India bordering the Indian Ocean in the south, the Arabian Sea on the west and Bay of Bengal in the east. It borders Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal and Bhutan in north-east and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. Other countries close to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia in the Indian Ocean. Indian peninsula was home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and the great empires and was associated with the economic and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism arose there, while Zoroastrianism , Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium AD and shaped the area's diverse culture. India annexed progressively the British East India Company from the early 1700s and was colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-1800s. The country became independent in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by violent uprising and subsequent even more violent reprisals, mutinies, civil resistance and
non-violent resistance.
India is a federal republic consisting of 29 states and seven union territories, and a parliamentary democracy. It has the world's twelfth largest economy in terms of nominal exchange rates and the fourth largest in terms of purchasing power. Economic reforms have transformed India into the second fastest growing economy (2007), but the country still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition. India is a multi-religious, multilingual and multi-ethnic society that is also home to a diversity of animals and plants in a number of protected areas.
The name India is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local name for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians indole (Ινδοί), the Indus people. The Constitution of India and the mill in various Indian languages also recognize Bharat (pronunciation (info), / bʰɑːrət̪ /) as an official name of equal status. Hindustan (/ hin̪d̪ust̪ɑːn /), which is the Persian word for "Hindu country" and historically was referring to northern India , is also used occasionally for the whole of India, but was considered less appropriate in the Republic of India, as the republic according to its constitution is a secular state.
The earliest known traces of human life in India are rocks with paintings from the Stone Age in the Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. The first known permaneneta settlements were added for over 9000 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus culture, which dates back to 3300 BCE in western India. From about 2000-1500 BC assumed groups who spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the so-called Aryans, have migrated to India. This was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in 500 BC. From about 550 BC, was formed many independent kingdoms and republics across the country. The most significant of these was Magadhariket (about 550-324 BCE). 327/326 BC was Alexander the Great at the Indian border.
During the 200-century BC were most of South Asia to the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka.Från 200 century AD, under the Gupta Empire period, interrupted the period known as "India's golden age." Among Empires in southern India were Chalukyadynastins and Choladynastins and Vijayanagarariket. Science and engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.
Following invasions from Central Asia, from the 900s to the 1100s fell much of northern India during Delhisultanatets (1290-1413) and later (1526-1707) Mogul Empire rule. During Akbar the Great, India faced much cultural and economic progress as well as religious harmony. Mogulkejsarna gradually expanded their kingdoms so that they covered large parts of the subcontinent. In northeast India, however, was the dominant power kingdom of Assam, among the few kingdoms that stood against Mughal supremacy.
From the 1500s established European countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, France and the UK trading posts and later took advantage of internal conflicts to form colonies in the country. In the year 1856 were greater part of India during the British East India Company's control. A year later there was a nationwide uprising of military units and kingdoms, known as sepoyupproret, which seriously challenged the East India Company's control but eventually failed. As a result of the instability was India during the British Crown direct rule, as part of the so-called British Raj or British India.
Mahatma Gandhi (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru, 1937. Nehru later became India's first prime minister in 1947.
In the 1900s began the Congress (Indian National Congress) and other political organizations, a nationwide struggle for independence. The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi led millions of people in national campaigns of non-violent resistance.
August 15, 1947, India became a dominion in the British Commonwealth under the leadership of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Meanwhile, the country was divided in the mainly Hindu India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan, divided into West and East Pakistan. In connection with the demerger was violence between Hindus and Muslims. The Constituent Assembly of India adopted the new Constitution on November 26 1949.Indien officially became a secular republic in the Commonwealth after the Constitution came into force January 26, 1950.
After independence, India has faced challenges from religious violence, caste-based violence, Naxalites, terrorism and regional separatist insurgency, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India. Since the 1990s, many Indian cities hit by terrorist attacks. India has unresolved territorial disputes with China, which in 1962 escalated into the Sino-Indian War, and with Pakistan, which led to war in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. India is one of the founding countries of the United Nations (as British India) and the Non-Aligned States Organization . In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test and five more tests in 1998, making India a kärnvapenmakt.Med early 1991, significant economic reforms has transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and increase its global influence.
