india.txt

This article is about the Republic of India For other uses see India disambiguation Republic of India Bhārat Gaṇarājya see other regional names Horizontal tricolour flag bearing from top to bottom deep saffron white and green horizontal bands In the centre of the white band is a navyblue wheel with 24 spokes Flag Three lions facing left right and toward viewer atop a frieze containing a galloping horse a 24spoke wheel and an elephant Underneath is a motto सतयमव जयत State emblem Motto Satyameva Jayate Sanskrit Truth Alone Triumphs Anthem Jana Gana Mana Hindi Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People Duration minute and seconds04 National song Vande Mataram Sanskrit I Bow to Thee Mother Duration minutes and 26 seconds26 Image of a globe centred on India with India highlighted Territory controlled by India shown in dark green territory claimed but not controlled shown in light green Capital New Delhi 283650N 771230E Largest city Mumbai city proper Delhi metropolitan area Official languages HindiEnglish Recognised regional languages State level and Eighth Schedule Native languages 447 languages Religion 2011 79 Hinduism 14 Islam Christianity Sikhism Buddhism Jainism 23 unaffiliated 65 other Demonyms Indianothers Government Federal parliamentary republic President Droupadi Murmu VicePresident Jagdeep Dhankhar Prime Minister Narendra Modi Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud Legislature Parliament Upper house Rajya Sabha Lower house Lok Sabha Independence from the United Kingdom Dominion 15 August 1947 Republic 26 January 1950 Area Total 287263 km 269219 sq mi th Water Population 2023 estimate Neutral increase 428627663 st 2011 census Neutral increase 210854977 nd Density 423km 096sq mi 30th GDP PPP 2023 estimate Total Increase 13119 trillion rd Per capita Increase 183 127th GDP nominal 2023 estimate Total Increase 732 trillion th Per capita Increase 612 139th Gini 2019 Negative increase 35 medium HDI 2021 Increase 633 medium 132nd Currency Indian rupee INR Time zone UTC0530 IST DST is not observed Date format ddmmyyyy Driving side left Calling code 91 ISO 3166 code IN Internet TLD in others India officially the Republic of India ISO Bhārat Gaṇarājya is a country in South Asia It is the seventhlargest country by area the most populous country as of June 2023 and from the time of its independence in 1947 the worlds most populous democracy 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 China Nepal and Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east In the Indian Ocean India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand Myanmar and Indonesia Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55000 years ago Their long occupation initially in varying forms of isolation as huntergatherers has made the region highly diverse second only to Africa in human genetic diversity Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 000 years ago evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE By 1200 BCE an archaic form of Sanskrit an IndoEuropean language had diffused into India from the northwest Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda Preserved by an oral tradition that was resolutely vigilant the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions By 400 BCE stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity Early political consolidations gave rise to the looseknit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin Their collective era was suffused with wideranging creativity but also marked by the declining status of women and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief In South India the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidianlanguages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia In the early medieval era Christianity Islam Judaism and Zoroastrianism became established on Indias southern and western coasts Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran Indias northern plains eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam In the 15th century the Vijayanagara Empire created a longlasting composite Hindu culture in south India In the Punjab Sikhism emerged rejecting institutionalised religion The Mughal Empire in 1526 ushered in two centuries of relative peace leaving a legacy of luminous architecture Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed turning India into a colonial economy but also consolidating its sovereignty British Crown rule began in 1858 The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly but technological changes were introduced and modern ideas of education and the public life took root A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions a Hindumajority Dominion of India and a Muslimmajority Dominion of Pakistan amid largescale loss of life and an unprecedented migration India has been a federal republic since 1950 governed through a democratic parliamentary system It is a pluralistic multilingual and multiethnic society Indias population grew from 361 million in 1951 to almost billion in 2022 During the same time its nominal per capita income increased from US64 annually to US601 and its literacy rate from 16 to 74 From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951 India has become a fastgrowing major economy and a hub for information technology services with an expanding middle class India has a space programme with several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions Indian movies music and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty though at the cost of increasing economic inequality India is a nuclearweapon state which ranks high in military expenditure It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours Pakistan and China unresolved since the mid20th century Among the socioeconomic challenges India faces are gender inequality child malnutrition and rising levels of air pollution Indias land is megadiverse with four biodiversity hotspots Its forest cover comprises 21 of its area Indias wildlife which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in Indias culture is supported among these forests and elsewhere in protected habitats Etymology Main article Names for India According to the Oxford English Dictionary third edition 2009 the name India is derived from the Classical Latin India a reference to South Asia and an uncertain region to its east In turn the name India derived successively from 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 wellsettled southern basin The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi Ἰνδοί which translates as The people of the Indus The term Bharat Bhārat pronounced mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India is used in its variations by many Indian languages A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha which applied originally to North India Bharat gained increased currency from the mid19th century as a native name for India Hindustan is a Middle Persian name for India that became popular by the 13th century and was used widely since the era of the Mughal Empire The meaning of Hindustan has varied referring to a region encompassing presentday northern India and Pakistan or to India in its near entirety History Main articles History of India and History of the Republic of India Ancient India Manuscript illustration c 1650 of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana composed in storytelling fashion c 400 BCE c 300 CE By 55000 years ago the first modern humans or Homo sapiens had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa where they had earlier evolved The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30000 years ago 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 These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation the first urban culture in South Asia which flourished during 25001900 BCE in Pakistan and western India Centred around cities such as Mohenjodaro Harappa Dholavira and Kalibangan and relying on varied forms of subsistence the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wideranging trade During the period 2000500 BCE many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones