India

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Coordinates: 21°N 78°E / 21°N 78°E / 21; 78
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This article is about the Republic of India. For other uses, see India (disambiguation).

Republic of India
Bhārat Gaṇarājya
Motto: 
Hindi)[a][2][3]
"Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[4][2]

National song:
Sanskrit)[c]
"I Bow to Thee, Mother"[b][1][2]

Image of a globe centred on India, with India highlighted.
  Territory controlled by India
  Territory claimed but not controlled
CapitalNew Delhi
28°36′50″N 77°12′30″E / 28.61389°N 77.20833°E / 28.61389; 77.20833
Largest city by city proper populationMumbai
Largest city by metropolitan area populationDelhi
Official languages
Recognised regional languages
State level and Eighth Schedule[9]
Native languages424 languages[g]
Religion
(2011)[11]
Demonym(s)
GovernmentFederal parliamentary republic
• President
Droupadi Murmu
Narendra Modi
LegislatureParliament
• Upper house
Rajya Sabha
• Lower house
Lok Sabha
Independence 
from the United Kingdom
• Dominion
15 August 1947
• Republic
26 January 1950
₹) (INR)
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
DST is not observed.
Date format
Calling code+91
ISO 3166 codeIN
Internet TLD.in (others)

India, officially the Republic of India,[j][21] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country from June 2023 onwards;[22][23] and since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy.[24][25][26] Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;[k] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

Its hymns recorded the dawning of Hinduism in India.[35] India's pre-existing Dravidian languages were supplanted in the northern regions.[36] By 400 BCE, caste had emerged within Hinduism,[37] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity.[38] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires.[39] Widespread creativity suffused this era,[40] but the status of women declined,[41] and untouchability became an organized belief.[l][42] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian language scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[43]

In the early mediaeval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts.[44] Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains.[45] The resulting Delhi Sultanate drew northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of mediaeval Islam.[46] In south India, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture.[47] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.[48] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,[49] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[m][50] Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company turned India into a colonial economy but consolidated its sovereignty.[51] British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,[52][53] but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and public life took root.[54] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement, noted for nonviolent resistance, became the major factor in ending British rule.[55][56] In 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions,[57][58][59][60] a Hindu-majority dominion of India and a Muslim-majority dominion of Pakistan. A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition.[61]

India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to over 1.4 billion in 2023.[62] During this time, its nominal

biodiversity hotspots.[70] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in its culture,[71] is supported in protected habitats
.

Etymology

Main article: Names for India

According to the

Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία), ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός), Old Persian Hindush (an eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire), and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu, or "river", specifically the Indus River and, by implication, its well-settled southern basin.[72][73] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, "The people of the Indus".[74]

The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ⓘ), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India,[75][76] is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to North India,[77][78] Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[75][79]

Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ⓘ) is a Middle Persian name for India that became popular by the 13th century,[80] and was used widely since the era of the Mughal Empire. The meaning of Hindustan has varied, referring to a region encompassing the northern Indian subcontinent (present-day northern India and Pakistan) or to India in its near entirety.[75][79][81]

History

Main articles:
History of the Republic of India

Ancient India

Manuscript illustration, c. 1650, of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, composed in story-telling fashion c. 400 BCE – c. 300 CE[82]

By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or

Homo sapiens, had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa.[28][29][30] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[28] 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 Balochistan, Pakistan.[83] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[84][83] the first urban culture in South Asia,[85] which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India.[86] 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.[85]

During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the

irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[91]

Cave 26 of the rock-cut Ajanta Caves

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

dhamma.[102][103]

The

Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[108]

Medieval India

Main article: Medieval India
Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish

The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.[110] 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.[111] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[111] 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.[111] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region.[110] 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.[112] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[112]

In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[113] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[113] 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.[114] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[114] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.[115] Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; Southeast Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.[115]

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.[116] 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.[117][118] 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.[119][120] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[121] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[122] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[121]

Early modern India

In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,

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.[132] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[132] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[133]

A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort
A two mohur Company gold coin, issued in 1835, the obverse inscribed "William IIII, King"

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.[134][135] The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength 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.[136][134][137][138] 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.[139] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.[134] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform, and culture.[140]

Modern India

Main article: History of India (1947–present)

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.[141][142][143][144] 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.[145][146] 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.[147][148] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[149][150][151][152]

The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks, and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets.[153] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[154] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[155] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[156] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[157] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[157] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[156]

1909 map of the British Indian Empire
Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mahatma Gandhi, Mumbai, 6 July 1946

After

nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mahatma Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[159] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[160] 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.[161]

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.

Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[167] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[168] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[169] and with Pakistan.[169] 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.[170]

Geography

Main article: Geography of India

India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the

Aravalli range, which extends from the Delhi Ridge in a southwesterly direction. To the west lies the Thar Desert, the eastern spread of which is checked by the Aravallis.[174][175][176]

tidal creek in Anjarle
village, Maharashtra

The remaining 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.[178] 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;[179] 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[n] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.[180]

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.[181] 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.[181]

Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the

Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[185] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[186] 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.[187] 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.[188]

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.[189] 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.[190][191] 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.[189] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[192]

Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.

Brahmaputra.[194] According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.[195]

Biodiversity

Main articles: Forestry in India and Wildlife of India

India is a

endemic, to them.[196] India is the habitat for 8.6% of all mammals, 13.7% of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2% of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[197][198] Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.[199] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots,[70] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.[o][200]

India's most dense forests, such as the

Himalayas, the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India.[203] India has two natural zones of thorn forest, one in the Deccan Plateau, immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible.[204]

Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the

Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[208]

Many Indian species have descended from those of

hooded leaf monkey[213] and the threatened[214] Beddome's toad[214][215]
of the Western Ghats.

India contains 172

more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and eighteen biosphere reserves,[221] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; seventy-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[222]

Politics and government

Politics

Main article: Politics of India
landless people in Madhya Pradesh listen to Rajagopal P. V.[224]

A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system,[225] India has six recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 50 regional parties.[226] The Congress is considered center in Indian political culture,[227] and the BJP right-wing.[228][229][230] 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,[231] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalition governments at the center.[232]

In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in

V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.[233] 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.[234]

US president Barack Obama addresses the members of the Parliament of India in New Delhi in November 2010.

A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of

India's communist parties.[236] 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.[237] 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.[238] In the 2019 general election, the BJP was victorious again with majority. In the 2024 general election, the BJP failed to achieve majority and the BJP-led NDA coalition formed the government. Narendra Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat, is serving as the prime minister of India in his third term since May 26, 2014.[239]

Government

Main articles: Government of India and Constitution of India
Viceroy of India, and constructed between 1911 and 1931 during the British Raj.[240]

India is a

socialist, secular, democratic republic".[242] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,[243] has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[244][245]

The Government of India comprises three branches: the

political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[250] 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.[247] In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and their council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. Civil servants act as permanent executives and all decisions of the executive are implemented by them.[252]

The legislature of India is the

Anglo-Indians to two seats in the Lok Sabha; this provision was removed in 2019.[255][257] A number of seats from each state are reserved for candidates from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population within that state.[255]

India has a three-tier unitary

appellate jurisdiction over the high courts.[259] It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution[260] and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.[261]

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of India
See also: Political integration of India

India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories.[12] All states, as well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[262] There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.[263]

AfghanistanMyanmarChinaTajikistanIndian OceanBay of BengalAndaman SeaArabian SeaLaccadive SeaAndaman and Nicobar IslandsChandigarhDadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and DiuDelhiLakshadweepPuducherryPuducherryGoaKeralaManipurMeghalayaMizoramNagalandSikkimTripuraPakistanNepalBhutanBangladeshSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSri LankaSiachen GlacierDisputed territory in Jammu and KashmirDisputed territory in Jammu and KashmirJammu and KashmirLadakhChandigarhDelhiDadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and DiuDadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and DiuPuducherryPuducherryPuducherryPuducherryGoaGujaratKarnatakaKeralaMadhya PradeshMaharashtraRajasthanTamil NaduAssamMeghalayaAndhra PradeshArunachal PradeshNagalandManipurMizoramTelanganaTripuraWest BengalSikkimBiharJharkhandOdishaChhattisgarhUttar PradeshUttarakhandHaryanaPunjabHimachal Pradesh
A clickable map of the 28 states and 8 union territories of India

States

  1. Andhra Pradesh
  2. Arunachal Pradesh
  3. Assam
  4. Bihar
  5. Chhattisgarh
  6. Goa
  7. Gujarat
  8. Haryana
  9. Himachal Pradesh
  10. Jharkhand
  11. Karnataka
  12. Kerala
  13. Madhya Pradesh
  14. Maharashtra
  15. Manipur
  16. Meghalaya
  17. Mizoram
  18. Nagaland
  19. Odisha
  20. Punjab
  21. Rajasthan
  22. Sikkim
  23. Tamil Nadu
  24. Telangana
  25. Tripura
  26. Uttar Pradesh
  27. Uttarakhand
  28. West Bengal

Union territories

Foreign, economic, and strategic relations

Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces
During the 1950s and 60s, India played a pivotal role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[264] From left to right: Gamal Abdel Nasser of United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru in Belgrade, September 1961.

