shown here is a roof top mobile phone tower in Bangalore
Its
automotive industry, the world's second fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–10, and exports by 36% during 2008–09. Power capacity is 250 gigawatts, of which 8% is
renewable. At the end of 2011,
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.
The
Pharmaceutical industry in India
is among the significant emerging markets for global pharma industry.
The Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to reach $48.5 billion by
2020. India's R & D spending constitutes 60% of
Biopharmaceutical industry.
[224][225] India is among the top 12 Biotech destinations of the world.
[226]
The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012-13, increasing its
revenues from 204.4 Billion INR (Indian Rupees) to 235.24 Billion INR
(3.94 B US$ - exchange rate June 2013: 1 US$ approx. 60 INR)
[228] Although hardly 2% of Indians pay
income taxes.
[229]
Despite impressive economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. India contains the
largest concentration of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day, the proportion having decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005, and 25% in 2011 44% of India's children under the age of five are underweight, half the children under five suffer from chronic
malnutrition, and in the states of
Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar,
Chhattisgarh,
Haryana,
Jharkand,
Karnataka, and
Uttar Pradesh, which account for
50.04% of India's population, 70% of the children between the ages of six months and 59 months are
anaemic.
[232] The
Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates. 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.
Corruption in India is perceived to have increased significantly, with one report estimating the illegal capital flows since independence to be US$462 billion.
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, and is estimated to increase
to US$2,110 by 2016; however, it has remained lower than those of other
Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia,
Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in
the near future. While it is currently higher than Pakistan, Nepal,
Bangladesh and others.
According to a 2011
PricewaterhouseCoopers report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.
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.
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. 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.
Citing persistent
inflation pressures, weak
public finances, limited progress on fiscal consolidation and ineffectiveness of the government, rating agency
Fitch revised India's Outlook to Negative from Stable on 18 June 2012.
[240] Another
credit rating agency S&P
had warned previously that a slowing GDP growth and political
roadblocks to economic policy-making could put India at the risk of
losing its
investment grade rating.
[241] However,
Moody did not revise its outlook on India keeping it stable,
[242] but termed the national government as the "single biggest drag" on business activity.
[243]
Demographics
With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census, India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew at 1.76% per annum during 2001–2011, down from 2.13% per annum in the previous decade (1991–2001). The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males. The median age was 24.9 in the 2001 census. The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361.1 million people.
[245] 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. India continues to face several public health-related challenges. Life expectancy in India is at 68 years with life expectancy for women being 69.6 years and for men being 67.3.
[249] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians. The number of Indians living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001. Yet, in 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas. According to the 2001 census, there are 27
million-plus cities in India; among them
Delhi,
Mumbai,
Kolkata,
Chennai,
Bangalore,
Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad and
Pune are the
most populous metropolitan areas. The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males. Kerala is the most literate state with 95.5% literacy; while Bihar the least with 67.8%.
A
Bondo woman walks to a weekly market in Chattisgarh.
India is home to
two major language families:
Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and
Dravidian (24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the
Austroasiatic and
Tibeto-Burman language families. India has no national language. Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government. English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language"; 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 21 "scheduled languages". The Constitution of
India recognises 212
scheduled tribal groups which together constitute about 7.5% of the country's population. The 2001 census reported that
Hinduism, with over 800 million adherents (80.5% of the population), was the largest
religion in India; it is followed by
Islam (13.4%),
Christianity (2.3%),
Sikhism (1.9%),
Buddhism (0.8%),
Jainism (0.4%),
Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, and the
Bahá'í Faith. India has the world's largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian, and Bahá'í populations, and has the
third-largest Muslim population and the largest Muslim population for a non-Muslim majority country.
[262][263]
Culture
Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years. During the
Vedic period (c. 1700 – 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. India is notable for its
religious diversity, with
Hinduism,
Sikhism,
Islam,
Christianity, and
Jainism among 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, the
Bhakti movement, and by
Buddhist philosophy.
Art and architecture
Much of
Indian architecture, including the
Taj Mahal, other works of
Mughal architecture, and
South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.
Vernacular architecture is also highly regional in it flavours.
Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to
Mamuni Mayan, explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings; it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs. 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". 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."