The Vedas the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism were composed during this period and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of IndoAryan migration into the subcontinent from the northwest The caste system which created a hierarchy of priests warriors and free peasants but which excluded indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations impure arose during this period On the Deccan Plateau archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation In South India a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period as well as by nearby traces of agriculture irrigation tanks and craft traditions Cave 26 of the rockcut Ajanta Caves In the late Vedic period around the th century BCE the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the northwestern regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas The emerging urbanisation gave rise to nonVedic religious movements two of which became independent religions Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar Mahavira Buddhism based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India In an age of increasing urban wealth both religions held up renunciation as an ideal and both established longlasting monastic traditions Politically by the rd century BCE the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent except the far south but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empirebuilding and determined management of public life as for Ashokas renunciation of militarism and farflung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that between 200 BCE and 200 CE the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras the Cholas and the Pandyas dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and Southeast Asia In North India Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family leading to increased subordination of women By the th and th centuries the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms Under the Guptas a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture which found patrons among an urban elite Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well and Indian science astronomy medicine and mathematics made significant advances Medieval India Brihadeshwara temple Thanjavur completed in 1010 CE The Qutub Minar 73 m 240 ft tall completed by the Sultan of Delhi Iltutmish The Indian early medieval age from 600 to 1200 CE is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity When Harsha of Kannauj who ruled much of the IndoGangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE attempted to expand southwards he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan When his successor attempted to expand eastwards he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther south who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region During this time pastoral peoples whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy were accommodated within caste society as were new nontraditional ruling classes The caste system consequently began to show regional differences In the th and th centuries the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent Indian royalty big and small and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities which became economic hubs as well Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation By the th and th centuries the effects were felt in Southeast Asia as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modernday Myanmar Thailand Laos Brunei Cambodia Vietnam Philippines Malaysia and Indonesia 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 After the 10th century Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans using swifthorse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion repeatedly overran South Asias northwestern plains leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206 The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites the sultanate largely left its vast nonMuslim subject population to its own laws and customs By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers learned men mystics traders artists and artisans from that region into the subcontinent thereby creating a syncretic IndoIslamic culture in the north The sultanates raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate the empire came to control much of peninsular India and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards Early modern India In the early 16th century northern India then under mainly Muslim rulers fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule Instead it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites leading to more systematic centralised and uniform rule Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity especially under Akbar the Mughals united their farflung realms through loyalty expressed through a Persianised culture to an emperor who had neardivine status The Mughal states economic policies deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the wellregulated silver currency caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in Indias economic expansion resulting in greater patronage of painting literary forms textiles and architecture Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India such as the Marathas the Rajputs and the Sikhs gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule which through collaboration or adversity gave them both recognition and military experience Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India As the empire disintegrated many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort A two mohur Company gold coin issued in 1835 the obverse inscribed William IV 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 The East India Companys 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 Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials Many historians consider this to be the onset of Indias colonial period 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 noneconomic arenas including education social reform and culture Modern India Main article History of the Republic of India Historians consider Indias 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 changesamong them railways canals and the telegraphwere introduced not long after their introduction in Europe However disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions including invasive Britishstyle social reforms harsh land taxes and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858 it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British government Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited Britishstyle parliamentary system the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest In the decades following public life gradually emerged all over India leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885 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 faraway markets There was an increase in the number of largescale famines and despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers little industrial employment was generated for Indians There were also salutary effects commercial cropping especially in the newly canalled Punjab led to increased food production for internal consumption The railway network provided critical famine relief notably reduced the cost of moving goods and helped nascent Indianowned industry 1909 map of the British Indian Empire Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mahatma Gandhi Mumbai July 1946 After World War I in which approximately one million Indians served a new period began It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation by more strident Indian calls for selfrule and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of noncooperation of which Mahatma Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol During the 1930s slow legislative reform was enacted by the British the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections The next decade was beset with crises Indian participation in World War II the Congresss final push for noncooperation and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947 but tempered