India became a republic in 1950 and chose to stay in the

ties with the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.[271]

Aside from its ongoing

ASEAN nations, Japan, and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving economic investment and regional security.[275][276]

The Indian Air Force contingent marching at the 221st Bastille Day military parade in Paris, on 14 July 2009. The parade at which India was the foreign guest was led by India's oldest regiment, the Maratha Light Infantry, founded in 1768.[277]

China's

Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[284]

India is estimated to possess up to 172 nuclear warheads, and is considered to be producing both highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons-grade plutonium, with its HEU production assumed to be focused on its growing number of nuclear-powered vessels' and submarines' fuels.[285][286] Kristensen et al. of Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists estimate that India is operating eight nuclear-capable systems as of 2024, including aircraft, land-based and sea-based ballistic missile systems, with most of its programs in development thought to be nearing "completion and to be fielded with the armed forces soon".[285]

Since the end of the

civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[288] India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[289] France,[290] the United Kingdom,[291] and Canada.[292]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India (left, background) in talks with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico during a visit to Mexico, 2016

The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.45 million active troops, they compose the

missile defence system.[300]

Economy

Main article: Economy of India
A farmer in northwestern Karnataka ploughs his field with a tractor even as another in a field beyond does the same with a pair of oxen. In 2019, 43% of India's total workforce was employed in agriculture.[301]
India is the world's largest producer of milk, with the largest population of cattle. In 2018, nearly 80% of India's milk was sourced from small farms with herd size between one and two, the milk harvested by hand milking.[303]
Women tend to a recently planted rice field in Junagadh district in Gujarat. 55% of India's female workforce was employed in agriculture in 2019.[302]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2024 was nominally worth $3.94 trillion; it was the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates and is, at around $15.0 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[17] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[304] India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.[305] However, due to its low GDP per capita—which ranks 136th in the world in nominal per capita income and 125th in per capita income adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP)—the vast majority of Indians fall into the low-income group.[306][307] 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;[308] since then, it has moved increasingly towards a free-market system[309][310] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[311] India has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.[312]

The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second largest, as of 2017.[293] 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$100 billion in 2022,[313] highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries.[314] Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[12] Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.[12] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.[309] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.7%;[315] In 2021, India was the world's ninth-largest importer and the sixteenth-largest exporter.[316] Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.[12] Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[12] Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.[317] India was the world's second-largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year.[318]

Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[309] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[319] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[320] Though ranking 68th in global competitiveness,[321] as of 2010, India ranks 17th in financial market sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies.[322] With seven of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009, the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States.[323] India is ranked 39th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.[324] In 2023, India's consumer market was the world's fifth largest.[325]

Driven by growth, India's nominal

GDP per capita increased steadily from US$308 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,380 in 2010, to an estimated US$2,731 in 2024. It is expected to grow to US$3,264 by 2026.[17]
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.

A panorama of Bengaluru, the centre of India's software development economy. In the 1980s, when the first multinational corporations began to set up centres in India, they chose Bengaluru (then called Bangalore) because of the large pool of skilled graduates in the area, in turn due to the many science and engineering colleges in the surrounding region.[326]

According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[327] 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.[327] 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.[327] 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, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.[328]

According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report released by the

Bengaluru (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[329]

Industries

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

India's telecommunication industry is the second-largest in the world with over 1.2 billion subscribers. It contributes 6.5% to India's GDP.[330] After the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second-largest smartphone market in the world after China.[331]

The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[332] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.[333] In 2022, India became the world's third-largest vehicle market after China and the United States, surpassing Japan.[334] At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP, and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[335]

The pharmaceutical industry in India emerged as a global player. As of 2021, with 3000 pharmaceutical companies and 10,500 manufacturing units, India is the world's third-largest pharmaceutical producer, largest producer of generic medicines and supply up to 50–60% of global vaccines demand, these all contribute up to US$24.44 billions in exports and India's local pharmaceutical market is estimated up to US$42 billion.[336][337] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.[338][339] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing its revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at June 2013 exchange rates).[340]

Energy

Main articles: Energy in India and Energy policy of India

India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts is

clean cooking with liquefied petroleum gas have been priorities for energy in India.[345]

Socio-economic challenges

Health workers about to begin another day of immunisation against infectious diseases in 2006. Eight years later, and three years after India's last case of polio, the World Health Organization declared India to be polio-free.[346]

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.[347] The proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.[348] Under the World Bank's later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[q][350] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[351] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[352][353] The Midday Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[354]

A 2018

bonded labour, child labour, human trafficking, and forced begging.[355] According to the 2011 census, there were 10.1 million child labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6 million from 12.6 million in 2001.[356]

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.[357] Corruption in India is perceived to have decreased. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, India ranked 78th out of 180 countries in 2018, an improvement from 85th in 2014.[358][359]

Demographics, languages, and religion

Main articles: Demographics of India, Languages of India, and Religion in India
See also:
South Asian ethnic groups
India by language
The language families of South Asia

With an estimated 1,428,627,663 residents in 2023, India is the world's most populous country.

