India
India (Hindi: Bhārat), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[23] is a country in South Asia. It is the second-most populous country, the seventh-largest country by land area, and the most populous democracy in the world. 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;[lower-alpha 6] 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 and Indonesia.
Republic of India Bhārat Gaṇarājya (see other local names) | |
---|---|
Area controlled by India shown in dark green; regions claimed but not controlled shown in light green | |
Capital | New Delhi 28°36′50″N 77°12′30″E |
Largest city | |
Official languages | |
Recognised national languages | None[8][9][10] |
Recognised regional languages | |
Native languages | 447 languages[lower-alpha 3] |
Religion (2011) |
|
Demonym(s) | Indian |
Membership | |
Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional republic |
Ram Nath Kovind | |
Venkaiah Naidu | |
Narendra Modi | |
Sharad Arvind Bobde | |
Om Birla | |
Harivansh Narayan Singh | |
Legislature | Parliament |
Rajya Sabha | |
Lok Sabha | |
Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• Dominion | 15 August 1947 |
• Republic | 26 January 1950 |
Area | |
• Total | 3,287,263[2] km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)[lower-alpha 4] (7th) |
• Water (%) | 9.6 |
Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 1,352,642,280[15][16] (2nd) |
• 2011 census | 1,210,854,977[17][18] (2nd) |
• Density | 409.6/km2 (1,060.9/sq mi) (19th) |
GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $8.683 trillion[19] (3rd) |
• Per capita | $6,283[19] (124th) |
GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $2.59 trillion[19] (6th) |
• Per capita | $1,876[19] (142nd) |
Gini (2013) | 33.9[20] medium · 79th |
HDI (2019) | 0.645[21] medium · 131st |
Currency | Indian rupee (₹) (INR) |
Time zone | UTC+05:30 (IST) |
DST is not observed | |
Date format |
|
Mains electricity | 230 V–50 Hz |
Driving side | left[22] |
Calling code | +91 |
ISO 3166 code | IN |
Internet TLD | .in (others) |
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago.[24] Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity.[25] Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE.[26] By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest, unfolding as the language of the Rigveda, and recording the dawning of Hinduism in India.[27] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions.[28] By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism,[29] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity.[30] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.[31] Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity,[32] but also marked by the declining status of women,[33] and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief.[lower-alpha 7][34] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[35]
In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism put down roots on India's southern and western coasts.[36] Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,[37] eventually establishing the Delhi Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam.[38] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India.[39] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.[40] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,[41] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[lower-alpha 8][42] Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.[43] British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,[44] but technological changes were introduced, and ideas of education, modernity and the public life took root.[45] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule.[46] In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.[47][48]
India has been a secular federal republic since 1950, governed in a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to 1.211 billion in 2011.[49] During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually to US$1,498, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951,[50] India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class.[51] It has a space programme which includes several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[52] India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality.[53] India is a nuclear-weapon state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century.[54] Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition,[55] and rising levels of air pollution.[56] India's land is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots.[57] Its forest cover comprises 21.4% of its area.[58] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture,[59] is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats.
Etymology
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; and in turn 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 well-settled southern basin.[60][61] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".[62]
The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] (listen)), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India,[63][64] is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to a region of the Gangetic Valley,[65][66] Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[63][67]
Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] (listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India, introduced during the Mughal Empire and used widely since. Its meaning has varied, referring to a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its near entirety.[63][67][68]
History
Ancient India
By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or Homo sapiens, had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[69][70][71] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[72] 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 what is now Balochistan, Pakistan.[73] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[74][73] the first urban culture in South Asia,[75] which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India.[76] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.[75]
During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[77] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[78] were composed during this period,[79] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[77] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[78] 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.[80] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[77] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[81] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[81]
In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[82][83] The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira.[84] 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.[85][86][87] In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[88] and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire.[89] 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.[90][91] The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[92][93]
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 South-East Asia.[94][95] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[96][89] By the 4th and 5th 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.[97][98] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself.[99] This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.[98] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[98]
Medieval India
The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.[100] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[101] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[101] 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.[101] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.[100] During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes.[102] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[102]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[103] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[103] 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.[104] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[104] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Java.[105] Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.[105]
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[106] The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.[107][108] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.[109][110] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[111] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[112] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[111]
Early modern India
In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,[113] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[114] 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[115][116] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[117] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[118] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[117] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[119] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[120] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[118] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,[118] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[121] 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.[122] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[122] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[123]
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.[124][125] The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly flex its military muscle 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.[126][124][127][128] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annexe or subdue most of India by the 1820s.[129] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.[124] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas like education, social reform, and culture.[130]
Modern India
Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in Europe.[131][132][133][134] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule.[135][136] Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest.[137][138] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[139][140][141][142]
The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets.[143] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[144] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[145] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[146] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[147] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[147] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[146]
After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[148] a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[149] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[150] The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.[151]
Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic.[152] It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press.[153] Economic liberalisation, which began in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies,[154] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[153] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[153] by religious and caste-related violence;[155] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[156] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[157] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[158] and with Pakistan.[158] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved.[159]
Geography
India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate, a part of the Indo-Australian Plate.[160] India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[160] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate.[160] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[160] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[161] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[162] Cut off from the plain by the ancient Aravalli Range lies the Thar Desert.[163]
The original Indian Plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[164] 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;[165] the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitude[lower-alpha 9] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.[166]
India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains.[167] 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.[167]
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[169] Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods and course changes.[170][171] 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;[172] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[173] 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.[174] India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[175]
The 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.[176] 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.[177][178] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall.[176] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[179]
Biodiversity
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.[180] India is a habitat for 8.6% of all mammal species, 13.7% of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2% of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[181][182] Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.[183] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots,[57] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.[lower-alpha 10][184]
India's forest cover is 701,673 km2 (270,917 sq mi), which is 21.35% of the country's 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.[185] Very dense forest, whose canopy density is greater than 70%, occupies 2.61% of India's land area.[185] It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India.[186] Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.59% of India's land area.[185] 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.[186] Open forest, whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.14% of India's land area,[185] and predominates in the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan Plateau and the western Gangetic plain.[186]
Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine,[187] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul,[188] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[189] and under which the Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment,[190]
Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago.[192] India's 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.[193] Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas.[186] This had the effect of lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians.[182] Notable endemics are the vulnerable[194] hooded leaf monkey[195] and the threatened[196] Beddom's toad[196][197] of the Western Ghats.
India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms.[198] 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 white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[199] 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[200] and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.[201] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and thirteen biosphere reserves,[202] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[203]
Politics and government
Politics
India is the world's most populous democracy.[205] A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system,[206] it has eight recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties.[207] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political culture,[208] and the BJP right-wing.[209][210][211] For most of the period between 1950—when India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in the parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP,[212] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[213]
In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962, the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's 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 then-new Janata Party, which had opposed the emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. 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 short-lived, lasting just under two years.[214] 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.[215]
A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996. Several short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United Front coalitions, which depended on external support. 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 non-Congress, coalition government to complete a five-year term.[216] 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 left-leaning 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 India's communist parties.[217] That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term.[218] 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.[219] The incumbent prime minister is Narendra Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat. On 20 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind was elected India's 14th president and took the oath of office on 25 July 2017.[220][221][222]
Government
India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". 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,[224] originally stated India to be a "sovereign, democratic republic;" this characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic".[225] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,[226] has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[227][228]
Flag | Tiranga (Tricolour) |
---|---|
Emblem | Sarnath Lion Capital |
Anthem | Jana Gana Mana |
Song | "Vande Mataram" |
Language | None[8][9][10] |
Currency | ₹ (Indian rupee) |
Calendar | Saka |
Animal | |
Flower | Lotus |
Fruit | Mango |
Tree | Banyan |
River | Ganges |
Game | Not declared[229] |
The Government of India comprises three branches:[230]
- Executive: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state,[231] who is elected indirectly for a five-year term by an electoral college comprising members of national and state legislatures.[232][233] The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[234] Appointed by the president,[235] the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[234] The executive of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice president, and the Union Council of Ministers—with the cabinet being its executive committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament.[231] 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.[236]
- Legislature: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. Operating under a Westminster-style 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).[237] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245 members who serve staggered six-year terms.[238] Most are elected indirectly by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.[235] All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are elected directly by popular vote; they represent single-member constituencies for five-year terms.[239] The remaining two members are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides they are not adequately represented.[240]
- Judiciary: India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary[241] comprising the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large number of trial courts.[241] 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.[242] It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution,[243] and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.[244]
Administrative divisions
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories (listed below as 1–28 and A–H, respectively).[245] 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.[246] There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.[247]
Foreign, economic and strategic relations
In the 1950s, India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[249] After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962, and was widely thought to have been humiliated. 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 fourth, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[250] In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host country: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup d'état 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.[251]
Aside from ongoing its special relationship with Russia,[252] India has wide-ranging 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 100,000 military and police personnel to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in the East Asia Summit, the G8+5, and other multilateral forums.[253] India has close economic ties with countries in South America,[254] 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.[255][256]
China's 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.[258] 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 Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.[259] India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.[260][261] It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[262][263] Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[264]
Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military co-operation with the United States and the European Union.[265] 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 Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[266] India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[267] France,[268] the United Kingdom,[269] and Canada.[270]
The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.395 million active troops, they compose the world's second-largest military. It comprises the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Coast Guard.[271] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP.[272] For the fiscal year spanning 2012–2013, US$40.44 billion was budgeted.[273] According to a 2008 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing power stood at US$72.7 billion.[274] In 2011, the annual defence budget increased by 11.6%,[275] although this does not include funds that reach the military through other branches of government.[276] As of 2012, India is the world's largest arms importer; between 2007 and 2011, it accounted for 10% of funds spent on international arms purchases.[277] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[275] In May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[278] In October 2018, India signed a US$5.43 billion (over ₹400 billion) agreement with Russia to procure four S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-range missile defence system.[279]
Economy