by the partition of India into two states India and Pakistan Vital to Indias selfimage as an independent nation was its constitution completed in 1950 which put in place a secular and democratic republic Per the London Declaration India retained its membership of the Commonwealth becoming the first republic within it Economic liberalisation which began in the 1980s and the collaboration with Soviet Union for technical knowhow has created a large urban middle class transformed India into one of the worlds fastestgrowing economies and increased its geopolitical clout Yet India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty both rural and urban by religious and casterelated violence by Maoistinspired Naxalite insurgencies and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India It has unresolved territorial disputes with China and with Pakistan Indias sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the worlds newer nations however in spite of its recent economic successes freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved Geography Main article Geography of India India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent lying atop the Indian tectonic plate a part of the IndoAustralian Plate Indias defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana began a northeastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its southwest and later south and southeast Simultaneously the vast Tethyan oceanic crust to its northeast began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate These dual processes driven by convection in the Earths mantle both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to underthrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas plate movement created a vast crescentshaped trough that rapidly filled with riverborne sediment and now constitutes the IndoGangetic Plain The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in the ancient 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 The Tungabhadra with rocky outcrops flows into the peninsular Krishna river Fishing boats lashed together in a 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 coalrich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east To the south the remaining peninsular landmass the Deccan Plateau is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats the plateau contains the countrys oldest rock formations some over one billion years old Constituted in such fashion India lies to the north of the equator between 44 and 35 30 north latitude and 68 and 97 25 east longitude Indias coastline measures 517 kilometres 700 mi in length of this distance 423 kilometres 400 mi belong to peninsular India and 094 kilometres 300 mi to the Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep island chains According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts the mainland coastline consists of the following 43 sandy beaches 11 rocky shores including cliffs and 46 mudflats or marshy shores Major Himalayanorigin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi the latters extremely low gradient caused by longterm silt deposition leads to severe floods and course changes Major peninsular rivers whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding include the Godavari the Mahanadi the Kaveri and the Krishna which also drain into the Bay of Bengal and the Narmada and the Tapti which drain into the Arabian Sea Coastal features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern India the latter is shared with Bangladesh India has two archipelagos the Lakshadweep coral atolls off Indias southwestern coast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moistureladen southwest summer monsoon winds that between June and October provide the majority of Indias rainfall Four major climatic groupings predominate in India tropical wet tropical dry subtropical humid and montane Temperatures in India have risen by C F between 1901 and 2018 Climate change in India is often thought to be the cause The retreat of Himalayan glaciers has adversely affected the flow rate of the major Himalayan rivers including the Ganges and the Brahmaputra According to some current projections the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century Biodiversity Main articles Forestry in India and Wildlife of India India is a megadiverse country a term employed for 17 countries which display high biological diversity and contain many species exclusively indigenous or endemic to them India is a habitat for of all mammal species 13 of bird species of reptile species of amphibian species 12 of fish species and of all flowering plant species Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic India also contains four of the worlds 34 biodiversity hotspots or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism According to official statistics Indias forest cover is 713789 km 275595 sq mi which is 2171 of the countrys total land area It can be subdivided further into broad categories of canopy density or the proportion of the area of a forest covered by its tree canopy Very dense forest whose canopy density is greater than 70 occupies 02 of Indias land area It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands the Western Ghats and Northeast India Moderately dense forest whose canopy density is between 40 and 70 occupies 39 of Indias land area It predominates in the temperate coniferous forest of the Himalayas the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India and the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India Open forest whose canopy density is between 10 and 40 occupies 26 of Indias land area 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 IndoGangetic plain now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation its features no longer visible Among the Indian subcontinents notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica or neem which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa or peepul which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjodaro and under which the Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago Indias subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species However volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms Still later mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas This had the effect of lowering endemism among Indias mammals which stands at 12 contrasting with 45 among reptiles and 55 among amphibians Among endemics are the vulnerable hooded leaf monkey and the threatened Beddomes toad of the Western Ghats India contains 172 IUCNdesignated threatened animal species or of endangered forms These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges river dolphin Critically endangered species include the gharial a crocodilian the great Indian bustard and the Indian whiterumped vulture which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenactreated cattle Before they were extensively used for agriculture and cleared for human settlement the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by the Asiatic cheetah the blackbuck no longer extant in Punjab is now severely endangered in India and the cheetah is extinct The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife In response the system of national parks and protected areas first established in 1935 was expanded substantially In 1972 India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988 India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and eighteen biosphere reserves four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves seventyfive wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention India has the majority of the worlds wild tigers approximately 170 in 2022 India has the majority of the worlds wild tigers approximately 170 in 2022 A chital Axis axis stag in the Nagarhole National Park in a region covered by a moderately dense forest A chital Axis axis stag in the Nagarhole National Park in a region covered by a moderately dense forest Three of the last Asiatic cheetahs in India were shot dead in 1948 in Surguja district Madhya Pradesh Central India by Maharajah Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo The young male cheetahs all from the same litter were sitting together when they were shot at night Three of the last Asiatic cheetahs in India were shot dead in 1948 in Surguja district Madhya Pradesh Central India by Maharajah Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo The young male cheetahs all from the same litter were sitting together when they were shot at night Politics and government Politics Main article Politics of India As part of Janadesh 2007 25000 proland reform landless people in Madhya Pradesh listen to Rajagopal P V A parliamentary republic with a multiparty system India has six recognised national parties including the Indian National Congress INC and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and more than 50 regional parties The Congress is considered centre in Indian political culture and the BJP rightwing For most of the period between 1950when India first became a republicand the late 1980s the Congress held a majority in the Parliament Since then however it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multiparty coalition governments at the centre In the Republic of Indias first three general elections in 1951 1957 and 1962 the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehruled Congress won easy victories On Nehrus death in 1964 Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister he was succeeded after his own unexpected death in 1966 by Nehrus daughter Indira Gandhi who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971 Following public discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975 the Congress was voted out of power in 1977 the thennew Janata Party which had opposed the emergency was voted in Its government lasted just over two years There were two prime ministers during this period Morarji Desai and Charan Singh Voted back into power in 1980 the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi who won an easy victory in the general elections later that year The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when a National Front coalition led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front won the elections that government too proved relatively shortlived lasting just under two years There were two prime ministers during this period VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar 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 US president Barack Obama addresses the members of the Parliament of India in New Delhi in November 2010 A twoyear period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996 Several shortlived alliances shared power at the centre The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996 it was followed by two comparatively longlasting United Front coalitions which depended on external support There were two prime ministers during this period HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral In 1998 the BJP was able to form a successful coalition the National Democratic Alliance NDA Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee the NDA became the first nonCongress coalition government to complete a fiveyear term Again in the 2004 Indian general elections no party won an absolute majority but the Congress emerged as the largest single party forming another successful coalition the United Progressive Alliance UPA It had the support of leftleaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers and it no longer required external support from Indias communist parties That year Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be reelected to a consecutive fiveyear term 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 In the 2019 general election the BJP was victorious again The incumbent prime minister is Narendra Modi a former chief minister of Gujarat On 22 July 2022 Droupadi Murmu was elected Indias 15th president and took the oath of office on 25 July 2022 Government Main articles Government of India and Constitution of India Rashtrapati Bhavan the official residence of the President of India was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for the Viceroy of India and constructed between 1911 and 1931 during the British Raj India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of Indiathe countrys supreme legal document It is a constitutional republic Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the union and the states The Constitution of India which came into effect on 26 January 1950 originally stated India to be a sovereign democratic republic this characterisation was amended in 1971 to a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic Indias form of government traditionally described as quasifederal with a strong centre and weak states has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political economic and social changes National symbols Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Song Vande Mataram Language None Currency Indian rupee Calendar Shaka Bird Indian peafowl Flower Lotus Fruit Mango Mammal Bengal tiger River dolphin Tree Banyan River Ganges The Government of India comprises three branches Executive The President of India is the ceremonial head of state who is elected indirectly for a fiveyear term by an electoral college comprising members of national and state legislatures The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power Appointed by the president the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament The executive of the Indian government consists of the president the vicepresident and the Union Council of Ministerswith the cabinet being its executive committeeheaded by the prime minister Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament In the Indian parliamentary system the executive is subordinate to the legislature the prime minister and 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 Legislature The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament Operating under a Westminsterstyle parliamentary system it comprises an upper house called the Rajya Sabha Council of States and a lower house called the Lok Sabha House of the People The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245 members who serve staggered sixyear terms Most are elected indirectly by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their states share of the national population All but two of the Lok Sabhas 545 members are elected directly by popular vote they represent singlemember constituencies for fiveyear terms Two seats of parliament reserved for AngloIndians in the article 331 have been scrapped Judiciary India has a threetier unitary independent judiciary comprising the supreme court headed by the Chief Justice of India 25 high courts and a large number of trial courts The supreme court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the centre and has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional Administrative divisions Main article Administrative divisions of India See also Political integration of India India is a federal union comprising 28 states and union territories 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 of governance 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 There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city town block district and village levels A clickable map of the 28 states and union territories of India States Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Union territories Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh Lakshadweep National Capital Territory of Delhi Puducherry 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 NonAligned Movement 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 In the 1950s India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a leading role in the NonAligned Movement After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China India went to war with China in 1962 and was widely thought to have been humiliated This was followed by another military conflict in 1967 in which India successfully repelled Chinese attack India has had tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan the two nations have gone to war four times in 1947 1965 