2011 provisional census report.[360] Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011,[361] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[361] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[360] The median age was 28.7 in 2020.[293] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[362] 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.[363]

The life expectancy in India is at 70 years—71.5 years for women, 68.7 years for men.

Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in decreasing order by population.[369] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[370] The rural-urban literacy gap, which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas.[368] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[370]

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

Among speakers of the Indian languages, 74% speak Indo-Aryan languages, the easternmost branch of the Indo-European languages; 24% speak Dravidian languages, indigenous to South Asia and spoken widely before the spread of Indo-Aryan languages and 2% speak Austroasiatic languages or the Sino-Tibetan languages. India has no national language.[371] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[372][373] English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[6] it is important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 "scheduled languages".

The 2011 census reported the

third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.[374][375]

Culture

Main article: Culture of India
Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar
, Punjab

Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.

Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[377] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[378] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[377] and by Buddhist philosophy.[379]

Visual art

Main article: Indian art

India has a very ancient tradition of art, which has exchanged many influences with the rest of

sculpture in durable materials, or coins. There was probably originally far more in wood, which is lost. In north India Mauryan art is the first imperial movement.[384][385][386] In the first millennium CE, Buddhist art spread with Indian religions to Central, East and Southeast Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art.[387] Over the following centuries a distinctly Indian style of sculpting the human figure developed, with less interest in articulating precise anatomy than ancient Greek sculpture but showing smoothly flowing forms expressing prana ("breath" or life-force).[388][389] This is often complicated by the need to give figures multiple arms or heads, or represent different genders on the left and right of figures, as with the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva and Parvati.[390][391]

Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from Buddhist

Ellora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later.[393][394] In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups, and sculptors probably usually served all communities.[395] Gupta art, at its peak c. 300 CE – c. 500 CE, is often regarded as a classical period whose influence lingered for many centuries after; it saw a new dominance of Hindu sculpture, as at the Elephanta Caves.[396][397] Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic after c. 800 CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues.[398] But in the South, under the Pallava and Chola dynasties, sculpture in both stone and bronze had a sustained period of great achievement; the large bronzes with Shiva as Nataraja have become an iconic symbol of India.[399][400]

Ancient painting has only survived at a few sites, of which the crowded scenes of court life in the

Calcutta, which later saw the Bengal School of Art, reflecting the art colleges founded by the British, the first movement in modern Indian painting.[410][411]

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of India
Yamuna river
showing two outlying red sandstone buildings, a mosque on the right (west) and a jawab (response) thought to have been built for architectural balance

Much of Indian architecture, including the

Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[418]

Literature

Main article: Indian literature

The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in the

Mahākāvya poetry.[420][421][422] In Tamil literature, the Sangam literature (c. 600 BCE – c. 300 BCE) consisting of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.[423][424][425][426] From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets like Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions.[427] 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 Rabindranath Tagore,[428] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
.

Performing arts and media

Main articles: Music of India, Dance in India, Cinema of India, and Television in India
India's National Academy of Performance Arts has recognised eight Indian dance styles to be classical. One such is Kuchipudi shown here.

Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles.

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.[430]

burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[432] India has a theatre training institute, the National School of Drama (NSD), in New Delhi.[433]
The
Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[435] The Hindi language film industry (Bollywood) is the largest sector representing 43% of box office revenue, followed by the South Indian Telugu and Tamil film industries which represent 36% combined.[436]

Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.[437][438] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[439] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite or cable connections compared to other forms of mass media such as the press (350 million), radio (156 million) or internet (37 million).[440]

Society

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

Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The

endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[441] India abolished untouchability in 1950 with the adoption of the constitution
and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives.

Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[451]

Many

Christmas, and Vaisakhi.[452][453]

Education

Main articles: Education in India, Literacy in India, and History of education in the Indian subcontinent
Children awaiting school lunch in Rayka (also Raika), a village in rural Gujarat. The salutation Jai Bhim written on the blackboard honours the jurist, social reformer, and Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar.

In the 2011 census, about 73% of the population was literate, with 81% for men and 65% for women. This compares to 1981 when the respective rates were 41%, 53% and 29%. In 1951 the rates were 18%, 27% and 9%. In 1921 the rates 7%, 12% and 2%. In 1891 they were 5%, 9% and 1%,[454][455] According to Latika Chaudhary, in 1911 there were under three primary schools for every ten villages. Statistically, more caste and religious diversity reduced private spending. Primary schools taught literacy, so local diversity limited its growth.[456]

The education system of India is the world's second-largest.[457] India has over 900 universities, 40,000 colleges[458] and 1.5 million schools.[459] In India's higher education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development.[460][461]

Clothing

Main article: Clothing in India
Women in sari at an adult literacy class in Tamil Nadu
A man in dhoti and wearing a woollen shawl, in Varanasi