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2019 was nominally worth $2.9 trillion; it is the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates, and is around $11 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[19] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[283] India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.[284] However, the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP.[285] 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;[286] since then it has moved slowly towards a free-market system[287][288] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[289] India has been a member of WTO since 1 January 1995.[290]
The 513.7-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2016.[271] The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$70 billion in 2014, the largest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 25 million Indians working in foreign countries.[291] Major agricultural products include: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[245] Major industries include: textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.[245] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.[287] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[292] In 2011, India was the world's tenth-largest importer and the nineteenth-largest exporter.[293] Major exports include: petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.[245] Major imports include: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[245] Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.[294] India was the world's second largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year.[295]
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[287] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[296] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[297] Though ranking 51st 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.[298] With seven of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009, the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States.[299] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.[297] Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking have been the priorities for energy in India:[300] the country's coal is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions by India but the country's renewable energy is competing strongly.[301]
Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$329 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,265 in 2010, to an estimated US$1,723 in 2016. It is expected to grow to US$2,358 by 2020.[19] However, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future. Its GDP per capita is higher than Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and others.[302]
According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[304] During the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of 8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050.[304] The report highlights key growth factors: a young and rapidly growing working-age population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a rapidly growing middle-class.[304] 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.[305]
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 (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[306]
Industries
India's telecommunication industry, the world's fastest-growing, added 227 million subscribers during the period 2010–2011,[307] and after the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.[308]
The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[309] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.[310] India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts is renewable.[311] At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP, and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[312]
The pharmaceutical industry in India is among the significant emerging markets for the global pharmaceutical industry. The Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to reach $48.5 billion by 2020. India's R & D spending constitutes 60% of the biopharmaceutical industry.[313][314] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.[315][316] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing its revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at June 2013 exchange rates).[317]
Socio-economic challenges
Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.[319] The proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.[320] Under the World Bank's later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[lower-alpha 12][322] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[323] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[324][325] The Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[326]
According to a 2016 Walk Free Foundation report there were an estimated 18.3 million people in India, or 1.4% of the population, living in the forms of modern slavery, such as bonded labour, child labour, human trafficking, and forced begging, among others.[327][328][329] According to the 2011 census, there were 10.1 million child labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6 million from 12.6 million in 2001.[330]
Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the per-capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest.[331] 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.[332][333]
Demographics, languages, and religion
With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[334] India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011,[335] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[335] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[334] The median age was 27.6 as of 2016.[271] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[336] Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly.[337]
The average life expectancy in India is at 68 years—69.6 years for women, 67.3 years for men.[338] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians.[339] Migration from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in India's recent history. The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.[340] Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.[341][342] The level of urbanisation increased further from 27.81% in the 2001 Census to 31.16% 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.[343] According to the 2011 census, there are 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in decreasing order by population.[344] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[345] The rural-urban literacy gap, which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas.[343] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[345]
India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by 24% of the population). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan language families. India has no national language.[346] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[347][348] English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[5] 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 (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and others[lower-alpha 13] (0.9%).[14] India has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.[349][350]
Culture
Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[351] During the Vedic period (c. 1700 – 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.[62] India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[352] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[353] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[352] and by Buddhist philosophy.[354]
Art, architecture and literature
Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Mughal architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.[355] Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours. Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan,[356] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[357] it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.[358] As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[359] The Taj Mahal, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of 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 world's heritage".[360] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[361]
The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in the Sanskrit language.[362] Major works of Sanskrit literature include the Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE – 1200 BCE), the epics: Mahābhārata (c. 400 BCE – 400 CE) and the Ramayana (c. 300 BCE and later); Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Śakuntalā, and other dramas of Kālidāsa (c. 5th century CE) and Mahākāvya poetry.[363][364][365] In Tamil literature, the Sangam literature (c. 600 BCE – 300 BCE) consisting of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.[366][367][368][369] From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets like Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions.[370] 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,[371] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Performing arts and media
Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the northern Hindustani and southern Carnatic schools.[372] Regionalised popular forms include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the better-known folk dances are: the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the lavani of Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's 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.[373]
Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[374] 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, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[375] 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.[376] The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[377] Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[378] 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.[379]
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.[380][381] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[382] 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).[383]
Society
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 in the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[384] India declared untouchability to be illegal[385] in 1947 and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace in urban India, and in international or leading Indian companies, caste-related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[386][387]
Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas.[388] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders.[389] Marriage is thought to be for life,[389] and the divorce rate is extremely low,[390] with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[391] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[392] 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 50-year period ending in 2014, faster than the population growth during the same period, and constituting 20 percent of India's female electorate.[393] Accord to an Indian government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care.[394] Despite a government ban on sex-selective foeticide, the practice remains commonplace in India, the result of a preference for boys in a patriarchal society.[395] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[396] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[397]
Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas, and Vaisakhi.[398][399]
Education
In the 2011 census, about 73% of the population was literate, with 81% for men and 65% for women. This compares to 1981 when the respective rates were 41%, 53% and 29%. In 1951 the rates were 18%, 27% and 9%. In 1921 the rates 7%, 12% and 2%. In 1891 they were 5%, 9% and 1%,[400][401] 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.[402]
In 2019, India had over 900 universities and 40,000 colleges.[403] In India's higher education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development.[404][405]
Clothing
The most widely worn traditional dress in India, for both women and men, from ancient times until the advent of modern times, was draped.[406] For women it eventually took the form of a sari, a single long piece of cloth, famously six yards long, and of width spanning the lower body.[406] The sari is tied around the waist and knotted at one end, wrapped around the lower body, and then over the shoulder.[406] In its more modern form, it has been used to cover the head, and sometimes the face, as a veil.[406] It has been combined with an underskirt, or Indian petticoat, and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening, It is also commonly worn with an Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—serving to obscure the upper body's contours and to cover the midriff.[406]
For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[407] It too is tied around the waist and wrapped.[407] In south India, it is usually wrapped around the lower body, the upper end tucked in the waistband, the lower left free. In addition, in northern India, it is also wrapped once around each leg before being brought up through the legs to be tucked in at the back. Other forms of traditional apparel that involve no stitching or tailoring are the chaddar (a shawl worn by both sexes to cover the upper body during colder weather, or a large veil worn by women for framing the head, or covering it) and the pagri (a turban or a scarf worn around the head as a part of a tradition, or to keep off the sun or the cold).[407]
Until the beginning of the first millennium CE, the ordinary dress of people in India was entirely unstitched.[408] The arrival of the Kushans from Central Asia, circa 48 CE, popularised cut and sewn garments in the style of Central Asian favoured by the elite in northern India.[408] However, it was not until Muslim rule was established, first with the Delhi sultanate and then the Mughal Empire, that the range of stitched clothes in India grew and their use became significantly more widespread.[408] Among the various garments gradually establishing themselves in northern India during medieval and early-modern times and now commonly worn are: the shalwars and pyjamas both forms of trousers, as well as the tunics kurta and kameez.[408] In southern India, however, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.[408]
Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[409] The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias, in which case they are called churidars. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.[410] The side seams are left open below the waist-line,[411]), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The kameez may have a European-style collar, a Mandarin-collar, or it may be collarless; in the latter case, its design as a women's garment is similar to a kurta.[412] At first worn by Muslim women, the use of shalwar kameez gradually spread, making them a regional style,[413][414] especially in the Punjab region.[415] [416]
A kurta, which traces its roots to Central Asian nomadic tunics, has evolved stylistically in India as a garment for everyday wear as well as for formal occasions.[408] It is traditionally made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such as chikan; and it can be loose or tight in the torso, typically falling either just above or somewhere below the wearer's knees.[417] The sleeves of a traditional kurta fall to the wrist without narrowing, the ends hemmed but not cuffed; the kurta can be worn by both men and women; it is traditionally collarless, though standing collars are increasingly popular; and it can be worn over ordinary pyjamas, loose shalwars, churidars, or less traditionally over jeans.[417]
In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban settings in northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, transformed instead into one for formal occasions.[418] The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger women, who favour churidars or jeans.[418] The kurtas worn by young men usually fall to the shins and are seldom plain. In white-collar office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.[418] 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.[418] The dhoti, the once universal garment of Hindu India, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwoven form of khadi allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,[419] is seldom seen in the cities,[418] reduced now, with brocaded border, to the liturgical vestments of Hindu priests.
Cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially from each other, using locally available spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruit. Indian foodways have been influenced by religion, in particular Hindu cultural choices and traditions.[420] They have been also shaped by Islamic rule, particularly that of the Mughals, by the arrival of the Portuguese on India's southwestern shores, and by British rule. These three influences are reflected, respectively, in the dishes of pilaf and biryani; the vindaloo; and the tiffin and the Railway mutton curry.[421] Earlier, the Columbian exchange had brought the potato, the tomato, maize, peanuts, cashew nuts, pineapples, guavas, and most notably, chilli peppers, to India. Each became staples of use.[422] In turn, the spice trade between India and Europe was a catalyst for Europe's Age of Discovery.[423]
The cereals grown in India, their choice, times, and regions of planting, correspond strongly to the timing of India's monsoons, and the variation across regions in their associated rainfall.[424] In general, the broad division of cereal zones in India, as determined by their dependence on rain, was firmly in place before the arrival of artificial irrigation.[424] Rice, which requires a lot of water, has been grown traditionally in regions of high rainfall in the northeast and the western coast, wheat in regions of moderate rainfall, like India's northern plains, and millet in regions of low rainfall, such as on the Deccan Plateau and in Rajasthan.[425][424]
The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked in plain fashion, and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.[426] The latter includes lentils, pulses and vegetables spiced commonly with ginger and garlic, but also more discerningly with a combination of spices that may include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon and others as informed by culinary conventions.[426] In an actual meal, this mental representation takes the form of a platter, or thali, with a central place for the cooked cereal, peripheral ones, often in small bowls, for the flavourful accompaniments, and the simultaneous, rather than piecemeal, ingestion of the two in each act of eating, whether by actual mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or in the folding of one—such as bread—around the other, such as cooked vegetables.[426]
A notable feature of Indian food is the existence of a number of distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[427] 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 been a notable factor in the prevalence of vegetarianism among a segment of India's Hindu population, especially in southern India, Gujarat, and the Hindi-speaking belt of north-central India, as well as among Jains.[427] Among these groups, strong discomfort is felt at thoughts of eating meat,[428] and contributes to the low proportional consumption of meat to overall diet in India.[428] 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 accompanying higher economic growth.[429]
In the last millennium, the most significant import of cooking techniques into India occurred during the Mughal Empire. The cultivation of rice had spread much earlier from India to Central and West Asia; however, it was during Mughal rule that dishes, such as the pilaf,[425] developed in the interim during the Abbasid caliphate,[430] and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern India from regions to its northwest.[431] To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia, onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.[431] Rice grown to the southwest of the Mughal capital, Agra, which had become famous in the Islamic world for its fine grain, 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,[431] a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.[432] In food served in restaurants in urban north India, and internationally, the diversity of Indian food has been partially concealed by the dominance of Punjabi cuisine. This was caused in large part by an entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab region who had been displaced by the 1947 partition of India, and had arrived in India as refugees.[427] The identification of Indian cuisine with the tandoori chicken—cooked in the tandoor oven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally from Central Asia—dates to this period.[427]
Sports and recreation
Cricket is the most popular sport in India.[433] Major domestic competitions include the Indian Premier League, which is the most-watched cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues.[434]
Several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as Kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, and marma adi, originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga, is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.[435][436] Pachisi, from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.[437]
The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.[438] 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.[439][440] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton[441] (Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are two of the top-ranked female badminton players in the world), boxing,[442] and wrestling.[443] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.[444]
India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy; the 2010 Hockey World Cup; the 2010 Commonwealth Games; and the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Major international sporting events held annually in India include the Chennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. The first Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011 but has been discontinued from the F1 season calendar since 2014.[446] India 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 three out of four tournaments to date.[447]
See also
Notes
- "[...] Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words as the Government may authorise as occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it."(Constituent Assembly of India 1950).