1971 and 1999 Three of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir while the third the 1971 war followed from Indias support for the independence of Bangladesh In the late 1980s the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host country a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990 and an armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup détat attempt in the Maldives After the 1965 war with Pakistan India began to pursue close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union by the late 1960s the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier Aside from its ongoing special relationship with Russia India has wideranging defence relations with Israel and France In recent years it has played key roles in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade Organization The nation has provided 100000 military and police personnel to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents It participates in the East Asia Summit the G and other multilateral forums India has close economic ties with countries in South America Asia and Africa it pursues a Look East policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations Japan and South Korea that revolve around many issues but especially those involving economic investment and regional security 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 Indias oldest regiment the Maratha Light Infantry founded in 1768 Chinas nuclear test of 1964 as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war convinced India to develop nuclear weapons India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional underground testing in 1998 Despite criticism and military sanctions India has signed neither the Comprehensive NuclearTestBan Treaty nor the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty considering both to be flawed and discriminatory India maintains a no first use nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its Minimum Credible Deterrence doctrine It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and a fifthgeneration fighter jet Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrantclass aircraft carriers and Arihantclass nuclear submarines Since the end of the Cold War India has increased its economic strategic and military cooperation with the United States and the European Union In 2008 a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group ending earlier restrictions on Indias nuclear technology and commerce As a consequence India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state India subsequently signed cooperation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia France the United Kingdom and Canada 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 nations armed forces with 45 million active troops they compose the worlds secondlargest military It comprises the Indian Army the Indian Navy the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US3603 billion or 83 of GDP Defence expenditure was pegged at US7012 billion for fiscal year 202223 and increased than previous fiscal year India is the worlds secondlargest arms importer between 2016 and 2020 it accounted for of the total global arms imports Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean In May 2017 the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries In October 2018 India signed a US43 billion over 400 billion agreement with Russia to procure four S400 Triumf surfacetoair missile defence systems Russias most advanced longrange missile defence system 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 Indias total workforce was employed in agriculture India is the worlds largest producer of milk with the largest population of cattle In 2018 nearly 80 of Indias milk was sourced from small farms with herd size between one and two the milk harvested by hand milking Women tend to a recently planted rice field in Junagadh district in Gujarat 55 of Indias female workforce was employed in agriculture in 2019 According to the International Monetary Fund IMF the Indian economy in 2022 was nominally worth 46 trillion it was the fifthlargest economy by market exchange rates and is around 11 trillion the thirdlargest by purchasing power parity PPP With its average annual GDP growth rate of over the past two decades and reaching during 20112012 India is one of the worlds fastestgrowing economies However the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP Until 1991 all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation to liberalise its economy since then it has moved increasingly towards a freemarket system by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows India has been a member of World Trade Organization since January 1995 The 522millionworker Indian labour force is the worlds secondlargest as of 2017 The service sector makes up 55 of GDP the industrial sector 26 and the agricultural sector 18 Indias foreign exchange remittances of US100 billion in 2022 highest in the world were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries Major agricultural products include rice wheat oilseed cotton jute tea sugarcane and potatoes Major industries include textiles telecommunications chemicals pharmaceuticals biotechnology food processing steel transport equipment cement mining petroleum machinery and software In 2006 the share of external trade in Indias GDP stood at 24 up from in 1985 In 2008 Indias share of world trade was In 2021 India was the worlds ninthlargest importer and the sixteenthlargest exporter Major exports include petroleum products textile goods jewellery software engineering goods chemicals and manufactured leather goods Major imports include crude oil machinery gems fertiliser and chemicals Between 2001 and 2011 the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14 to 42 India was the worlds secondlargest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year Averaging an economic growth rate of for several years prior to 2007 India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985 Indias middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030 Though ranking 68th in global competitiveness 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 With seven of the worlds top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India as of 2009 the country is viewed as the secondmost favourable outsourcing destination after the United States India is ranked 40th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023 As of 2023 Indias consumer market was the worlds fifthlargest Driven by growth Indias nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US308 in 1991 when economic liberalisation began to US380 in 2010 to an estimated US730 in 2016 It is expected to grow to US466 by 2022 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 Bangalore the centre of Indias software development economy In the 1980s when the first multinational corporations began to set up centres in India they chose 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 According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC report Indias GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045 During the next four decades Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of making it potentially the worlds fastestgrowing major economy until 2050 The report highlights key growth factors a young and rapidly growing workingage 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 middleclass The World Bank cautions that for India to achieve its economic potential it must continue to focus on public sector reform transport infrastructure agricultural and rural development removal of labour regulations education energy security and public health and nutrition According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by the Economist Intelligence Unit EIU which was created by comparing more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services four of the cheapest cities were in India Bangalore rd Mumbai th Chennai th and New Delhi th Industries A tea garden in Sikkim India the worlds secondlargest producer of tea is a nation of one billion tea drinkers who consume 70 of Indias tea