From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional dress in India was draped.[462] For women it took the form of a sari, a single piece of cloth many yards long.[462] The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder.[462] In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or Indian petticoat, and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also commonly worn with an Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—covering the midriff and obscuring the upper body's contours.[462] For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[463]

The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at first by the

kameez.[464] In southern India, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.[464]

kameez (with back to the camera), jeans and sweater, and pink shalwar kameez

Salwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[465] The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias, in which case they are called churidars. When they are ordinarily wide at the waist and their bottoms are hemmed but not cuffed, they are called pyjamas. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic,[466] its side seams left open below the waistline.[467] The kurta is traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such as chikan; and typically falls to either just above or just below the wearer's knees.[468]

In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they remain popular on formal occasions.

groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars.[469] The dhoti, once the universal garment of Hindu males, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwoven khadi allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,[470]
is seldom seen in the cities.[469]

Cuisine

Main article: Indian cuisine
South Indian vegetarian thali, or platter
Railway mutton curry from Odisha

The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked in a plain fashion and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.

cardamon and others.[471] They might also include poultry, fish, or meat dishes. In some instances, the ingredients might be mixed during the process of cooking.[474]

A platter, or thali, used for eating usually has a central place reserved for the cooked cereal, and peripheral ones for the flavourful accompaniments. The cereal and its accompaniments are eaten simultaneously rather than a piecemeal manner. This is accomplished by mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or folding, wrapping, scooping or dipping—such as chapati and cooked vegetables.[471]

A tandoor chef in the
Turkman Gate, Old Delhi, makes Khameeri roti (a Muslim-influenced style of leavened bread).[475]

India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[476] The appearance of ahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in many religious orders early in Indian history, especially Upanishadic Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, is thought to have contributed to the predominance of vegetarianism among a large segment of India's Hindu population, especially in southern India, Gujarat, the Hindi-speaking belt of north-central India, as well as among Jains.[476] Although meat is eaten widely in India, the proportional consumption of meat in the overall diet is low.[477] Unlike China, which has increased its per capita meat consumption substantially in its years of increased economic growth, in India the strong dietary traditions have contributed to dairy, rather than meat, becoming the preferred form of animal protein consumption.[478]

The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during the

Abbasid caliphate,[480] and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern India from regions to its northwest.[481] To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia, onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.[481] Rice was partially cooked and layered alternately with the sauteed meat, the pot sealed tightly, and slow cooked according to another Persian cooking technique, to produce what has today become biryani,[481] a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.[482] In the food served in Indian restaurants worldwide the diversity of Indian food has been partially concealed by the dominance of Punjabi cuisine. The popularity of tandoori chicken—cooked in the tandoor oven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally from Central Asia—dates to the 1950s, and was caused in large part by an entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab who had been displaced by the 1947 partition.[476]

Sports and recreation

Main article: Sport in India
See also: Indian physical culture
Girls play hopscotch in Jaora, Madhya Pradesh. Hopscotch has been commonly played by girls in rural India.[483]

Several

Akbar the Great.[487]

Cricket is the most popular sport in India.[488] India has won two Cricket World Cups, the 1983 edition and the 2011 edition. India has won eight field hockey gold medals in the summer Olympics.[489] India has participated in shooting sports and has won several medals at the

football) and the Pro Kabaddi League.[495][496][497]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Originally written in Sanskritised Bengali and adopted as the national anthem in its Hindi translation
  2. ^ "[...] 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."[5]
  3. ^ Written in a mixture of Sanskrit and Sanskritised Bengali
  4. Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Union, along with English as an additional official language.[1][6][7] States and union territories
    can have a different official language of their own other than Hindi or English.
  5. ^ Not all the state-level official languages are in the eighth schedule and not all the scheduled languages are state-level official languages. For example, the Sindhi language is an 8th scheduled but not a state-level official language.
  6. ^ Kashmiri and Dogri language are the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir which is currently a union territory and no longer the former state.
  7. ^
    • According to Ethnologue, there are 424 living indigenous languages in India, in contrast to 11 extinct indigenous languages. In addition, there are also 29 living non-indigenous languages.[10]
    • Different sources give widely differing figures, primarily based on how the terms "language" and "dialect" are defined and grouped.
  8. ^ "The country's exact size is subject to debate because some borders are disputed. The Indian government lists the total area as 3,287,260 km2 (1,269,220 sq mi) and the total land area as 3,060,500 km2 (1,181,700 sq mi); the United Nations lists the total area as 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi) and total land area as 2,973,190 km2 (1,147,960 sq mi)."[12]
  9. ^ See Date and time notation in India.
  10. ^ ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya
  11. ^ The Government of India also regards Afghanistan as a bordering country, as it considers all of Kashmir to be part of India. However, this is disputed, and the region bordering Afghanistan is administered by Pakistan.[27]
  12. ^ "A Chinese pilgrim also recorded evidence of the caste system as he could observe it. According to this evidence the treatment meted out to untouchables such as the Chandalas was very similar to that which they experienced in later periods. This would contradict assertions that this rigid form of the caste system emerged in India only as a reaction to the Islamic conquest."[42]
  13. ^ "Shah Jahan eventually sent her body 800 km (500 mi) to Agra for burial in the Rauza-i Munauwara ("Illuminated Tomb") – a personal tribute and a stone manifestation of his imperial power. This tomb has been celebrated globally as the Taj Mahal."[50]
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographical region which has more than 1,500 vascular plant species, but less than 30% of its primary habitat.[200]
  16. ^ A forest cover is moderately dense if between 40% and 70% of its area is covered by its tree canopy.
  17. ^ In 2015, the World Bank raised its international poverty line to $1.90 per day.[349]
  18. ^ Besides specific religions, the last two categories in the 2011 Census were "Other religions and persuasions" (0.65%) and "Religion not stated" (0.23%).