- According to Part XVII of the Constitution of India, Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Union, along with English as an additional official language.[5][1][6] States and union territories can have a different official language of their own other than Hindi or English.
- Different sources give widely differing figures, primarily based on how the terms "language" and "dialect" are defined and grouped. Ethnologue, produced by the Christian evangelist organisation SIL International, lists 461 tongues for India (out of 6,912 worldwide), 447 of which are living, while 14 are extinct.[12][13]
- "The country's exact size is subject to debate because some borders are disputed. The Indian government lists the total area as 3,287,260 km2 (1,269,220 sq mi) and the total land area as 3,060,500 km2 (1,181,700 sq mi); the United Nations lists the total area as 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi) and total land area as 2,973,190 km2 (1,147,960 sq mi)."(Library of Congress 2004).
- See Date and time notation in India.
- The Government of India also regards Afghanistan as a bordering country, as it considers all of Kashmir to be part of India. However, this is disputed, and the region bordering Afghanistan is administered by Pakistan. Source: "Ministry of Home Affairs (Department of Border Management)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- " A Chinese pilgrim also recorded evidence of the caste system as he could observe it. According to this evidence the treatment meted out to untouchables such as the Chandalas was very similar to that which they experienced in later periods. This would contradict assertions that this rigid form of the caste system emerged in India only as a reaction to the Islamic conquest.[34]
- "Shah Jahan eventually sent her body 800 km (500 mi) to Agra for burial in the Rauza-i Munauwara ("Illuminated Tomb") – a personal tribute and a stone manifestation of his imperial power. This tomb has been celebrated globally as the Taj Mahal."[42]
- The northernmost point under Indian control is the disputed Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir; however, the Government of India regards the entire region of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Gilgit-Baltistan administered by Pakistan, to be its territory. It therefore assigns the latitude 37° 6′ to its northernmost point.
- A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographical region which has more than 1,500 vascular plant species, but less than 30% of its primary habitat.[184]
- A forest cover is moderately dense if between 40% and 70% of its area is covered by its tree canopy.
- In 2015, the World Bank raised its international poverty line to $1.90 per day.[321]
- Besides specific religions, the last two categories in the 2011 Census were "Other religions and persuasions" (0.65%) and "Religion not stated" (0.23%).
References
- National Informatics Centre 2005.
- "National Symbols | National Portal of India". India.gov.in. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
The National Anthem of India Jana Gana Mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950.
- "National anthem of India: a brief on 'Jana Gana Mana'". News18. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- Wolpert 2003, p. 1.
- Ministry of Home Affairs 1960.
- "Profile | National Portal of India". India.gov.in. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- "Constitutional Provisions – Official Language Related Part-17 of the Constitution of India". National Informatics Centre (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
- Khan, Saeed (25 January 2010). "There's no national language in India: Gujarat High Court". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- "Learning with the Times: India doesn't have any 'national language'". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017.
- Press Trust of India (25 January 2010). "Hindi, not a national language: Court". The Hindu. Ahmedabad. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- "Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2014). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : India". Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- Ethnologue : Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : Statistical Summaries Archived 17 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- "C −1 Population by religious community – 2011". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
- ""World Population prospects – Population division"". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). population.un.org (custom data acquired via website). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- "Population Enumeration Data (Final Population)". 2011 Census Data. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 22 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- "A – 2 Decadal Variation in Population Since 1901" (PDF). 2011 Census Data. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2020". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- "Income Gini coefficient". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- "Human Development Report 2020" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "List of all left- & right-driving countries around the world". worldstandards.eu. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- –The Essential Desk Reference, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 76, ISBN 978-0-19-512873-4 "Official name: Republic of India.";
–John Da Graça (2017), Heads of State and Government, London: Macmillan, p. 421, ISBN 978-1-349-65771-1 "Official name: Republic of India; Bharat Ganarajya (Hindi)";
–Graham Rhind (2017), Global Sourcebook of Address Data Management: A Guide to Address Formats and Data in 194 Countries, Taylor & Francis, p. 302, ISBN 978-1-351-93326-1 "Official name: Republic of India; Bharat.";
–Bradnock, Robert W. (2015), The Routledge Atlas of South Asian Affairs, Routledge, p. 108, ISBN 978-1-317-40511-5 "Official name: English: Republic of India; Hindi:Bharat Ganarajya";
–Penguin Compact Atlas of the World, Penguin, 2012, p. 140, ISBN 978-0-7566-9859-1 "Official name: Republic of India";
–Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Merriam-Webster, 1997, pp. 515–516, ISBN 978-0-87779-546-9 "Officially, Republic of India";
–Complete Atlas of the World, 3rd Edition: The Definitive View of the Earth, DK Publishing, 2016, p. 54, ISBN 978-1-4654-5528-4 "Official name: Republic of India";
–Worldwide Government Directory with Intergovernmental Organizations 2013, CQ Press, 10 May 2013, p. 726, ISBN 978-1-4522-9937-2 "India (Republic of India; Bharat Ganarajya)" - (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 1, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b) Michael D. Petraglia; Bridget Allchin (22 May 2007). The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia: Inter-disciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics and Genetics. Springer Science + Business Media. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4020-5562-1.; (c) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 23, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 28, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8
- (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 4–5, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 33, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 14–15, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b) Robb, Peter (2011), A History of India, Macmillan, p. 46, ISBN 978-0-230-34549-2; (c) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, p. 19, ISBN 978-1-78074-108-6
- (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 25, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b)Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 16, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8
- Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 16, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8
- Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 59, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 16–17, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 67, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2; (c) Robb, Peter (2011), A History of India, Macmillan, pp. 56–57, ISBN 978-0-230-34549-2; (d) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, pp. 29–30, ISBN 978-1-78074-108-6
- (a) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, pp. 28–29, ISBN 978-1-78074-108-6; (b) Glenn Van Brummelen (2014), "Arithmetic", in Thomas F. Glick; Steven Livesey; Faith Wallis (eds.), Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, pp. 46–48, ISBN 978-1-135-45932-1
- (a) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 20, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8; (b) Stein 2010, p. 90; (c) Ramusack, Barbara N. (1999), "Women in South Asia", in Barbara N. Ramusack, Sharon L. Sievers (ed.), Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History, Indiana University Press, pp. 27–29, ISBN 0-253-21267-7
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 93.
- Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 17, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
- (a) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, p. 54, ISBN 978-1-78074-108-6; (b) Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 78–79, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7; (c) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 76, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- (a) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, pp. 68–70, ISBN 978-1-78074-108-6; (b) Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 19, 24, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
- (a) Dyson, Tim (20 September 2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 48, ISBN 978-0-19-256430-6; (b) Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 52, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
- Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 74, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7"
- Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 267, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
- Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 152, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7
- Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 106, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- (a) Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006), India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, p. 289, ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7; (b) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 120, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- Taylor, Miles (2016), "The British royal family and the colonial empire from the Georgians to Prince George", in Aldrish, Robert; McCreery, Cindy (eds.), Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires, Manchester University Press, pp. 38–39, ISBN 978-1-5261-0088-7; (b) Peers, Douglas M. (2013), India Under Colonial Rule: 1700–1885, Routledge, p. 76, ISBN 978-1-317-88286-2, archived from the original on 31 March 2017, retrieved 13 August 2019
- Embree, Ainslie Thomas; Hay, Stephen N.; Bary, William Theodore De (1988), "Nationalism Takes Root: The Moderates", Sources of Indian Tradition: Modern India and Pakistan, Columbia University Press, p. 85, ISBN 978-0-231-06414-9
- Marshall, P. J. (2001), The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, Cambridge University Press, pp. 179–181, ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7
- Copland 2001, pp. 71–78
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 222
- Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 219, 262, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8
- Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 8, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2
- Metcalf, Barbara D.; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2012), A Concise History of Modern India, Cambridge University Press, pp. 265–266, ISBN 978-1-107-02649-0
- Metcalf, Barbara D.; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2012), A Concise History of Modern India, Cambridge University Press, p. 266, ISBN 978-1-107-02649-0
- Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 216, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8
- (a) "Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent", Encyclopaedia Britannica, archived from the original on 13 August 2019, retrieved 15 August 2019,
Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
;
(b) Pletcher, Kenneth, "Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia", Encyclopaedia Britannica, archived from the original on 2 April 2019, retrieved 16 August 2019,Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, ... constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India
;
(c) C. E Bosworth (2006). "Kashmir". Encyclopedia Americana: Jefferson to Latin. Encyclopedia Americana. Scholastic Library Publishing. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-7172-0139-6.KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partly by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947
- Narayan, Jitendra; John, Denny; Ramadas, Nirupama (2018). "Malnutrition in India: status and government initiatives". Journal of Public Health Policy. 40 (1): 126–141. doi:10.1057/s41271-018-0149-5. ISSN 0197-5897. PMID 30353132. S2CID 53032234.
- Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Dey, Sagnik; et al. (2019). "The impact of air pollution on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017". The Lancet Planetary Health. 3 (1): e26–e39. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30261-4. ISSN 2542-5196. PMC 6358127. PMID 30528905.
- India, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 2019
- Jha, Raghbendra (2018), Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume II: Current State and Future Prospects, Springer, p. 198, ISBN 978-1-349-95342-4
- Karanth, K. Ullas; Gopal, Rajesh (2005), "An ecology-based policy framework for human-tiger coexistence in India", in Rosie Woodroffe; Simon Thirgood; Alan Rabinowitz (eds.), People and Wildlife, Conflict Or Co-existence?, Cambridge University Press, p. 374, ISBN 978-0-521-53203-7
- India (noun), Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 2009 (subscription required)
- Thieme, P. (1970), "Sanskrit sindu-/Sindhu- and Old Iranian hindu-/Hindu-", in Mary Boyce; Ilya Gershevitch (eds.), W. B. Henning memorial volume, Lund Humphries, pp. 447–450, ISBN 978-0-85331-255-0
- Kuiper 2010, p. 86.
- Clémentin-Ojha, Catherine (2014). "'India, that is Bharat…': One Country, Two Names". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. 10. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015.
- Ministry of Law and Justice 2008.
- Jha, Dwijendra Narayan (2014), Rethinking Hindu Identity, Routledge, p. 11, ISBN 978-1-317-49034-0
- Singh, Upinder (2017), Political Violence in Ancient India, Harvard University Press, p. 253, ISBN 978-0-674-98128-7
- Barrow, Ian J. (2003). "From Hindustan to India: Naming change in changing names". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 26 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/085640032000063977. S2CID 144039519.
- Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, p. 1, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8 Quote: "Modern human beings—Homo sapiens—originated in Africa. Then, intermittently, sometime between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago, tiny groups of them began to enter the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. It seems likely that initially they came by way of the coast. ... it is virtually certain that there were Homo sapiens in the subcontinent 55,000 years ago, even though the earliest fossils that have been found of them date to only about 30,000 years before the present. (page 1)"
- Michael D. Petraglia; Bridget Allchin (22 May 2007). The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia: Inter-disciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics and Genetics. Springer Science + Business Media. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4020-5562-1. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka."
- Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 23, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2 Quote: "Scholars estimate that the first successful expansion of the Homo sapiens range beyond Africa and across the Arabian Peninsula occurred from as early as 80,000 years ago to as late as 40,000 years ago, although there may have been prior unsuccessful emigrations. Some of their descendants extended the human range ever further in each generation, spreading into each habitable land they encountered. One human channel was along the warm and productive coastal lands of the Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean. Eventually, various bands entered India between 75,000 years ago and 35,000 years ago (page 23)"
- Petraglia & Allchin 2007, p. 6.
- Coningham & Young 2015, pp. 104–105.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, pp. 21–23.
- Singh 2009, p. 181.
- Possehl 2003, p. 2.
- Singh 2009, p. 255.
- Singh 2009, pp. 186–187.
- Witzel 2003, pp. 68–69.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, pp. 41–43.
- Singh 2009, pp. 250–251.
- Singh 2009, pp. 260–265.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, pp. 53–54.
- Singh 2009, pp. 312–313.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, pp. 54–56.
- Stein 1998, p. 21.
- Stein 1998, pp. 67–68.
- Singh 2009, p. 300.
- Singh 2009, p. 319.
- Stein 1998, pp. 78–79.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 70.
- Singh 2009, p. 367.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 63.
- Stein 1998, pp. 89–90.
- Singh 2009, pp. 408–415.
- Stein 1998, pp. 92–95.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, pp. 89–91.
- Singh 2009, p. 545.
- Stein 1998, pp. 98–99.
- Stein 1998, p. 132.
- Stein 1998, pp. 119–120.
- Stein 1998, pp. 121–122.
- Stein 1998, p. 123.
- Stein 1998, p. 124.
- Stein 1998, pp. 127–128.
- Ludden 2002, p. 68.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 47.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 6.
- Ludden 2002, p. 67.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, pp. 50–51.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 53.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 12.
- Robb 2001, p. 80.
- Stein 1998, p. 164.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 115.
- Robb 2001, pp. 90–91.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 17.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 152.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 158.
- Stein 1998, p. 169.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 186.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 23–24.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 256.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 286.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 44–49.
- Robb 2001, pp. 98–100.
- Ludden 2002, pp. 128–132.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 51–55.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 68–71.
- Asher & Talbot 2008, p. 289.
- Robb 2001, pp. 151–152.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 94–99.
- Brown 1994, p. 83.
- Peers 2006, p. 50.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 100–103.
- Brown 1994, pp. 85–86.
- Stein 1998, p. 239.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 103–108.
- Robb 2001, p. 183.
- Sarkar 1983, pp. 1–4.
- Copland 2001, pp. ix–x.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 123.
- Stein 1998, p. 260.
- Bose & Jalal 2011, p. 117.
- Stein 1998, p. 258.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 126.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 97.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 163.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 167.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 195–197.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 203.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 231.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 265–266.
- United States Department of Agriculture.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 266–270.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 253.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 274.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, pp. 247–248.
- Metcalf & Metcalf 2006, p. 304.
- Ali & Aitchison 2005.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 7.
- Prakash et al. 2000.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 11.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 8.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, pp. 9–10.
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting 2007, p. 1.
- Kumar et al. 2006.
- Mcgrail, Sean; Blue, Lucy; Kentley, Eric (2003), Boats of South Asia, Routledge, p. 257, ISBN 978-1-134-43130-4
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 15.
- Duff 1993, p. 353.
- Basu, Mahua; SJ, Xavier Savarimuthu (2017), Fundamentals of Environmental Studies, Cambridge University Press, p. 78, ISBN 978-1-316-87051-8
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 16.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 17.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 12.
- Dikshit & Schwartzberg, p. 13.
- Chang 1967, pp. 391–394.
- Posey 1994, p. 118.
- Wolpert 2003, p. 4.
- Heitzman & Worden 1996, p. 97.
- Megadiverse Countries, Biodiversity A–Z and UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre
- Zoological Survey of India 2012, p. 1.
- Puri.
- Basak 1983, p. 24.
- Venkataraman, K.; Sivaperuman, C. (2018), "Biodiversity Hotspots in India", in Sivaperuman, C.; Venkataraman, K. (eds.), Indian Hotspots: Vertebrate Faunal Diversity, Conservation and Management, Springer, p. 5, ISBN 978-981-10-6605-4
- Jha, Raghbendra (2018), Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume II: Current State and Future Prospects, Springer, p. 198, ISBN 978-1-349-95342-4
- Tritsch 2001.
- Goyal, Anupam (2006), The WTO and International Environmental Law: Towards Conciliation, Oxford University Press, p. 295, ISBN 978-0-19-567710-2 Quote: "The Indian government successfully argued that the medicinal neem tree is part of traditional Indian knowledge. (page 295)"
- Hughes, Julie E. (2013), Animal Kingdoms, Harvard University Press, p. 106, ISBN 978-0-674-07480-4,
At same time, the leafy pipal trees and comparative abundance that marked the Mewari landscape fostered refinements unattainable in other lands.
- Ameri, Marta; Costello, Sarah Kielt; Jamison, Gregg; Scott, Sarah Jarmer (2018), Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia, Cambridge University Press, pp. 156–157, ISBN 978-1-108-17351-3 Quote: "The last of the centaurs has the long, wavy, horizontal horns of a markhor, a human face, a heavy-set body that appears bovine, and a goat tail ... This figure is often depicted by itself, but it is also consistently represented in scenes that seem to reflect the adoration of a figure in a pipal tree or arbour and which may be termed ritual. These include fully detailed scenes like that visible in the large 'divine adoration' seal from Mohenjo-daro."
- Paul Gwynne (2011), World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction, John Wiley & Sons, p. 358, ISBN 978-1-4443-6005-9 Quote: "The tree under which Sakyamuni became the Buddha is a peepal tree (Ficus religiosa)."
- "India's tiger census shows rapid population growth", BBC News, 30 July 2019, archived from the original on 1 August 2019, retrieved 2 August 2019
- Crame & Owen 2002, p. 142.
- Karanth 2006.
- Singh, M.; Kumar, A. & Molur, S. (2008). "Trachypithecus johnii". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T44694A10927987. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T44694A10927987.en.
- "Semnopithecus johnii". ITIS. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- S.D. Biju; Sushil Dutta; M.S. Ravichandran Karthikeyan Vasudevan; S.P. Vijayakumar; Chelmala Srinivasulu; Gajanan Dasaramji Bhuddhe (2004). "Duttaphrynus beddomii". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2004: e.T54584A86543952. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T54584A11155448.en.
- Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Duttaphrynus beddomii (Günther, 1876)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
- Mace 1994, p. 4.
- Lovette, Irby J.; Fitzpatrick, John W. (2016), Handbook of Bird Biology, John Wiley & Sons, p. 599, ISBN 978-1-118-29105-4
- Ministry of Environments and Forests 1972.
- Department of Environment and Forests 1988.
- Ministry of Environment and Forests.
- Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands.
- Johnston, Hank (2019), Social Movements, Nonviolent Resistance, and the State, Routledge, p. 83, ISBN 978-0-429-88566-2
- United Nations Population Division.
- Burnell & Calvert 1999, p. 125.
- Election Commission of India.
- Saez, Lawrence; Sinha, Aseema (2010). "Political cycles, political institutions and public expenditure in India, 1980–2000". British Journal of Political Science. 40 (1): 91–113. doi:10.1017/s0007123409990226.
- Malik & Singh 1992, pp. 318–336.
- BBC 2012.
- Banerjee 2005, p. 3118.
- Sarkar 2007, p. 84.
- Chander 2004, p. 117.
- Bhambhri 1992, pp. 118, 143.