output Indias telecommunication industry is the secondlargest in the world with over billion subscribers It contributes to Indias GDP After the third quarter of 2017 India surpassed the US to become the secondlargest smartphone market in the world after China The Indian automotive industry the worlds secondfastest growing increased domestic sales by 26 during 20092010 and exports by 36 during 20082009 In 2022 India became the worlds thirdlargest vehicle market after China and the United States surpassing Japan At the end of 2011 the Indian IT industry employed million professionals generated revenues close to US100 billion equalling of Indian GDP and contributed 26 of Indias merchandise exports The pharmaceutical industry in India emerged as a global player As of 2021 with 3000 pharmaceutical companies and 10500 manufacturing units India is the worlds thirdlargest pharmaceutical producer largest producer of generic medicines and supply up to 5060 of global vaccines demand these all contribute up to US2444 billions in exports and Indias local pharmaceutical market is estimated up to US42 billion India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world The Indian biotech industry grew by 15 in 20122013 increasing its revenues from 204 billion Indian rupees to 23524 billion US94 billion at June 2013 exchange rates Energy Main articles Energy in India and Energy policy of India Indias capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts of which 42 gigawatts is renewable The countrys usage of coal is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions by India but its renewable energy is competing strongly India emits about of global greenhouse gas emissions This equates to about tons of carbon dioxide per person per year which is half the world average Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking with liquefied petroleum gas have been priorities for energy in India Socioeconomic challenges Health workers about to begin another day of immunisation against infectious diseases in 2006 Eight years later and three years after Indias last case of polio the World Health Organization declared India to be poliofree Despite economic growth during recent decades India continues to face socioeconomic challenges In 2006 India contained the largest number of people living below the World Banks international poverty line of US25 per day The proportion decreased from 60 in 1981 to 42 in 2005 Under the World Banks later revised poverty line it was 21 in 2011 30 of Indias children under the age of five are underweight According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015 15 of the population is undernourished The Midday Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates A 2018 Walk Free Foundation report estimated that nearly million people in India were living in different forms of modern slavery such as bonded labour child labour human trafficking and forced begging among others According to the 2011 census there were 10 million child labourers in the country a decline of million from 12 million in 2001 Since 1991 economic inequality between Indias states has consistently grown the percapita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was times that of the poorest Corruption in India is perceived to have decreased According to the Corruption Perceptions Index India ranked 78th out of 180 countries in 2018 with a score of 41 out of 100 an improvement from 85th in 2014 Epidemic and pandemic diseases have long been a major factor including COVID19 and cholera 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 210193422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report India was the worlds secondmost populous country Its population grew by 1764 from 2001 to 2011 compared to 2154 growth in the previous decade 19912001 The human sex ratio according to the 2011 census is 940 females per 000 males The median age was 28 as of 2020 The first postcolonial census conducted in 1951 counted 361 million people Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the Green Revolution have caused Indias population to grow rapidly The life expectancy in India is at 70 years71 years for women 68 years for men There are around 93 physicians per 100000 people Migration from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in Indias recent history The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31 between 1991 and 2001 Yet in 2001 over 70 still lived in rural areas The level of urbanisation increased further from 2781 in the 2001 Census to 3116 in the 2011 Census The slowing down of the overall population growth rate was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991 According to the 2011 census there are 53 millionplus urban agglomerations in India among them Mumbai Delhi Kolkata Chennai Bangalore Hyderabad and Ahmedabad in decreasing order by population The literacy rate in 2011 was 7404 6546 among females and 8214 among males The ruralurban literacy gap which was 21 percentage points in 2001 dropped to 16 percentage points in 2011 The improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas Kerala is the most literate state with 9391 literacy while Bihar the least with 6382 The interior of San Thome Basilica Chennai Tamil Nadu Christianity is believed to have been introduced to India by the late nd century by Syriacspeaking Christians Among speakers of the Indian languages 74 speak IndoAryan languages the easternmost branch of the IndoEuropean languages 24 speak Dravidian languages indigenous to South Asia and spoken widely before the spread of IndoAryan languages and speak Austroasiatic languages or the SinoTibetan languages India has no national language Hindi with the largest number of speakers is the official language of the government English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a subsidiary official language it is important in education especially as a medium of higher education Each state and union territory has one or more official languages and the constitution recognises in particular 22 scheduled languages The 2011 census reported the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism 7980 of the population followed by Islam 1423 the remaining were Christianity 30 Sikhism 72 Buddhism 70 Jainism 36 and others India has the thirdlargest Muslim populationthe largest for a nonMuslim majority country Culture Main article Culture of India A Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple in Amritsar Punjab Indian cultural history spans more than 500 years During the Vedic period c 1700 BCE c 500 BCE the foundations of Hindu philosophy mythology theology and literature were laid and many beliefs and practices which still exist today such as dhárma kárma yóga and mokṣa were established India is notable for its religious diversity with Hinduism Buddhism Sikhism Islam Christianity and Jainism among the nations major religions The predominant religion Hinduism has been shaped by various historical schools of thought including those of the Upanishads the Yoga Sutras the Bhakti movement and by Buddhist philosophy Visual art Main article Indian art India has a very ancient tradition of art which has exchanged many influences with the rest of Eurasia especially in the first millennium when Buddhist art spread with Indian religions to Central East and Southeast Asia the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art Thousands of seals from the Indus Valley Civilization of the third millennium BCE have been found usually carved with animals but a few with human figures The Pashupati seal excavated in Mohenjodaro Pakistan in 192829 is the best known After this there is a long period with virtually nothing surviving Almost all surviving ancient Indian art thereafter is in various forms of religious 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 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 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 lifeforce 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 Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist either excavated from Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi Sarnath and Amaravati or is rock