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Country information: India
From the Our Food, Our World online resource
India is the largest country in south Asia, stretching from the world’s highest mountains, the Himalayas, in the north to the tropical coconut groves of Kerala in the south. It has jungles, great rivers and a coastline of over 7,000km. There is abundant wildlife including elephants and tigers. Apart from the mountains, most of India has a warm climate with a rainy season from June to September.
Civilisation in India dates back nearly ten thousand years. A number of great empires rose and fell, leaving palaces and temples of great beauty, before the country came under British influence in the 18th, and direct rule in the 19th century. A mass campaign of civil disobedience against the colonial rulers, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, ended with India gaining independence in 1947, at which time Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh became separate countries.
The peoples of modern India are very diverse. There are 18 official languages and over 700 minor ones; English is still widely spoken. The country is the birthplace of several religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism – though a tenth of the present population is Muslim. Religion is still an important part in most people’s daily lives, and there are many colourful religious festivals.
India has the world’s second-biggest population after China (a sixth of the global population), It is the world’s biggest democracy and a major economic power. The country is rapidly becoming a world leader in Information Technology and has its own space programme. Its huge cinema industry is second only to the USA’s, producing hundreds of films every year. However, extremes of wealth and poverty coexist in its cities, a situation made worse by the migration of many impoverished rural people to the urban slums and shanty-towns. Social mobility is limited by the centuries-old caste system, in which status (and even occupation) is fixed by ancestry.
Since independence, India has fought several wars against Pakistan and relations between the two countries remain strained. Within India, stability is threatened by violence between the majority Hindu population and the Muslim and Sikh minorities. There has also been unrest as a result of rural opposition to GM crops and to massive dam projects, which have displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their land.
Indian food varies widely from region to region, but is generally delicious and healthy. India is reputed to have up to 70 per cent of the world’s vegetarians – a quarter of the population. Indians excel at a number of sports, including hockey and cricket, and chess probably originated there.
Yamini’s home city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is India’s fourth-largest city. Built by the British, it was once the capital of British India.
| Capital |
New Delhi |
| Population |
1.1 billion (UN, 2005) |
| Area |
3.1 million sq km (1.2 million sq miles), excluding Indian-administered Kashmir (100,569 sq km/38,830 sq miles) |
| Major languages |
Hindi and 17 other official languages; also English |
| GNI per capita |
US $620 (World Bank, 2005) |
| Life expectancy |
62 years (men), 65 years (women) (UN) |
| People per doctor |
2,083 |
| Literacy |
68% male, 45% female |
| Access to safe water |
84% use 'improved' water sources |
| Urban population |
28.7% |
From the Our Food, Our World online resource
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