References

  1. ^ a b c National Informatics Centre 2005.
  2. ^ a b c d "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.
  3. ^ "National anthem of India: a brief on 'Jana Gana Mana'", News18, 14 August 2012, archived from the original on 17 April 2019, retrieved 7 June 2019
  4. ^ Wolpert 2003, p. 1.
  5. ^ Constituent Assembly of India 1950.
  6. ^ a b Ministry of Home Affairs 1960.
  7. ^ "Profile | National Portal of India", India.gov.in, archived from the original on 30 August 2013, retrieved 23 August 2013
  8. ^ "Constitutional Provisions – Official Language Related Part-17 of the Constitution of India", Department of Official Language via Government of India, archived from the original on 18 April 2021, retrieved 18 April 2021
  9. ^ "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF), Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016, retrieved 26 December 2014
  10. ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (2024), "India", Ethnologue: Languages of the World (27 ed.)
  11. ^
    Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, archived from the original
    on 25 August 2015, retrieved 25 August 2015
  12. ^ a b c d e f Library of Congress 2004.
  13. ^ a b "World Population Prospects", Population Division – United Nations, retrieved 2 July 2023
  14. ^ "Population Enumeration Data (Final Population)", 2011 Census Data, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, archived from the original on 22 May 2016, retrieved 17 June 2016
  15. ^ "A – 2 Decadal Variation in Population Since 1901" (PDF), 2011 Census Data, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2016, retrieved 17 June 2016
  16. ^ a b c d "India Datasets", International Monetary Fund, retrieved 6 January 2025
  17. ^ a b c "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (India)", imf.org, International Monetary Fund, 22 October 2024, retrieved 22 October 2024
  18. ^ "Gini index (World Bank estimate) – India", World Bank
  19. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF), United Nations Development Programme, 13 March 2024, retrieved 13 March 2024
  20. ^ "List of all left- & right-driving countries around the world", worldstandards.eu, 13 May 2020, retrieved 10 June 2020
  21. ^
  22. ^ Biswas, Soutik (1 May 2023), "Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic?", BBC, retrieved 3 May 2023
  23. ^ World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results (PDF), New York: United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs, 2022, p. i
  24. ^ Metcalf & Metcalf 2012, p. 327, "Even though much remains to be done, especially in regard to eradicating poverty and securing effective structures of governance, India's achievements since independence in sustaining freedom and democracy have been singular among the world's new nations.".
  25. ^ Stein, Burton (2012), Arnold, David (ed.), A History of India, The Blackwell History of the World Series (2nd ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, One of these is the idea of India as 'the world's largest democracy', but a democracy forged less by the creation of representative institutions and expanding electorate under British rule than by the endeavours of India's founding fathers – Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar – and the labours of the Constituent Assembly between 1946 and 1949, embodied in the Indian constitution of 1950. This democratic order, reinforced by the regular holding of nationwide elections and polling for the state assemblies, has, it can be argued, consistently underpinned a fundamentally democratic state structure – despite the anomaly of the Emergency and the apparent durability of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty.
  26. ^ Fisher 2018, pp. 184–185: "Since 1947, India's internal disputes over its national identity, while periodically bitter and occasionally punctuated by violence, have been largely managed with remarkable and sustained commitment to national unity and democracy."
  27. ^ "Ministry of Home Affairs (Department of Border Management)" (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2015, retrieved 1 September 2008
  28. ^ a b c Petraglia & Allchin 2007, p. 10, "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73 and 55 ka."
  29. ^ a b Dyson 2018, p. 1, "Modern human beings—Homo sapiens—originated in Africa. Then, intermittently, sometime between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago, tiny groups of them began to enter the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. It seems likely that initially they came by way of the coast. ... it is virtually certain that there were Homo sapiens in the subcontinent 55,000 years ago, even though the earliest fossils that have been found of them date to only about 30,000 years before the present."
  30. ^ a b Fisher 2018, p. 23, "Scholars estimate that the first successful expansion of the Homo sapiens range beyond Africa and across the Arabian Peninsula occurred from as early as 80,000 years ago to as late as 40,000 years ago, although there may have been prior unsuccessful emigrations. Some of their descendants extended the human range ever further in each generation, spreading into each habitable land they encountered. One human channel was along the warm and productive coastal lands of the Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean. Eventually, various bands entered India between 75,000 years ago and 35,000 years ago."