cut reliefs at sites such as Ajanta Karla and Ellora Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later 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 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 Across the north this became rather stiff and formulaic after c 800 CE though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues 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 Ancient painting has only survived at a few sites of which the crowded scenes of court life in the Ajanta Caves are by far the most important but it was evidently highly developed and is mentioned as a courtly accomplishment in Gupta times Painted manuscripts of religious texts survive from Eastern India about the 10th century onwards most of the earliest being Buddhist and later Jain No doubt the style of these was used in larger paintings The Persianderived Deccan painting starting just before the Mughal miniature between them give the first large body of secular painting with an emphasis on portraits and the recording of princely pleasures and wars The style spread to Hindu courts especially among the Rajputs and developed a variety of styles with the smaller courts often the most innovative with figures such as Nihâl Chand and Nainsukh As a market developed among European residents it was supplied by Company painting by Indian artists with considerable Western influence In the 19th century cheap Kalighat paintings of gods and everyday life done on paper were urban folk art from Calcutta which later saw the Bengal School of Art reflecting the art colleges founded by the British the first movement in modern Indian painting Bhutesvara Yakshis Buddhist reliefs from Mathura nd century CE Bhutesvara Yakshis Buddhist reliefs from Mathura nd century CE Gupta terracotta relief Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi th century Gupta terracotta relief Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi th century Elephanta Caves triplebust trimurti of Shiva 18 feet m tall c 550 Elephanta Caves triplebust trimurti of Shiva 18 feet m tall c 550 Chola bronze of Shiva as Nataraja Lord of Dance Tamil Nadu 10th or 11th century Chola bronze of Shiva as Nataraja Lord of Dance Tamil Nadu 10th or 11th century Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on His Return from the Mewar Campaign Balchand c 1635 Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on His Return from the Mewar Campaign Balchand c 1635 Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids Kangra painting 17751785 Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids Kangra painting 17751785 Architecture Main article Architecture of India The Taj Mahal from across the 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 Taj Mahal other works of IndoIslamic Mughal architecture and South Indian architecture blends ancient local traditions with imported styles Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours Vastu shastra literally science of construction or architecture and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs As applied in Hindu temple architecture it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the VastuPurusha mandala a square that embodied the absolute The Taj Mahal built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the worlds heritage IndoSaracenic Revival architecture developed by the British in the late 19th century drew on IndoIslamic architecture Literature Main article Indian literature The earliest literature in India composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE was in the Sanskrit language Major works of Sanskrit literature include the Rigveda c 1500 BCE c 1200 BCE the epics Mahābhārata c 400 BCE c 400 CE and the Ramayana c 300 BCE and later Abhijñānaśākuntalam The Recognition of Śakuntalā and other dramas of Kālidāsa c th century CE and Mahākāvya poetry In Tamil literature the Sangam literature c 600 BCE c 300 BCE consisting of 381 poems composed by 473 poets is the earliest work From the 14th to the 18th centuries Indias 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 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 the Bengali poet author and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore 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 Indias 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 Classical music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots the northern Hindustani and the southern Carnatic schools Regionalised popular forms include filmi and folk music the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a wellknown form of the latter Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms Among the betterknown folk dances are bhangra of Punjab bihu of Assam Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand Odisha and West Bengal garba and dandiya of Gujarat ghoomar of Rajasthan and lavani of Maharashtra Eight dance forms many with narrative forms and mythological elements have been accorded classical dance status by Indias National Academy of Music Dance and Drama These are bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu kathak of Uttar Pradesh kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh manipuri of Manipur odissi of Odisha and the sattriya of Assam Theatre in India melds music dance and improvised or written dialogue Often based on Hindu mythology but also borrowing from medieval romances or social and political events Indian theatre includes the bhavai of Gujarat the jatra of West Bengal the nautanki and ramlila of North India tamasha of Maharashtra burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu and the yakshagana of Karnataka India has a theatre training institute the National School of Drama NSD that is situated at New Delhi It is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of culture Government of India The Indian film industry produces the worlds mostwatched cinema Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese Bengali Bhojpuri Hindi Kannada Malayalam Punjabi Gujarati Marathi Odia Tamil and Telugu languages 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 Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a staterun medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s Since then satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society Today television is the most penetrative media in India industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there are over 554 million TV consumers 462 million with satellite or cable connections compared to other forms of mass media such as the press 350 million radio 156 million or internet 37 million Society Muslims offer namaz at a mosque in Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy The Indian caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found on the Indian subcontinent Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups often termed as jātis or castes India abolished untouchability in 1950 with the adoption of the constitution and has since enacted other antidiscriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives Family values are important in the Indian tradition and multigenerational patrilineal joint families have been the norm in India though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas An overwhelming majority of Indians with their consent have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders Marriage is thought to be for life and the divorce rate is extremely low with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce Child marriages are common especially in rural areas many women wed before reaching 18 which is their legal marriageable age Female infanticide in India and lately female foeticide have created skewed gender ratios the number of missing women in the country quadrupled from 15 million to 63 million in the 50year period ending in 2014 faster than the population growth during the same period and constituting 20 percent of Indias female electorate According to an Indian government study an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care Despite a government ban on sexselective foeticide the practice remains commonplace in India the result of a preference for