From around 2000 BC invaded India by Aryan tribes, who settled in Punjab and in the plains along the Ganges. Aryans destroyed the higher culture that existed in the Indus Valley and introduced new customs and ideas. The most famous of the Hindu sacred scriptures, the Rigveda, is a legacy of the Aryans and has influenced all subsequent Indian philosophy and religion. The Aryans were divided into three social classes, warriors, priests and ordinary people, and then India conquered added a fourth class, the vanquished. From this fact, India's extremely complex caste system evolved.
From the north came a new attack against India 327 BC, when Alexander the Great here marched through the Khyber Pass. His forces were expelled, however, eventually by Chandragupta Maurya (321-298 BC), who founded the Maurya Empire. The chief ruler of this kingdom was Ashoka (273-298 BC), who ruled over almost the entire Indian peninsula and contributed to the spread of Hinduism. After his death began, however, the kingdom dissolved.
300 century after Christ did Gupta dynasty forces in the north of India and kept it for 100 years. It brought a flourishing of Hinduism and its culture, which survived when the dynasty around 400 years toppled by new foreign immigrants. The centuries that followed were very worried, kingdoms arose and went over, and Islamic invaders took advantage of its kingdoms weakness.
The first Islamic thrusts were urgently brigandage, which swept through the mountain passes in the northwest. Gradually got the character of outright conquest, when Delhi was captured in 1192 and later became a sultanate, which in time spread out over the central and northern India. Sultanate was dissolved in 1393, when Tamerlane invaded India.
Timur Lenk's descendent Babur defeated in 1526 the reigning Sultan of Delhi and founded the Mogul empire. Babur conquests were consolidated and new areas were added under his successor, Akbar (1556-1605). This vast Islamic empire reached its greatest extent under Emperor Aurangzeb (1653-1707) and then included most of India. Both the Sultanate and later in stormogulens time major changes took place in northern and central India. Islam spread out at the expense of other religions, and architecture reached its peak in the tomb Taj Mahal, which Shah Jahan in the 1600s had built over his favorite wife.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans who settled in India. An expedition by Vasco da Gama reached in 1498 the country's western parts, and during the following century began a more permanent Portuguese settlement of Goa as a base. Their conquests were limited to the narrow coastal strip, and was aimed primarily at securing trade in spices and other luxury goods for the European market. The rumors of India's wealth attracted other European countries to break the Portuguese monopoly. The Dutch came first, followed closely by the British, who in 1600 established the East India Company. In the mid-1700s fought the British and the French for power in India. Great bosses had to fight against both among Hindus and among their own governors, and Europeans took advantage of this weakness. The British-French colonial war ended in 1763 with a British victory, mainly due to Britain's supremacy at sea and their stable regime in their homeland.
The decisive event in the colonial war was Robert Clive's victory at Plassey in 1757, where he 3000 it struck Bengal ruler, who had 50,000 man supported by a small French artillery strength. This victory gave Britain dominion of Bengal, from Clive's successor as governor, Warren Hastings, greatly expanded the English area, allowing the UK from the beginning of the 1800s had effective power over India. It is often transferred to the indigenous rulers to control their fields in the traditional way, but under British control.
Until 1858 ruled India in the reality of the East India Company, not by the British government. Indian soldiers in the Company's served in 1857 rebelled against their officers, and soldiers' revolt was supported by the descendants of former princes and landlords.
The insurgents were initially successful, but the British received reinforcements and eventually could uprising suppressed. The result was, however, that the British government now took over the governance of the large colony. India Company was dissolved and an English viceroy appointed. The British managed to reconcile themselves with the princes and landlords, and they took care not to enforce such social reforms that were designed to offend the religious beliefs of the masses. But the English were simultaneously restrictive when it came to giving the Indians entries in a responsible position despite the loyalty that they had met at the Indian middle class.
After the rebellion focused Britons to promote the material development in India. In 1883, they had begun to build railways, a company that now accelerated so that the railway network at the turn of the century covered 50 000 km, the largest in all of Asia. As part of the fight against hunger was also built canals, especially in Punjab and Sind. British imperialism reached its climax when Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India 1877th
The disappointment among the Indian middle class led to a group of university educated Indians in 1885 formed the party Indian National Congress. The goal was bold, just to get more seats in government. The British made some concessions, but it was so slow that a group in Congress lost patience and advocated a revolutionary policy, while the larger, moderate group wanted to achieve the party's goals without upheaval of the Constitution. Even if the moderates had some success, they lost their position in Congress, who now began to build a mass movement and conduct a more aggressive policy.