  31. ^ Dyson 2018, p. 28
  32. ^ (a) Dyson 2018, pp. 4–5;
    (b) Fisher 2018, p. 33
  33. ^ Lowe 2015, pp. 1–2, "It consists of 1,028 hymns (sūktas), highly crafted poetic compositions originally intended for recital during rituals and for the invocation of and communication with the Indo-Aryan gods. Modern scholarly opinion largely agrees that these hymns were composed between around 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE, during the eastward migration of the Indo-Aryan tribes from the mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across the Punjab into north India."
  34. ^ (a) Witzel 2003, pp. 68–70, "It is known from internal evidence that the Vedic texts were orally composed in northern India, at first in the Greater Punjab and later on also in more eastern areas, including northern Bihar, between ca. 1500 BCE and ca. 500–400 BCE. The oldest text, the Rgveda, must have been more or less contemporary with the Mitanni texts of northern Syria/Iraq (1450–1350 BCE); [...] The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without the use of script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalised early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is in fact something of a tape-recording of ca. 1500–500 BCE. Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. [...] The RV text was composed before the introduction and massive use of iron, that is before ca. 1200–1000 BCE.";
    (b) Doniger 2014, pp. xviii, 10, "A Chronology of Hinduism: ca. 1500–1000 BCE Rig Veda; ca. 1200–900 BCE Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda [...] Hindu texts began with the Rig Veda ('Knowledge of Verses'), composed in northwest India around 1500 BCE; the first of the three Vedas, it is the earliest extant text composed in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India.";
    (c) Ludden 2014, p. 19, "In Punjab, a dry region with grasslands watered by five rivers (hence 'panch' and 'ab') draining the western Himalayas, one prehistoric culture left no material remains, but some of its ritual texts were preserved orally over the millennia. The culture is called Aryan, and evidence in its texts indicates that it spread slowly south-east, following the course of the Yamuna and Ganga Rivers. Its elite called itself Arya (pure) and distinguished themselves sharply from others. Aryans led kin groups organized as nomadic horse-herding tribes. Their ritual texts are called Vedas, composed in Sanskrit. Vedic Sanskrit is recorded only in hymns that were part of Vedic rituals to Aryan gods. To be Aryan apparently meant to belong to the elite among pastoral tribes. Texts that record Aryan culture are not precisely datable, but they seem to begin around 1200 BCE with four collections of Vedic hymns (Rg, Sama, Yajur, and Artharva).";
    (d) Dyson 2018, pp. 14–15, "Although the collapse of the Indus valley civilization is no longer believed to have been due to an 'Aryan invasion' it is widely thought that, at roughly the same time, or perhaps a few centuries later, new Indo-Aryan-speaking people and influences began to enter the subcontinent from the north-west. Detailed evidence is lacking. Nevertheless, a predecessor of the language that would eventually be called Sanskrit was probably introduced into the north-west sometime between 3,900 and 3,000 years ago. This language was related to one then spoken in eastern Iran; and both of these languages belonged to the Indo-European language family. [...] It seems likely that various small-scale migrations were involved in the gradual introduction of the predecessor language and associated cultural characteristics. However, there may not have been a tight relationship between movements of people on the one hand, and changes in language and culture on the other. Moreover, the process whereby a dynamic new force gradually arose—a people with a distinct ideology who eventually seem to have referred to themselves as 'Arya'—was certainly two-way. That is, it involved a blending of new features which came from outside with other features—probably including some surviving Harappan influences—that were already present. Anyhow, it would be quite a few centuries before Sanskrit was written down. And the hymns and stories of the Arya people—especially the Vedas and the later Mahabharata and Ramayana epics—are poor guides as to historical events. Of course, the emerging Arya were to have a huge impact on the history of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, little is known about their early presence.";
    (e) Robb 2011, pp. 46–, "The expansion of Aryan culture is supposed to have begun around 1500 BCE. It should not be thought that this Aryan emergence (though it implies some migration) necessarily meant either a sudden invasion of new peoples, or a complete break with earlier traditions. It comprises a set of cultural ideas and practices, upheld by a Sanskrit-speaking elite, or Aryans. The features of this society are recorded in the Vedas."
  35. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0
    , It is this Sansrit, vedic, tradition which has maintained a continuity into modern times and which has provided the most important resource and inspiration for Hindu traditions and individuals. The Veda is the foundation for most later developments in what is known as Hinduism.
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  37. ^ Dyson 2018, p. 16
  38. ^ Fisher 2018, p. 59