- "Narasimha Rao Passes Away". The Hindu. 24 December 2004. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
- Dunleavy, Diwakar & Dunleavy 2007.
- Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 384.
- Business Standard 2009.
- "BJP first party since 1984 to win parliamentary majority on its own". DNA. IANS. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- "Election commission" (PDF). eci.nic.in. 21 July 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2017.
- "Oath". India Today. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017.
- "Highlights: Ram Nath Kovind takes oath as India's 14th President". The Indian Express. 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- Bremner, G. A. (2016), Architecture and Urbanism in the British Empire, Oxford University Press, p. 117, ISBN 978-0-19-102232-6
- Pylee, 2003 & a, p. 4.
- Dutt 1998, p. 421.
- Wheare 1980, p. 28.
- Echeverri-Gent 2002, pp. 19–20.
- Sinha 2004, p. 25.
- "In RTI reply, Centre says India has no national game". deccanherald.com. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- "The Constitution of India" (PDF). legislature.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
- Sharma 2007, p. 31.
- Sharma 2007, p. 138.
- Gledhill 1970, p. 112.
- Sharma 1950.
- Sharma 2007, p. 162.
- Mathew 2003, p. 524.
- Gledhill 1970, p. 127.
- Sharma 2007, p. 161.
- Sharma 2007, p. 143.
- Sharma 2007, p. 360.
- Neuborne 2003, p. 478.
- Sharma 2007, pp. 238, 255.
- Sripati 1998, pp. 423–424.
- Pylee, 2003 & b, p. 314.
- Library of Congress 2004.
- Sharma 2007, p. 49.
- "India". Commonwealth Local Government Forum. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
- Dinkel, Jürgen (3 December 2018). The Non-Aligned Movement: Genesis, Organization and Politics (1927–1992). BRILL. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-90-04-33613-1.
- Rothermund 2000, pp. 48, 227.
- Gilbert 2002, pp. 486–487.
- Sharma 1999, p. 56.
- "No ties with Pakistan at India's cost, relations with New Delhi long-term: Russia | India News". timesnownews.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- Alford 2008.
- Jorge Heine; R. Viswanathan (Spring 2011). "The Other BRIC in Latin America: India". Americas Quarterly. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
- Ghosh 2009, pp. 282–289.
- Sisodia & Naidu 2005, pp. 1–8.
- Muir, Hugh (13 July 2009), "Diary", The Guardian Quote: "Members of the Indian armed forces have the plum job of leading off the great morning parade for Bastille Day. Only after units and bands from India's navy and air force have followed the Maratha Light Infantry will the parade be entirely given over to ... France's armed services."
- Perkovich 2001, pp. 60–86, 106–125.
- Kumar 2010.
- Nair 2007.
- Pandit 2009.
- Pandit, Rajat (8 January 2015). "Make-in-India: Plan to develop 5th-generation fighter aircraft". The Times of India. TNN.
- Abhijit Iyer-Mitra and Pushan Das. "The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft:A Technical Analysis" (PDF). Observer Research Foundation.
- "India, Russia Review Defence Ties". The Hindu. 5 October 2009. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- Europa 2008.
- The Times of India 2008.
- British Broadcasting Corporation 2009.
- Rediff 2008 a.
- Reuters 2010.
- Curry 2010.
- Central Intelligence Agency.
- Behera 2011.
- Behera 2012.
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute 2008, p. 178.
- Miglani 2011.
- Shukla 2011.
- Stockholm International Peace Research Initiative 2012.
- "Isro-Saarc satellite to be a communication vehicle". Deccan Herald. Deccan Herald News Service. 12 January 2015. Archived from the original on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- "India Russia S-400 missile deal: All you need to know". The Times of India. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
- "Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)", The World Bank, 2019, archived from the original on 22 August 2019, retrieved 22 August 2019
- "Employment in agriculture, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)", The World Bank, 2019, archived from the original on 22 August 2019, retrieved 22 August 2019
- Kapoor, Rana (2015), "Growth in organised dairy sector, a boost for rural livelihood", The Hindu Business Line, archived from the original on 20 July 2019, retrieved 26 August 2019 Quote: "Nearly 80 per cent of India's milk production is contributed by small and marginal farmers, with an average herd size of one to two milching animals"
- International Monetary Fund 2011a, p. 2.
- Nayak, Goldar & Agrawal 2010, p. xxv.
- International Monetary Fund.
- Wolpert 2003, p. xiv.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2007.
- Gargan 1992.
- Alamgir 2008, pp. 23, 97.
- WTO 1995.
- Sakib Sherani (17 April 2015). "Pakistan's remittances". dawn.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- "Exporters Get Wider Market Reach", The Times of India, 28 August 2009, archived from the original on 12 September 2014, retrieved 23 July 2011
- World Trade Organization 2010.
- Economist 2011.
- UN Comtrade (4 February 2015). "India world's second largest textiles exporter". economictimes: TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- Bonner 2010.
- Farrell & Beinhocker 2007.
- Schwab 2010.
- Sheth 2009.
- "India 2020 – Analysis". IEA. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- "India's carbon emissions fall for first time in four decades". BBC News. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- International Monetary Fund 2011b.
- Scott, Allen J.; Garofoli, Gioacchino (2007), Development on the Ground: Clusters, Networks and Regions in Emerging Economies, Routledge, p. 208, ISBN 978-1-135-98422-9
- Hawksworth & Tiwari 2011.
- India Country Overview September 2010, World Bank, September 2010, archived from the original on 22 May 2011, retrieved 23 July 2011
- "Measuring the cost of living worldwide". The Economist. 21 March 2017. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
- Telecom Regulatory Authority 2011.
- Khan, Danish (28 October 2017). "Indian smartphone market grows 23% to overtake US in Q3; Samsung, Xiaomi drive shipments". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- Business Line 2010.
- Express India 2009.
- "India's total power capacity crosses 300 gw mark". NDTV. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017.
- Nasscom 2011–2012.
- Vishal Dutta (10 July 2012). "Indian biotech industry at critical juncture, global biotech stabilises: Report". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
- "Indian pharmaceutical industry – growth story to continue". Express Pharma. 15 January 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
- Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sector in India: sector briefing by the UK Trade and Investment 2011, utki.gov.uk
- Yep 2011.
- "Differding Consulting Publi 6". Differding.com. 11 February 2014. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- Chan, Margaret; Director-General, World Health Organization (11 February 2014), Address at the "India celebrates triumph over polio" event, New Delhi, India: World Health Organization
- Inclusive Growth and Service Delivery: Building on India's Success (PDF), World Bank, 29 May 2006, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2012, retrieved 7 May 2009
- New Global Poverty Estimates – What It Means for India, World Bank, archived from the original on 6 May 2012, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Kenny, Charles; Sandefur, Justin (7 October 2015). "Why the World Bank is changing the definition of the word "poor"". Vox. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- "Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population)". World Bank. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- "India's rank improves to 55th position on global hunger index". India Times. 13 October 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
- Internet Desk (28 May 2015). "India is home to 194 million hungry people: UN". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
- "India home to world's largest number of hungry people: report". dawn.com. 29 May 2015. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015.
- Drèze & Goyal 2008, p. 46.
- "India – Global Slavery Index 2016". Walk Free Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- "Bonded labourers, sex workers, forced beggars: India leads world in slavery". hindustantimes.com. 31 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- "India ranks fourth in global slavery survey". The Times of India. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- "Child labour in India" (PDF). International Labour Organization. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- Pal & Ghosh 2007.
- "India improves its ranking on corruption index". The Hindu. 27 January 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- "Corruption Perceptions Index 2018" (PDF). transparency.org. Transparency International. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
- Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011 India, p. 160.
- Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011 India, p. 165.
- "Census Population" (PDF). Census of India. Ministry of Finance (India). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- Rorabacher 2010, pp. 35–39.
- "Life expectancy in India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014.
- Dev & Rao 2009, p. 329.
- Garg 2005.
- Dyson & Visaria 2005, pp. 115–129.
- Ratna 2007, pp. 271–272.
- Chandramouli 2011.
- "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011 India, p. 163.
- Dharwadker 2010, pp. 168–194, 186.
- Ottenheimer 2008, p. 303.
- Mallikarjun 2004.
- "Global Muslim population estimated at 1.57 billion". The Hindu. 8 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013.
- "India Chapter Summary 2012" (PDF). United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
- Kuiper 2010, p. 15.
- Heehs 2002, pp. 2–5.
- Deutsch 1969, pp. 3, 78.
- Nakamura 1999.
- Kuiper 2010, pp. 296–329.
- Silverman 2007, p. 20.
- Kumar 2000, p. 5.
- Roberts 2004, p. 73.
- Lang & Moleski 2010, pp. 151–152.
- United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation.
- Chopra 2011, p. 46.
- Hoiberg & Ramchandani 2000.
- Johnson 2008.
- MacDonell 2004, pp. 1–40.
- Kālidāsa & Johnson 2001.
- Zvelebil 1997, p. 12.
- Hart 1975.
- Encyclopædia Britannica 2008.
- Ramanujan 1985, pp. ix–x.
- Das 2005.
- Datta 2006.
- Massey & Massey 1998.
- Encyclopædia Britannica b.
- Lal 2004, pp. 23, 30, 235.
- Karanth 2002, p. 26.
- "The Sunday Tribune – Spectrum". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
- Dissanayake & Gokulsing 2004.
- Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 652.
- "The Digital March Media & Entertainment in South India" (PDF). Deloitte. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- Sunetra Sen Narayan, Globalization and Television: A Study of the Indian Experience, 1990–2010 (Oxford University Press, 2015); 307 pages
- Kaminsky & Long 2011, pp. 684–692.
- Mehta 2008, pp. 1–10.
- Media Research Users Council 2012.
- Schwartzberg 2011.
- "Spiritual Terrorism: Spiritual Abuse from the Womb to the Tomb", p. 391, by Boyd C. Purcell
- Messner 2009, pp. 51–53.
- Messner 2012, pp. 27–28.
- Makar 2007.
- Medora 2003.
- Jones & Ramdas 2005, p. 111.
- Biswas, Soutik (29 September 2016). "What divorce and separation tell us about modern India". BBC News.
- Cullen-Dupont 2009, p. 96.