First World War meant that India's loyalty to the British strengthened. Over half a million Indians served time in the British Army. Meanwhile woke up the nationalistic activity again, and the British did in 1919 new concessions which meant greater autonomy for the Indians. But before the Act came into force, had changed circumstances in India. Congress had a new leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi staged a series of general strikes, which soon led to violent unrest. In Amritsar in Punjab opened the British troops fire during a mass demonstration and killed and wounded a variety Indians. Gandhi had hitherto imagined that a collaboration with the British was possible, but after this incident, he believed that India must become independent.
Under Gandhi's leadership was the Congress a mass party with a large Hindu majority. Gandhi's politics, Satyagraha, that is, passive resistance and non-violence, however, could not prevent further bloodshed, especially between Hindus and Muslims. His closest associates were Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), a Brahman (member of the Hindu supreme spiritual caste) trained in Europe, which made the party a progressive, liberal democratic party with a socialist orientation. The years immediately preceding the Second World War protest movement against the British speed, and bitterness grew when the viceroy without consulting the Indians declared war on Germany. In 1945 began the British Labour government negotiations with the Indians on the establishment of a united India. Negotiations broke down when Muslims demanded that the country would be divided. Lord Mountbatten was appointed in 1947 to the new viceroy with the task as quickly as possible to end the British involvement in India, and in August of the same year, the two new states of India and Pakistan autonomous. Gandhi opposed the vain division, and in 1948 he was murdered by a Hindu extremist, who felt that Gandhi was too tolerant towards Muslims.
The country's division resulted in an unprecedented bloodbath. Only in Punjab killed more than 600 000 people. In Islamic Pakistan lived millions of Hindus, and millions of Muslims were in the majority Hindu India. It was estimated that some 14 million people moved from one country to the other. Shortly happened to the two newly formed states in the conflict over Kashmir, which like other princely states had the freedom to choose which country it wanted to belong. Kashmir maharaja, a Hindu, ruled over an Islamic majority, and after an Islamic insurgency decided maharajah that his country would belong to India. But Pakistan claimed that Kashmir rightfully belonged to this land, and war broke out between India and Pakistan. After a renewed conflict in the Kashmir issue, both sides agreed in 1966 at a conference in the Soviet city of Tashkent to withdraw its troops. Pakistan got the check northwest of the truce, but India maintained their claim to the entire area.
India's first Prime Minister after 1947, Nehru, Gandhi had appointed as his successor. Nehru explained that he wanted to modernize India and especially reforming the caste system. Heavy industry, often state-owned, utbyggdes at the expense of agriculture, which meant that India was dependent on importing food. When India became a republic in 1950, Nehru insisted that the country would remain a member of the British Commonwealth. He could freely pursue a neutral policy between the West and the East, so long as it was for the benefit of India, but in the autumn of 1962 led his stubborn refusal to negotiate with China on the northeast border of the war between the two countries, and India's humiliating defeat led to the full neutral policy were debated. Despite significant social progress in the country prevailed disappointment that the Congress Party had not been able to implement some truly radical social and economic reforms.
Nehru was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose term of office was short; it was dominated by a short-lived war with Pakistan in 1965 and ended with his death in January 1966. The Soviet Union's mediation in the war with Pakistan increased Russian influence in India, and in 1971 signed a defense between the two countries. Shastri was succeeded by Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter. Her intention was to reproduce the Congress Party its former influence. In the election in 1967 lost, however, the party many votes in the Länder, though it managed to retain a majority in the federal parliament. The constant abrasion between Indira Gandhi and the party's other leading members in 1969 led to a split. Since she did not have a broad parliamentary support behind declared Indira Gandhi election in 1971. She won a convincing victory that gave her an absolute majority in Parliament and also in many states. Her victory can be seen as a voter protest against the political anarchy that had prevailed in the country since the split 1969th
The successful war against Pakistan strengthened for some time, Indira Gandhi's government also domestic politics. But the great prestige that her government got through the war fell gradually under the pressure of big economic difficulties and food problems. India had in the early 70's proudly proclaimed that could be achieved self-sufficiency in food. But deteriorating harvests in 1973 and 1974, recreated the hunger problem in some of India's poorest provinces. At the same time the country was hit by rising inflation, mainly connected with the oil crisis and soaring oil prices.
