India
| Official Name | Bharat (Hindi), Republic of India (English) |
| Capital | New Delhi |
| Population | 1, 027, 015, 247 (2001 Census) |
| Area | 3.3 million square kilometers |
| Geographical Location | Lies between latitudes 8 ° 4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97° 25' east |
| Coastline Length | 7600 km |
| Languages | India has two National languages (Central administrative). They are English (associate official) and Hindi (in the Devanagiri script). The Indian Constitution also officially recognizes 22 regional languages. |
| Major Religions | Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism |
| Literacy | 65.38% |
| President | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| Prime Minister | Dr. Manmohan Singh |
| National Anthem | Jan gana mana written by Rabindranath Tagore |
| National Song | Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji |
| National Emblem | Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath |
| National Flag | Horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue color |
| National Animal | Tiger (Panthera tigris) |
| National Bird | Peacock |
| National Flower | Lotus |
| National Tree | Banyan |
| National Fruit | Mango |
| National Currency | Rupee (One Rupee=100 paise) |
| National Sport | Hockey |
India is located in "Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan." Other bordering countries include China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. It is "slightly more than one-third the size of the U.S." Its climate "varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north" with terrain ranging from "upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in [the] south, [to] flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, [to] deserts in [the] west, [to the] Himalayas in [the] north". The capital of the Republic of India is New Delhi. (CIA)
"The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU led to independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Fundamental concerns in India include the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife, all this despite impressive gains in economic investment and output." (CIA)
India is an extremely populous country. The July 2004 population estimate totaled 1,065,070,607 people, making it the second most populous country on the earth. The most populous nation is China with an estimated 1,298,847,624 people. Since India's population growth rate continues to exceed China's (1.44% to 0.57% respectively), India is sure to be the world's most populous nation before too long. As of 2002 about 25% of the population fell below the poverty line. Their labor force is 60% agricultural, 17% industrial, and 23% service based (CIA). India is home to some of the worst, most impoverished slums in the world.
India is a land of many languages and dialects. "English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language". There is also a 40.5% illiteracy rate. (CIA) The Baptist Bible Translators Institute lists at least 8 language groups (over 531,800 people) in India that have no Bible in their language.
As of the year 2000 the religious breakdown of the Indian people looked like this: "Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5%". (CIA)
faithful servants of God.