boys in a patriarchal society The payment of dowry although illegal remains widespread across class lines Deaths resulting from dowry mostly from bride burning are on the rise despite stringent antidowry laws Many Indian festivals are religious in origin The best known include Diwali Ganesh Chaturthi Thai Pongal Holi Durga Puja Eid ulFitr BakrId Christmas and Vaisakhi 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 In 1921 the rates 12 and In 1891 they were and 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 The education system of India is the worlds secondlargest India has over 900 universities 40000 colleges and million schools In Indias higher education system a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged In recent decades Indias improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development 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 For women it took the form of a sari a single piece of cloth many yards long The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder 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 upperbody garment the saris endpassing over the shoulderserving to cover the midriff and obscure the upper bodys contours For men a similar but shorter length of cloth the dhoti has served as a lowerbody garment Women from left to right in churidars and kameez with back to the camera jeans and sweater and pink shalwar kameez The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at first by the Delhi sultanate c 1300 CE and then continued by the Mughal Empire c 1525 CE Among the garments introduced during this time and still commonly worn are the shalwars and pyjamas both styles of trousers and the tunics kurta and kameez In southern India the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use Shalwars 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 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 its side seams left open below the waistline 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 wearers knees 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 The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women who favour churidars or jeans In whitecollar office settings ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets yearround For weddings and formal occasions men in the middle and upper classes often wear bandgala or short Nehru jackets with pants with the groom and his groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars 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 is seldom seen in the cities 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 The cooked cereal could be steamed rice chapati a thin unleavened bread made from wheat flour or occasionally cornmeal and griddlecooked dry the idli a steamed breakfast cake or dosa a griddled pancake both leavened and made from a batter of rice and gram meal The savoury dishes might include lentils pulses and vegetables commonly spiced with ginger and garlic but also with a combination of spices that may include coriander cumin turmeric cinnamon cardamon and others as informed by culinary conventions They might also include poultry fish or meat dishes In some instances the ingredients might be mixed during the process of cooking A platter or thali used for eating usually has a central place reserved for the cooked cereal and peripheral ones for the flavourful accompaniments which are often served in small bowls The cereal and its accompaniments are eaten simultaneously rather than a piecemeal manner This is accomplished by mixingfor example of rice and lentilsor folding wrapping scooping or dippingsuch as chapati and cooked vegetables or lentils Duration 14 seconds14 A tandoor chef in the Turkman Gate Old Delhi makes Khameeri roti a Musliminfluenced style of leavened bread India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents 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 Indias Hindu population especially in southern India Gujarat the Hindispeaking belt of northcentral India as well as among Jains Although meat is eaten widely in India the proportional consumption of meat in the overall diet is low 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 The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during the Mughal Empire Dishes such as the pilaf developed in the Abbasid caliphate and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt spread into northern India from regions to its northwest To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia onions garlic almonds and spices began to be added in India 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 the Indian biryani a feature of festive dining in many parts of India 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 chickencooked 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 Asiadates 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 of India Sports and recreation Main article Sport in India Girls play hopscotch in Jaora Madhya Pradesh Hopscotch has been commonly played by girls in rural India Several traditional indigenous sports such as kabaddi kho kho pehlwani and gillidanda and also martial arts such as Kalarippayattu and marma adi remain popular Chess is commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga in recent years there has been a rise in the number of Indian grandmasters Viswanathan Anand became the Chess World Champion in 2007 and held the status until 2013 He also won the Chess World Cup in 2000 and 2002 In 2023 R Praggnanandhaa finished as runners up in the tournament Parcheesi is derived from Pachisi another traditional Indian pastime which in early modern times was played on a giant marble court by Mughal emperor Akbar the Great Cricket is the most popular sport in India Major domestic leagues include the Indian Premier League Professional leagues in other sports include the Indian Super League football and the Pro Kabaddi league Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar about to score a record 14000 runs in Test cricket while playing against Australia in Bangalore 2010 India has won two Cricket World Cups the 1983 edition and the 2011 edition as well as becoming the inaugural T20 World Cup Champions in 2007 India has also won the Champions Trophy twice in 2002 and 2013 The only edition of the World Championship of Cricket was won by India in 1985 India also has eight field hockey gold medals in the summer olympics The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country India has a comparatively strong presence in shooting sports and has won several medals at the Olympics the World Shooting Championships and the Commonwealth Games Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are two of the topranked female badminton players in the world boxing and wrestling Football is popular in West Bengal Goa Tamil Nadu Kerala and the northeastern statesIndia has traditionally been the dominant country at the South Asian Games An example of this dominance is the basketball competition where the Indian team won four out of five tournaments to date India has hosted or cohosted several international sporting events the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games the 1987 1996 2011 and 2023 ICC Mens Cricket World Cup tournaments and is also scheduled to host it in 2031 the 1978 1997 and 2013 ICC Womens Cricket World Cup tournaments and is also scheduled to host it in 2025 the 1987 1985 and 2016 South Asian Games the 199091 Mens Asia Cup the 2002 Chess World Cup the 2003 AfroAsian Games the 2006 ICC Cricket Champions Trophy and is also scheduled to host it in 2029 the 2006 Womens Asia Cup the 2009 World Badminton Championships the 2010 Hockey World Cup the 2010 Commonwealth Games the 2016 ICC Mens Cricket T20 World Cup and is also scheduled to host it in 2026 the 2016 ICC Womens Cricket T20 World Cup and the 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup Major international sporting events held annually in India include the Maharashtra Open the Mumbai Marathon the Delhi Half Marathon and the Indian Masters The first Formula Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011 but has been discontinued from the F season calendar since 2014