- Kapoor, Mudit; Shamika, Ravi (10 February 2014). "India's missing women". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 November 2019. Quote: "In the last 50 years of Indian democracy, the absolute number of missing women has increased fourfold from 15 million to 68 million. This is not merely a reflection of the growth in the overall population, but, rather, of the fact that this dangerous trend has worsened with time. As a percentage of the female electorate, missing women have gone up significantly — from 13 per cent to approximately 20 per cent
- The Associated Press (30 January 2018). "More than 63 million women 'missing' in India, statistics show". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2019. Quote: "More than 63 million women are “missing” statistically across India, and more than 21 million girls are unwanted by their families, government officials say. The skewed ratio of men to women is largely the result of sex-selective abortions, and better nutrition and medical care for boys, according to the government’s annual economic survey, which was released on Monday. In addition, the survey found that “families where a son is born are more likely to stop having children than families where a girl is born”.
- Trivedi, Ira. "A Generation of Girls Is Missing in India – Sex-selective abortion fuels a cycle of patriarchy and abuse". Foregin Policy. Retrieved 17 November 2019. Quote: "Although it has been illegal nationwide for doctors to disclose the sex of a fetus since the 1994 Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, the ease of ordering cheap and portable ultrasound machines, especially online, has kept the practice of sex-selective abortions alive."
- "Woman killed over dowry 'every hour' in India". telegraph. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- Ignatius Pereira (7 August 2013). "Rising number of dowry deaths in India:NCRB". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- "Indian Festivals", sscnet.ucla.eduaccessdate=14 May 2016, archived from the original on 14 July 2016
- "Popular India Festivals", festivals.indobase.com, archived from the original on 28 July 2011, retrieved 23 December 2007
- Rajni Pathania, "Literacy in India: Progress and Inequality." Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology 17.1 (2020) online.
- Dandapani Natarajan, "Extracts from the All India Census Reports on Literacy." (2016) page 11 online
- Latika Chaudhary, "Determinants of primary schooling in British India." Journal of Economic History (2009): 269-302 online.
- HRD to increase nearly 25 pc seats in varsities to implement 10 pc quota for poor in gen category, Economic Times, 16 January 2019.
- India achieves 27% decline in poverty, Press Trust of India via Sify.com, 12 September 2008
- N Jayapalan History Of Education In India (2005) excerpt.
- Tarlo 1996, p. 26
- Tarlo 1996, pp. 26–28
- Alkazi, Roshen (2002), "Evolution of Indian Costume as a result of the links between Central Asia and India in ancient and medieval times", in Rahman, Abdur (ed.), India's Interaction with China, Central and West Asia, Oxford University Press, pp. 464–484, ISBN 978-0-19-565789-0
- Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 1272, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3, retrieved 3 September 2019
- Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 774, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3
- Platts, John T. (John Thompson) (1884), A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., p. 418 (online; updated February 2015)
- Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 792, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3
- Tarlo 1996, p. 28
- Tarlo 1996, p. 133
- Mooney, Nicola (2011), Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs, University of Toronto Press, p. 260, ISBN 978-0-8020-9257-1, archived from the original on 20 June 2019, retrieved 29 August 2019
- Shome, Raka (2014), Diana and Beyond: White Femininity, National Identity, and Contemporary Media Culture, University of Illinois Press, pp. 102–103, ISBN 978-0-252-09668-6
- Shukla, Pravina (2015), The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India, Indiana University Press, p. 71, ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2
- Dwyer, Rachel (2014), Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India, Reaktion Books, pp. 244–245, ISBN 978-1-78023-304-8
- Dwyer, Rachel (2013), "Bombay Ishtyle", in Stella Bruzzi, Pamela Church Gibson (ed.), Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis, Routledge, pp. 178–189, ISBN 978-1-136-29537-9
- Dias (1 January 1996). Steward, The. Orient Blackswan. p. 215. ISBN 978-81-250-0325-0. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- Gesteland, Richard R.; Gesteland, Mary C. (23 February 2010). India: Cross-cultural Business Behavior : for Business People, Expatriates and Scholars. Copenhagen Business School Press DK. p. 176. ISBN 978-87-630-0222-6. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- D Balasubramanian (16 October 2008). "Potato: historically important vegetable". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- Cornillez, Louise Marie M. (Spring 1999). "The History of the Spice Trade in India". english.emory.edu. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- Sen, Colleen Taylor (2014), Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India, Reaktion Books, pp. 164–165, ISBN 978-1-78023-391-8
- Roger, Delphine (2000), "The Middle East and South Asia (in Chapter: History and Culture of Food and Drink in Asia)", in Kiple, Kenneth F.; Ornelas, Kriemhild Coneè (eds.), The Cambridge World History of Food, 2, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1140–1150, ISBN 978-0-521-40215-6
- Davidson, Alan (2014), The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford University Press, p. 409, ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7
- Davidson, Alan (2014), The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford University Press, p. 410, ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7
- Sahakian, Marlyne; Saloma, Czarina; Erkman, Suren (2016), Food Consumption in the City: Practices and patterns in urban Asia and the Pacific, Taylor & Francis, p. 50, ISBN 978-1-317-31050-1
- OECD; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2018), OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018–2027, OECD Publishing, p. 21, ISBN 978-92-64-06203-0
- Sengupta, Jayanta (2014), "India", in Freedman, Paul; Chaplin, Joyce E.; Albala, Ken (eds.), Food in Time and Place: The American Historical Association Companion to Food History, University of California Press, p. 74, ISBN 978-0-520-27745-8
- Collingham, Elizabeth M. (2007), Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, Oxford University Press, p. 25, ISBN 978-0-19-532001-5
- Nandy, Ashis (2004), "The Changing Popular Culture of Indian Food: Preliminary Notes", South Asia Research, 24 (1): 9–19, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.830.7136, doi:10.1177/0262728004042760, ISSN 0262-7280, S2CID 143223986
- Shores, Lori (15 February 2007), Teens in India, Compass Point Books, p. 78, ISBN 978-0-7565-2063-2, archived from the original on 17 June 2012, retrieved 24 July 2011
- "Top 10 most watched sports leagues in the world". www.sportskeeda.com. 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- Wolpert 2003, p. 2.
- Rediff 2008 b.
- Binmore 2007, p. 98.
- The Wall Street Journal 2009.
- British Broadcasting Corporation 2010 b.
- The Times of India 2010.
- British Broadcasting Corporation 2010 a.
- Mint 2010.
- Xavier 2010.
- Majumdar & Bandyopadhyay 2006, pp. 1–5.
- Srinivasan, Radhika; Jermyn, Leslie; Lek, Hui Hui (2001), India, Times Books International, p. 109, ISBN 978-981-232-184-8 Quote: "Girls in India usually play jump rope, or hopscotch, and five stones, tossing the stones up in the air and catching them in many different ways ... the coconut-plucking contests, groundnut-eating races, ... of rural India."
- Dehejia 2011.
- "Basketball team named for 11th South Asian Games". The Nation (Pakistan). Nawaiwaqt Group. 2 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
Bibliography
Overview
- "India", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, retrieved 23 August 2017
- "Country Profile: India" (PDF), Library of Congress Country Studies (5th ed.), Library of Congress Federal Research Division, December 2004, retrieved 30 September 2011
- Heitzman, J.; Worden, R. L. (August 1996), India: A Country Study, Area Handbook Series, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, ISBN 978-0-8444-0833-0
- India, International Monetary Fund, retrieved 14 October 2011
- Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011 India, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, lay summary
- Robinson, Francis, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives (1989)
- "Constituent Assembly of India – Volume XII", Constituent Assembly of India: Debates, National Informatics Centre, Government of India, 24 January 1950, archived from the original on 21 July 2011, retrieved 17 July 2011
Etymology
- "Hindustan", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 17 July 2011
- Constitution of India (PDF), Ministry of Law and Justice, 29 July 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 September 2014, retrieved 3 March 2012,
Article 1(1): "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."