Several Indian states were ravaged in 1974 by political unrest and food riots. 1975 was the small kingdom of Sikkim in the Himalayas India's 22 states. The same year weakened Indira Gandhi's political position, then a local court dropped her for electoral fraud in the 1971 parliamentary elections. The verdict drove her to a political coup, which put large parts of democracy sidelined, while many oppositionists jailed. After two years of reigning using emergency laws implemented Gandhi's parliamentary elections in March 1977 was a major defeat for his Congress party. Among the reasons are, inter alia, pointed to the widespread discontent with her sterilization programs to control population growth, which partly taken too ruthless forms. Another contributing factor was her brutal slum redevelopment.
Indira Gandhi was succeeded by Morarji Desai, leader of the right front Janata Party. The government coalition proved to be fragile, and the Janata split soon rival factions. In July 1979, Desai resigned and was succeeded by Charan Singh, leader of a group that broke in from the right front. Also, Singh's government was damaged by internal leadership struggles. Parliament was dissolved and elections took place in January 1980 in which Indira Gandhi regained power at the head of a reconstructed Congress party. As regards foreign policy, the new government remained good relations with the Soviet Union on the basis of friendship and assistance agreement signed in 1971. Gandhi government has been moderate in their criticism of Moscow for the occupation of Afghanistan. Domestically, India has entered the 1980s with growing political and social unrest. Bloody unrest directed against migrants have occurred in the state of Assam in the northeast, farmers have been demonstrating for better conditions in several states, student unrest has shaken among others. Gujarat. Many demonstrators have been killed in clashes with police.
India can be divided into three major geographical regions; Himalayan high mountains, the north Indian plains and the Deccan Plateau in the south. Indian peninsula conforms geological basically with the tectonic plate that is in this area of South Asia. This tectonic plate included in the prehistoric continent Gondwana, which was split 125 million years ago. Deccan's bedrock consists primarily of Precambrian crystalline rocks, while the plains around the Ganges and the river sediments in itself has the tertiary sand and clay layers. The most fertile farmland is in weathering the earth in the Deccan.
With the exception of mountain areas in the far north has virtually the entire India a tropical monsoon climate. From December to February prevailing northeast monsoon with milder weather. From March to June, the weather is hot and dry. From June to September prevailing southwest monsoon, which means plenty of rain. Finally, there is the September-December period where rainfall is gradually reduced.
The climate varies from tropical in south to temperate in the north. Topography, high plateau in the south, the vast plains around the Ganges, deserts in the west and upland mountain ranges in the north. Natural resources: coal, iron ore, manganese, bauxite, chrome, natural gas, diamonds, trees and petroleum. Proportion of arable land, 54%.
This section is a summary of India's demographics
Labour market: Employment in agriculture 60%, services 23%, industry 17%
Unemployment: 8.8% (2002)
Age: 32.2% 0-14 years, 63% 15-64 years 5% 65- years
Population Growth: 1.47% p a.
Population Composition: Indoarier 72%, dravidfolk 25%, mongolfolk 3%
Religions: Hindus 82%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2%, Sikh 2%, other (hence the Baha'is, parser, Ayyavazhi, Buddhists) 2% (in 2000). See the complete statistics, 1991.
Language, English dominates as the business language. Hindi is spoken as a first language by 30%. Apart from Hindi is an additional 17 languages are sanctioned as official, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit. Altogether 325 different languages recognized as in itself existing in the country. (Different tasks in different sources. In addition, there are various dialects).
An Indian government investigation in 1980 concluded that the country had nearly 5,000 ethnic groups speaking almost 400 languages with over 200 dialects that are written by 38 different alphabets. The way to count is different in different investigations but India is clearly one of the most heterogeneous countries. The population thus belongs to a long line of different ethnic groups and several of these have greatly differing culture and tradition.
India was officially an empire during the British monarch until 1947. "Emperor" was represented on the spot by a viceroy, "Viceroy". At independence, India chose to stay in the British Commonwealth, but introduced a republic, which took effect in practice in 1950.
Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive constitution of any independent country in the world, entered into force January 26 1950.Grundlagens preamble states that it is an independent, socialist, secular and democratic republic, in which the basic rights and freedoms are guaranteed. Central power in India is stronger than in most western federal states, but the states of enhanced continuously their position in årtiodena after 1947. The Central Government may by decision of the president to take over the government of a state. India's polity was described traditionally as 'kvasifederalt' with a strong central government and weaker states, but it has become more and more federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic and social changes.