[273] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on
Indo-Islamic architecture.
Literature
The earliest literary writings in India, composed between 1400 BCE and 1200 CE, were in the Sanskrit language.
[275] Prominent works of this
Sanskrit literature include
epics such as the
Mahābhārata and the
Ramayana, the dramas of
Kālidāsa such as the
Abhijñānaśākuntalam (
The Recognition of Śakuntalā), and poetry such as the
Mahākāvya.
Kamasutra, the famous book about
sexual intercourse also originated in India. Developed between 600 BCE and 300 CE in South India, the
Sangam literature, consisting of 2,381 poems, is regarded as a predecessor of
Tamil literature.
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.
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.
Performing arts
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. 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 the Punjab, the
bihu of Assam, the
chhau of Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand,
Garba and
Dandiya of Gujarat,
sambalpuri of Odisha,
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.
Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.
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.
Motion pictures
The
Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema. Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the
Assamese,
Bengali,
Hindi,
Kannada,
Malayalam,
Punjabi,
Gujarati,
Marathi,
Oriya,
Tamil, and
Telugu languages. South Indian cinema attracts more than 75% of national film revenue.
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of
communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades. The
state monopoly
on television broadcast ended in the 1990s and, since then, satellite
channels have increasingly shaped popular culture of Indian society.
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 and/or cable connections, compared
to other forms of mass media such as press (350 million), radio (156
million) or internet (37 million).
Society
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". India declared untouchability to be illegal
[297]
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.
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. An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have
their marriages arranged by their parents or other family members. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low.
Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many
women in India wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.
Female infanticide in India and
female foeticide in India
have caused a discrepancy in the sex ratio, as of 2005 it was estimated
that there were 50 million more males than females in the nation. However the recent report from 2011 shown improvement among the gender ratio.
[306] The payment of
Dowry, although
illegal, remains widespread across class lines.
[307] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from
bride burning, is on the rise.
[308]
Many
Indian festivals are religious in origin; among them are
Chhath,
Christmas,
Diwali,
Durga Puja,
Bakr-Id,
Eid ul-Fitr,
Ganesh Chaturthi,
Holi,
Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan,
Navratri,
Thai Pongal, and
Vaisakhi. India has
three national holidays which are observed in all states and union territories:
Republic Day,
Independence Day, and
Gandhi Jayanti. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in individual states.
Throughout India, many people practice customs and religious rituals, such as "
Saṃskāra," which is a series of "personal sacraments and rites conducted at various stages throughout life."
[309]
Clothing
Cotton was domesticated in India by 4000 B.C.E. 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.
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.
Sport
Boys play football in Manipur.
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.
Pachisi, from which
parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.
Indian chess grandmaster and former world champion
Vishwanathan Anand competes at a chess tournament in 2005. Chess is commonly believed to have originated in India in the 5th century.
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. 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. Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton, boxing, and wrestling.
Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.
[321]
Field hockey in India is administered by
Hockey India. The
Indian national hockey team won the 1975
Hockey World Cup
and have, as of 2012, taken eight gold, one silver, and two bronze
Olympic medals, making it the sport's most successful team in the
Olympics.
In a career of twenty four-year span,
Sachin Tendulkar
has created almost all batting records, including most runs in both
tests and ODIs and most number of centuries in both tests and ODIs, thus
making him the most successful cricketer ever.
India has also played a major role in popularising
cricket. Thus, cricket is, by far, the most popular sport of India. The
Indian national cricket team won the
1983 and
2011 Cricket World Cup events, the
2007 ICC World Twenty20, shared the
2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and won
2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
Cricket in India is administered by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI); the
Ranji Trophy, the
Duleep Trophy, the
Deodhar Trophy, the
Irani Trophy, and the
NKP Salve Challenger Trophy are domestic competitions. The BCCI is also responsible for conducting an annual
Twenty20 competition known as the
Indian Premier League.
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; and the
2010 Commonwealth Games. 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
Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011.
India has traditionally been the dominant country at the
South Asian Games. An example of this dominance is the
basketball competition where
Team India won three out of four tournaments to date.
[323] The
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the
Arjuna Award are the highest forms of government recognition for athletic achievement; the
Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in coaching.
(