History
- Asher, C. B.; Talbot, C (2008), India Before Europe (1st ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-51750-8
- Bose, S.; Jalal, A. (2011), Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-77942-5
- Brown, J. M. (1994), Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy, The Short Oxford History of the Modern World (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-873113-9
- Coningham, Robin; Young, Ruth (2015), The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BCE – 200 CE, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-84697-4
- Copland, I. (2001), India 1885–1947: The Unmaking of an Empire (1st ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-0-582-38173-5
- Kulke, H.; Rothermund, D. (2004), A History of India, 4th, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-32920-0
- Ludden, D. (2002), India and South Asia: A Short History, One World, ISBN 978-1-85168-237-9
- Metcalf, B.; Metcalf, T. R. (2006), A Concise History of Modern India (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-68225-1
- Peers, D. M. (2006), India under Colonial Rule 1700–1885 (1st ed.), Pearson Longman, ISBN 978-0-582-31738-3
- Petraglia, Michael D.; Allchin, Bridget (2007), "Human evolution and culture change in the Indian subcontinent", in Michael Petraglia; Bridget Allchin (eds.), The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia: Inter-disciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics and Genetics, Springer Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4020-5562-1
- Possehl, G. (2003), The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective, Rowman Altamira, ISBN 978-0-7591-0172-2
- Robb, P. (2001), A History of India, London: Palgrave, ISBN 978-0-333-69129-8
- Sarkar, S. (1983), Modern India: 1885–1947, Delhi: Macmillan India, ISBN 978-0-333-90425-1
- Singh, U. (2009), A History of Ancient and Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Delhi: Longman, ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9
- Sripati, V. (1998), "Toward Fifty Years of Constitutionalism and Fundamental Rights in India: Looking Back to See Ahead (1950–2000)", American University International Law Review, 14 (2): 413–496
- Stein, B. (1998), A History of India (1st ed.), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-0-631-20546-3
- Stein, B. (2010), Arnold, D. (ed.), A History of India (2nd ed.), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4051-9509-6
- "Briefing Rooms: India", Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 2009, archived from the original on 20 May 2011
- Witzel, Michael (2003), "Vedas and Upanișads", in Gavin D. Flood (ed.), The Blackwell companion to Hinduism, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6, retrieved 15 March 2012
- Wolpert, S. (2003), A New History of India (7th ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-516678-1
Geography
- Ali, J. R.; Aitchison, J. C. (2005), "Greater India", Earth-Science Reviews, 72 (3–4): 170–173, Bibcode:2005ESRv...72..169A, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.005
- Chang, J. H. (1967), "The Indian Summer Monsoon", Geographical Review, American Geographical Society, Wiley, 57 (3), pp. 373–396, doi:10.2307/212640, JSTOR 212640
- Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 with Amendments Made in 1988 (PDF), Department of Environment and Forests, Government of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 1988, archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011, retrieved 25 July 2011
- Dikshit, K. R.; Schwartzberg, Joseph E., "India: Land", Encyclopædia Britannica, pp. 1–29
- Duff, D. (1993), Holmes Principles of Physical Geology (4th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7487-4381-0
- Kumar, V. S.; Pathak, K. C.; Pednekar, P.; Raju, N. S. N. (2006), "Coastal processes along the Indian coastline" (PDF), Current Science, 91 (4), pp. 530–536, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2009
- India Yearbook 2007, New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2007, ISBN 978-81-230-1423-4
- Posey, C. A. (1 November 1994), The Living Earth Book of Wind and Weather, Reader's Digest, ISBN 978-0-89577-625-9
- Prakash, B.; Kumar, S.; Rao, M. S.; Giri, S. C. (2000), "Holocene Tectonic Movements and Stress Field in the Western Gangetic Plains" (PDF), Current Science, 79 (4): 438–449
Biodiversity
- Animal Discoveries 2011: New Species and New Records (PDF), Zoological Survey of India, 2012, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2013, retrieved 20 July 2012
- Basak, R. K. (1983), Botanical Survey of India: Account of Its Establishment, Development, and Activities, India. Department of Environment, retrieved 20 July 2011
- Crame, J. A.; Owen, A. W. (1 August 2002), Palaeobiogeography and Biodiversity Change: The Ordovician and Mesozoic–Cenozoic Radiations, Geological Society Special Publication, Geological Society of London, ISBN 978-1-86239-106-2, retrieved 8 December 2011
- Karanth, K. P. (2006), "Out-of-India Gondwanan Origin of Some Tropical Asian Biota" (PDF), Current Science, 90 (6): 789–792, retrieved 18 May 2011
- Mace, G. M. (March 1994), "1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals", World Conservation Monitoring Centre, International Union for Conservation of Nature, ISBN 978-2-8317-0194-3
- "Biosphere Reserves of India", C. P. R. Environment Education Centre, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, retrieved 17 July 2011
- Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, 9 September 1972, retrieved 25 July 2011
- Puri, S. K., "Biodiversity Profile of India", ces.iisc.ernet.in, archived from the original on 21 November 2011, retrieved 20 June 2007
- The List of Wetlands of International Importance (PDF), The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, 4 June 2007, p. 18, archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2007, retrieved 20 June 2007
- Tritsch, M. F. (2001), Wildlife of India, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-00-711062-9
Politics
- Banerjee, Sumanta (22 July 2005). "Civilising the BJP". Economic & Political Weekly. 40 (29): 3116–3119. JSTOR 4416896.
- Bhambhri, C. P. (1992), Politics in India, 1991–1992, Shipra, ISBN 978-81-85402-17-8, retrieved 20 July 2011
- Burnell, P. J.; Calvert, P. (1999), The Resilience of Democracy: Persistent Practice, Durable Idea (1st ed.), Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-7146-8026-2, retrieved 20 July 2011
- India, Press Trust of (16 May 2009), "Second UPA Win, A Crowning Glory for Sonia's Ascendancy", Business Standard India, retrieved 13 June 2009
- Chander, N. J. (2004), Coalition Politics: The Indian Experience, Concept Publishing Company, ISBN 978-81-8069-092-1, retrieved 20 July 2011
- Dunleavy, P.; Diwakar, R.; Dunleavy, C. (2007), The Effective Space of Party Competition (PDF), London School of Economics and Political Science, retrieved 27 September 2011
- Dutt, S. (1998), "Identities and the Indian State: An Overview", Third World Quarterly, 19 (3): 411–434, doi:10.1080/01436599814325
- Echeverri-Gent, J. (January 2002), "Politics in India's Decentred Polity", in Ayres, A.; Oldenburg, P. (eds.), Quickening the Pace of Change, India Briefing, London: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 19–53, ISBN 978-0-7656-0812-3
- "Current Recognised Parties" (PDF), Election Commission of India, 14 March 2009, retrieved 5 July 2010
- Gledhill, A. (1970), The Republic of India: The Development of its Laws and Constitution, Greenwood, ISBN 978-0-8371-2813-9, retrieved 21 July 2011
- Halarnkar, Samar (13 June 2012). "Narendra Modi makes his move". BBC News.
The right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's primary opposition party
- Malik, Yogendra K.; Singh, V. B. (April 1992). "Bharatiya Janata Party: An Alternative to the Congress (I)?". Asian Survey. 32 (4): 318–336. doi:10.2307/2645149. JSTOR 2645149.
- Mathew, K. M. (2003), Manorama Yearbook, Malayala Manorama, ISBN 978-81-900461-8-3, retrieved 21 July 2011
- "National Symbols of India", Know India, National Informatics Centre, Government of India, retrieved 27 September 2009
- Neuborne, B. (2003), "The Supreme Court of India", International Journal of Constitutional Law, 1 (3): 476–510, doi:10.1093/icon/1.3.476
- Pylee, M. V. (2003), "The Longest Constitutional Document", Constitutional Government in India (2nd ed.), S. Chand, ISBN 978-81-219-2203-6
- Pylee, M. V. (2003), "The Union Judiciary: The Supreme Court", Constitutional Government in India (2nd ed.), S. Chand, ISBN 978-81-219-2203-6, retrieved 2 November 2007
- Sarkar, N. I. (2007), Sonia Gandhi: Tryst with India, Atlantic, ISBN 978-81-269-0744-1, retrieved 20 July 2011
- Sharma, R. (1950), "Cabinet Government in India", Parliamentary Affairs, 4 (1): 116–126, doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052755
- Sharma, B. K. (August 2007), Introduction to the Constitution of India (4th ed.), Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-81-203-3246-1
- Sinha, A. (2004), "The Changing Political Economy of Federalism in India", India Review, 3 (1): 25–63, doi:10.1080/14736480490443085, S2CID 154543286
- World's Largest Democracy to Reach One Billion Persons on Independence Day, United Nations Population Division, retrieved 5 October 2011
- Wheare, K. C. (June 1980), Federal Government (4th ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-313-22702-8
Foreign relations and military
- Alford, P. (7 July 2008), G8 Plus 5 Equals Power Shift, The Australian, retrieved 21 November 2009
- Behera, L. K. (7 March 2011), Budgeting for India's Defence: An Analysis of Defence Budget 2011–2012, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, retrieved 4 April 2011
- Behera, L. K. (20 March 2012), India's Defence Budget 2012–13, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, archived from the original on 15 December 2012, retrieved 26 March 2012
- "Russia Agrees India Nuclear Deal", BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 11 February 2009, retrieved 22 August 2010
- Curry, B. (27 June 2010), "Canada Signs Nuclear Deal with India", The Globe and Mail, retrieved 13 May 2011
- "India, Europe Strategic Relations", Europa: Summaries of EU Legislation, European Union, 8 April 2008, retrieved 14 January 2011
- Ghosh, A. (1 September 2009), India's Foreign Policy, Pearson, ISBN 978-81-317-1025-8
- Gilbert, M. (17 December 2002), A History of the Twentieth Century, William Morrow, ISBN 978-0-06-050594-3, retrieved 22 July 2011
- Kumar, A. V. (1 May 2010), "Reforming the NPT to Include India", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, retrieved 1 November 2010
- Miglani, S. (28 February 2011), "With An Eye on China, India Steps Up Defence Spending", Reuters, retrieved 6 July 2011
- Nair, V. K. (2007), "No More Ambiguity: India's Nuclear Policy" (PDF), afsa.org, archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007, retrieved 7 June 2007
- Pandit, R. (27 July 2009), "N-Submarine to Give India Crucial Third Leg of Nuke Triad", The Times of India, retrieved 10 March 2010
- Perkovich, G. (5 November 2001), India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-23210-5, retrieved 22 July 2011
- India, France Agree on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, Rediff, 25 January 2008, retrieved 22 August 2010
- "UK, India Sign Civil Nuclear Accord", Reuters, 13 February 2010, retrieved 22 August 2010
- Rothermund, D. (17 October 2000), The Routledge Companion to Decolonization, Routledge Companions to History (1st ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-35632-9
- Sharma, S. R. (1 January 1999), India–USSR Relations 1947–1971: From Ambivalence to Steadfastness, 1, Discovery, ISBN 978-81-7141-486-4
- Shukla, A. (5 March 2011), "China Matches India's Expansion in Military Spending", Business Standard India, retrieved 6 July 2011
- Sisodia, N. S.; Naidu, G. V. C. (2005), Changing Security Dynamic in Eastern Asia: Focus on Japan, Promilla, ISBN 978-81-86019-52-8
- "SIPRI Yearbook 2008: Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security", Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Oxford University Press, 8 August 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-954895-8, retrieved 22 July 2011
- "Rise in international arms transfers is driven by Asian demand, says SIPRI", Stockholm International Peace Research Initiative, 19 March 2012, retrieved 5 April 2016