Head of State is the President of India who are indirectly elected by an electoral college for a five year period. The president has ceremonial duties rather than pure power features. Indian Prime Minister is the head of government and exercises in reality the executive makten.Premiärministern appointed by the president, and by convention supported by the party or the alliance that holds the majority of seats in parliament. The executive branch consists of the president, vice president, and the government (the Cabinet as the executive committee) headed by the Prime Minister. Each minister with the portfolio must be a member of any House of Parliament. India applies parliamentarism, that is to say that the executive is subordinate to the legislature and the Prime Minister and the government is directly responsible to the parliament.
The federal legislature is bikameralt parlamant, with the upper house Rajya Sabha as organs of states and the Lok Sabha as the body directly to the people. Rajya Sabha, a permanent body, has 245 members who are elected for six years and renewed by third every two years. Most are indirectly elected by state and unionsterritoriernas legislatures in proportion to their population. 543 Lok Sabhas 545 members are directly elected as representatives of individual constituencies for five-year terms of office. The other two members are nominated by the President from the Anglo-Indian community if the President considers that it is not adequately represented.
India has a uniform legal system with three levels, consisting of the Supreme Court (Supreme Court), which is headed by a chief judge (Chief Justice of India), twenty-one High Court of India, and a large number of first instance courts.
At the federal level, India is the most populous democracy in världen.Under most years since independence, the federal government led by the Congress Party, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru's party, first with Nehru and then his daughter Indira Gandhi and finally Nehru's grandson Rajiv Gandhi Prime Minister. The only exceptions occurred in the two brief periods in the 1970s and 1980s. The policy of the states have been dominated by several national parties including the Congress Party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) and various regional parties.
From 1950 to 1990, Congress, with the exception of two brief periods, a majority in Parliament. Prime Minister Nehru governed India until his death in 1964. 1966 the time was ripe for Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi to take over. She sat as prime minister from 1966 to 1977. Congress was away from power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party, an electoral alliance of five parties led by Morarji Desai, won the election because of popular discontent with the state of emergency proclaimed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, in a period of difficult political and economic problems. In an attempt to gain popular support for the measure, the government called Gandhi for election in 1977, but lost.
In 1989 won a coalition led by the Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front coalition election but only managed to stay in power for two years.
Since Indira Gandhi assassinated her son Rajiv took over as party leader in Congress. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during the election campaign in 1991. As the 1991 election did not produce a majority for any party formed the Congress Party a minority government under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and managed to remain during the entire five-year period. The government began a process of liberalization that opened its economy to international trade and foreign investment. During this time also changed the political party structure in India. Previously, voters generally elected party by caste, religion or ethnicity, but now instead increased the support for a multitude of regional parties.
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) succeeded for the first time at the elections in May 1996, becoming the largest party in the Lok Sabha.
The years 1996-1998 were a period of instability in the federal government when several short-lived alliances reigned. BJP formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition that excluded both the BJP and the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with several other parties and became the first government without Congress Party who sat out a full term. The prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. In the elections of 2004, the Congress Party the largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha and formed the government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), with the support of various leftist parties and members opposed to the BJP.
At the state level control of different political parties, some national, while others are active in one or a few states. For example, controlled the country's largest state of Uttar Pradesh with the iron hand of a woman, Mayawati, who leads Bahujan Samaj Party. Another example is the West Bengal which had long been ruled by a government led by one of India's communist parties.
Throughout history, several waves of influence from other cultures swarmed over India, the most important was the Indo-European Aryans invasion of the country. This has affected the north of the country more than the South. It is in Europe's best-known feature of the Indian culture is caste.
Many regions of India have their own, more or less distinct cultures. In recent decades, however, the boundaries between these cultures had a tendency to become blurred, and the various cultures have influenced each other more than before. With the increasing internationalization of the world, and with the liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, also western cultural influences made themselves strongly felt.
Indian music is available in two main forms: Karnataka and Hindustani. Hindustani is more common in northern India is influenced by Islamic culture. Within the domain of literature, India has among other things a series of very old works of cultural and religious meaning: The Vedas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha are examples. A plurality of dance forms are known more: Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Kathakali others.
The game of chess is considered to originate from India, and the numbers we call Arab really have Indian origin.