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  55. ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7
    , The first modern nationalist movement to arise in the non-European empire, and one that became an inspiration for many others, was the Indian Congress.
  56. ISBN 978-1-317-58620-3
    , South Asian parties include several of the oldest in the post-colonial world, foremost among them the 129-year-old Indian National Congress that led India to independence in 1947
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  58. ISBN 978-0-415-48010-9, Joya Chatterji
    describes how the partition of the British Indian empire into the new nation states of India and Pakistan produced new diaspora on a vast, and hitherto unprecedented, scale, but hints that the sheer magnitude of refugee movements in South Asia after 1947 must be understood in the context of pre-existing migratory flows within the partitioned regions (see also Chatterji 2013). She also demonstrates that the new national states of India and Pakistan were quickly drawn into trying to stem this migration. As they put into place laws designed to restrict the return of partition emigrants, this produced new dilemmas for both new nations in their treatment of 'overseas Indians'; and many of them lost their right to return to their places of origin in the subcontinent, and also their claims to full citizenship in host countries.
  59. ISBN 978-0-521-85661-4, archived
    from the original on 13 December 2016, retrieved 15 November 2015, When the British divided and quit India in August 1947, they not only partitioned the subcontinent with the emergence of the two nations of India and Pakistan but also the provinces of Punjab and Bengal. ... Indeed for many the Indian subcontinent's division in August 1947 is seen as a unique event which defies comparative historical and conceptual analysis
  60. ISBN 978-0-300-23032-1
    , South Asians learned that the British Indian empire would be partitioned on 3 June 1947. They heard about it on the radio, from relations and friends, by reading newspapers and, later, through government pamphlets. Among a population of almost four hundred million, where the vast majority live in the countryside, ploughing the land as landless peasants or sharecroppers, it is hardly surprising that many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, did not hear the news for many weeks afterwards. For some, the butchery and forced relocation of the summer months of 1947 may have been the first that they knew about the creation of the two new states rising from the fragmentary and terminally weakened British empire in India
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    Quote: "The Indian government successfully argued that the medicinal neem tree is part of traditional Indian knowledge. (page 295)"
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    , By invading NEFA, the PRC did not just aim to force a humiliated India to recognise its possession of the Aksai Chin. It also hoped to get, once and for all, the upper hand in their shadowing competition.
    (b) Chubb, Andrew (2021),     "The Sino-Indian Border Crisis: Chinese Perceptions of Indian Nationalism", in Golley, Jane; Jaivan, Linda; Strange, Sharon (eds.), Crisis, Australian National University Press, pp. 231–232,
    ISBN 978-1-76046-439-4
    , The ensuing cycle of escalation culminated in the 1962 Sino-Indian border war in which Mao Zedong's troops overran almost the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern sector before unilaterally withdrawing, as if to underline the insult; most of the war's several thousand casualties were Indian. The PLA's decisive victories in the 1962 war not only humiliated the Indian Army, they also entrenched a status quo in Ladakh that was highly unfavourable for India, in which China controls almost all of the disputed territory. A nationalistic press and commentariat have kept 1962 vivid in India's popular consciousness.
    (c) Lintner, Bertil (2018),     China's India War: Collision Course on the Roof of the World, Oxford University Press,
    ISBN 978-0-19-909163-8
    , Lin Biao was put in charge of the operation and that alliance between Mao and his loyal de facto chief of the PLA made the attack on India possible. With China's ultimate victory in the war, Mao's ultra-leftist line had won in China; whatever critical voices that were left in the Party after all the purges fell silent.
    (d) Medcalf, Rory (2020),     Indo-Pacific Empire: China, America and the contest for the world's pivotal, Manchester University Press,
    ISBN 978-1-5261-5077-6
    , From an Indian perspective, the China-India war of 1962 was a shocking betrayal of the principles of co-operation and coexistence: a surprise attack that humiliated India and personally broke Nehru.
    (e) Ganguly, Sumit (1997),     The Crisis in Kashmir: Portents of War, Hope of Peace, Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, p. 44,
    ISBN 978-0-521-65566-8
    , In October 1962 India suffered the most humiliating military debacle in its post-independence history, at the hands of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). The outcome of this conflict had far-reaching consequences for Indian foreign and defence policies. The harsh defeat that the Chinese PLA had inflicted on the Indian Army called into question some of the most deeply held precepts of Nehru's foreign and defence policies.
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