Since independence, the country's population has increased by 250%, and the urban population has increased by 500%. According to the Asian Development Bank live over 50% of the population in "deep poverty" in 2010. About 75% live largely outside the cash economy, while a modern middle class, with the option to buy a car, private health care, television, etc, was in the early 2000s to around 200 million people. Even in the country's richest city, Bombay, lives nearly half the population in slums.
India Today (2007), a growth of approximately 15%. First it was the rich who 10-15 years ago saw a much improved economy. Then came the middle class and now large parts of the lower layers. According to some experts, China and India will surpass the US as the economies of 30 to 40 years. India plans to send its own space rockets to the moon and Mars and has already sent up self-made satellites. Those defined as poor according to Indian statistics, has seen an improvement on the last time and fewer belong to this group. There are groups outside the development but as a whole can India forward by leaps and bounds. Today, you can hardly buy a villa in New Delhi for the equivalent of 6 million and a long list of areas in India today has the price far above the Swedish and a few areas of the world's most expensive. India is both rich and poor. The rich, from the Indian point of view, are as numerous as the EU population.
Another way to describe the modern India is to name the Indian Institute of Technology, perhaps the most prestigious educational institution in the world of civil engineering with IT focus. When labor is mentioned in the Western world is often taken this exclusive elite of computer specialists as an example. The world's largest web-based e-mail services, Hotmail, founded by the Indian Sabeer Bhatia, who then sold the company to Microsoft.
Besides literature laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1913 and physics laureate CV Raman in 1930, has in recent years, Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen received the Nobel Prize. The Indian emigrants or exiles Indians Hargobind Khorana, VS Naipaul and Subramanyan Chandrasekhar has also received the prestigious award, several of them for scientific accomplishments.
India has just as neighbor China no time zones without the same time across the country, 4.5 hour difference from the standard Swedish time.
India is partly a modern industrial nation (among the world's 10-15 top) with rich natural resources. But at the same time it is a poor developing country with huge economic and social problems and large regional differences. With its vast population, India is, despite rich natural resources and high technological expertise, including Earth's 30-40 poorest states. Main Enterprise, is still agriculture, which employs two thirds of the population. The return has been held down by primitive farming methods and feudal ownership. A large part of the rural population is landless day laborers. The Green Revolution, which introduced high-yielding crops, particularly in the country's breadbasket in the northwest, come large population groups benefit. The total production was increased and India were in the 1970s and 80s, self-sufficient in food.
Agriculture is largely irrigated. The main products are rice, wheat, sorghum, millet, legumes and sugarcane. Export crops are traditionally jute, cotton, tea (India produces most of the world), peanuts and oilseeds. There are plenty of cattle. The sacred cows (according to Hinduism) roam freely, also in urban traffic. They may not be slaughtered, but provide milk and manure and fuel the droppings (wood for heating is in many places in short supply). Alongside agriculture employed many of the traditional crafts and cottage industry.
Most importantly for the economy, however, is the large-scale industry, which accounts for one third of export revenue. Textile and jute industry was built up by the British back in the 1850s. After independence beat India into a socialist planned economy era to exploit mineral deposits (iron, manganese, lead, zinc, copper, bauxite) and energy resources
(coal, oil, hydro). Nuclear power was expanded. Heavy industry (iron and steel, engineering and chemical production) were supplemented by hand with electric and advanced high-tech manufacturing
(weapons and space technologies, including nuclear weapons). Despite the government control dominated the Indian business community of a few very large enterprise groups. The most famous, Air India, and Birla, founded back in the British time. With its huge domestic market, India has a relatively small foreign trade. During the 1980s and 90s began to Congress party liberalize the economy, encouraging foreign investment and streamline the oversized government bureaucracy. The economy improved and demand for goods rose in the growing middle class (100-150 mill. People).
Militarily, the country is a regional power, with a professional army of over a million men, a reserve of half a million men, and the fleet and air force. In addition, paramilitary forces on the one million or husband, police officer and a home guard, also this with a sizeable workforce; about half a million. Munitions are not completely modern, and consists partly of such purchased from the Soviet Union during Indira Gandhi's days. Although some modernization takes place (India has, for example, the fighter aircraft of type Harrier and Sukhoi Su-30 MKI), the defense costs decreased in recent years. It is not possible to say that the tension against the arch enemy of Pakistan decreased significantly. Both states hold itself with nuclear weapons.
India has a large naval base in the Andaman Islands.