- "India, US Sign 123 Agreement", The Times of India, 11 October 2008, retrieved 21 July 2011
Economy
- Alamgir, J. (24 December 2008), India's Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-415-77684-4, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Bonner, B (20 March 2010), "Make Way, World. India Is on the Move", Christian Science Monitor, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Farrell, D.; Beinhocker, E. (19 May 2007), Next Big Spenders: India's Middle Class, McKinsey & Company, retrieved 17 September 2011
- Gargan, E. A. (15 August 1992), "India Stumbles in Rush to a Free Market Economy", The New York Times, retrieved 22 July 2011
- Hawksworth, John; Tiwari, Anmol (January 2011), The World in 2050: The Accelerating Shift of Global Economic Power: Challenges and Opportunities (PDF), PricewaterhouseCoopers, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Nayak, P. B.; Goldar, B.; Agrawal, P. (10 November 2010), India's Economy and Growth: Essays in Honour of V. K. R. V. Rao, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-81-321-0452-0
- Pal, P.; Ghosh, J (July 2007), "Inequality in India: A Survey of Recent Trends" (PDF), Economic and Social Affairs: DESA Working Paper No. 45, United Nations, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Schwab, K. (2010), The Global Competitiveness Report 2010–2011 (PDF), World Economic Forum, retrieved 10 May 2011
- Sheth, N. (28 May 2009), "Outlook for Outsourcing Spending Brightens", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 3 October 2010
- Yep, E. (27 September 2011), "ReNew Wind Power Gets $201 Million Goldman Investment", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 27 September 2011
- "India Second Fastest Growing Auto Market After China", Business Line, 9 April 2010, retrieved 23 July 2011
- "India's Economy: Not Just Rubies and Polyester Shirts", The Economist, 8 October 2011, retrieved 9 October 2011
- "Indian Car Exports Surge 36%", Express India, 13 October 2009, retrieved 5 April 2016
- Economic Survey of India 2007: Policy Brief (PDF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, October 2007, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2011, retrieved 22 July 2011
- Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, International Monetary Fund, April 2011, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Information Note to the Press (Press Release No.29 /2011) (PDF), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 6 April 2011, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2011, retrieved 23 July 2011
- India: Undernourished Children – A Call for Reform and Action, World Bank, archived from the original on 7 May 2012, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Trade to Expand by 9.5% in 2010 After a Dismal 2009, WTO Reports, World Trade Organization, 26 March 2010, retrieved 23 July 2011
- Indian IT-BPO Industry, NASSCOM, 2011–2012, archived from the original on 9 May 2012, retrieved 22 June 2012
- Understanding th WTO: The Organization Members and Observers, WTO, 1995, archived from the original on 29 December 2009, retrieved 23 June 2012
- World Economic Outlook Update, International Monetary Fund, June 2011, retrieved 22 July 2011
Demographics
- Chandramouli, C. (15 July 2011), Rural Urban Distribution of Population (PDF), Ministry of Home Affairs (India), retrieved 24 January 2015
- Dev, S. M.; Rao, N. C. (2009), India: Perspectives on Equitable Development, Academic Foundation, ISBN 978-81-7188-685-2
- Dharwadker, A. (28 October 2010), "Representing India's Pasts: Time, Culture, and Problems of Performance Historiography", in Canning, C. M.; Postlewait, T. (eds.), Representing the Past: Essays in Performance Historiography, University of Iowa Press, ISBN 978-1-58729-905-6, retrieved 24 July 2011
- Drèze, J.; Goyal, A. (9 February 2009), "The Future of Mid-Day Meals", in Baru, R. V. (ed.), School Health Services in India: The Social and Economic Contexts, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-81-7829-873-3
- Dyson, T.; Visaria, P. (7 July 2005), "Migration and Urbanisation: Retrospect and Prospects", in Dyson, T.; Casses, R.; Visaria, L. (eds.), Twenty-First Century India: Population, Economy, Human Development, and the Environment, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-928382-8
- Garg, S. C. (19 April 2005), Mobilizing Urban Infrastructure Finance in India (PDF), World Bank, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2009, retrieved 27 January 2010
- Mallikarjun, B (November 2004), "Fifty Years of Language Planning for Modern Hindi – The Official Language of India", Language in India, 4 (11), ISSN 1930-2940, retrieved 24 July 2011
- Ottenheimer, H. J. (2008), The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, Cengage, ISBN 978-0-495-50884-7
- Ratna, U. (2007), "Interface Between Urban and Rural Development in India", in Dutt, A. K.; Thakur, B (eds.), City, Society, and Planning, 1, Concept, ISBN 978-81-8069-459-2
- Rorabacher, J. A. (2010), Hunger and Poverty in South Asia, Gyan, ISBN 978-81-212-1027-0
- Notification No. 2/8/60-O.L, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 27 April 1960, archived from the original on 1 October 2014, retrieved 13 May 2011
- "Census Data 2001", Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 2010–2011, retrieved 22 July 2011
Culture
- Binmore, K. G. (27 March 2007), Playing for Real: A Text on Game Theory, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-530057-4
- "Saina Nehwal: India's Badminton Star and "New Woman"", BBC News, 1 August 2010, retrieved 5 October 2010
- "Commonwealth Games 2010: India Dominate Shooting Medals", BBC News, 7 October 2010, retrieved 3 June 2011
- Chopra, P. (18 March 2011), A Joint Enterprise: Indian Elites and the Making of British Bombay, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 978-0-8166-7037-6
- Cullen-Dupont, K. (July 2009), Human Trafficking (1st ed.), Infobase Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8160-7545-4
- Das, S. K. (1 January 2005), A History of Indian Literature, 500–1399: From Courtly to the Popular, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 978-81-260-2171-0
- Datta, A. (2006), The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, 2, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0
- Dehejia, R. S. (7 November 2011), "Indian Grand Prix Vs. Encephalitis?", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 20 December 2011
- Deutsch, E. (30 April 1969), Advaita Vedānta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-0271-4
- Dissanayake, W. K.; Gokulsing, M. (May 2004), Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change (2nd ed.), Trentham Books, ISBN 978-1-85856-329-9
- "South Asian Arts: Indian Dance", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 17 July 2011
- "Tamil Literature", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008, retrieved 24 July 2011,
Apart from literature written in classical (Indo-Aryan) Sanskrit, Tamil is the oldest literature in India. Some inscriptions on stone have been dated to the 3rd century BC, but Tamil literature proper begins around the 1st century AD. Much early poetry was religious or epic; an exception was the secular court poetry written by members of the sangam, or literary academy (see Sangam literature).-->
- Hart, G. L. (August 1975), Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and Their Sanskrit Counterparts (1st ed.), University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-02672-8
- Heehs, P., ed. (1 September 2002), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience, New York University Press, ISBN 978-0-8147-3650-0, retrieved 24 July 2011
- Hoiberg, D.; Ramchandani, I. (2000), Students' Britannica India: Select Essays, Popular Prakashan, ISBN 978-0-85229-762-9
- Johnson, W. J., ed. (1 September 2008), The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata: The Massacre at Night, Oxford World's Classics (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-282361-8
- Jones, G.; Ramdas, K. (2005), (Un)tying the Knot: Ideal and Reality in Asian Marriage, National University of Singapore Press, ISBN 978-981-05-1428-0
- Kālidāsa; Johnson, W. J. (15 November 2001), The Recognition of Śakuntalā: A Play in Seven Acts, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-283911-4
- Kaminsky, Arnold P.; Long, Roger D. (30 September 2011), India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-0-313-37462-3, retrieved 12 September 2012
- Karanth, S. K. (October 2002), Yakṣagāna, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 978-81-7017-357-1
- Kiple, K. F.; Ornelas, K. C., eds. (2000), The Cambridge World History of Food, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-40216-3
- Kuiper, K., ed. (2010), The Culture of India, Britannica Educational Publishing, ISBN 978-1-61530-203-1, retrieved 24 July 2011
- Kumar, V. (January 2000), Vastushastra, All You Wanted to Know About Series (2nd ed.), Sterling Publishing, ISBN 978-81-207-2199-9
- Lal, A. (2004), The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-564446-3, retrieved 24 July 2011
- Lang, J.; Moleski, W. (1 December 2010), Functionalism Revisited, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4094-0701-0
- MacDonell, A. A. (2004), , Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4179-0619-2
- Majumdar, B.; Bandyopadhyay, K. (2006), A Social History of Indian Football: Striving To Score, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-34835-5
- Makar, E. M. (2007), An American's Guide to Doing Business in India, Adams, ISBN 978-1-59869-211-2
- Massey, R.; Massey, J (1998), The Music of India, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 978-81-7017-332-8
- Medora, N. (2003), "Mate Selection in Contemporary India: Love Marriages Versus Arranged Marriages", in Hamon, R. R.; Ingoldsby, B. B. (eds.), Mate Selection Across Cultures, SAGE Publications, pp. 209–230, ISBN 978-0-7619-2592-7
- Messner, W. (2009), Working with India. The Softer Aspects of a Successful Collaboration with the Indian IT & BPO Industry, Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-89077-5, archived from the original on 20 August 2017, retrieved 6 May 2013
- Messner, W. (2012), Engaging with India. How to Manage the Softer Aspects of a Global Collaboration, Createspace, ISBN 978-1-4662-4490-0
- "Indian Readership Survey 2012 Q1 : Topline Findings" (PDF). Media Research Users Council. Growth: Literacy & Media Consumption. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- Mehta, Nalin (30 July 2008), Television in India: Satellites, Politics and Cultural Change, Taylor & Francis US, ISBN 978-0-415-44759-1, retrieved 12 September 2012
- Is Boxing the New Cricket?, Mint, 24 September 2010, retrieved 5 October 2010
- Nakamura, H. (1 April 1999), Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes, Buddhist Tradition Series (12th ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0272-8
- Rajadhyaksha, A.; Willemen, P., eds. (22 January 1999), Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema (2nd ed.), British Film Institute, ISBN 978-0-85170-669-6
- Ramanujan, A. K. (translator) (15 October 1985), Poems of Love and War: From the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. ix–x, ISBN 978-0-231-05107-1
- Anand Crowned World Champion, Rediff, 29 October 2008, retrieved 29 October 2008
- Roberts, N. W. (12 July 2004), Building Type Basics for Places of Worship (1st ed.), John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-471-22568-3
- Schwartzberg, J. (2011), "India: Caste", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 17 July 2011
- Silverman, S. (10 October 2007), Vastu: Transcendental Home Design in Harmony with Nature, Gibbs Smith, ISBN 978-1-4236-0132-6
- Tarlo, E. (1 September 1996), Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India (1st ed.), University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-78976-7, retrieved 24 July 2011
- "Sawant Shoots Historic Gold at World Championships", The Times of India, 9 August 2010, retrieved 25 May 2011
- Taj Mahal, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, retrieved 3 March 2012
- "India Aims for Center Court", The Wall Street Journal, 11 September 2009, retrieved 29 September 2010
- Xavier, L. (12 September 2010), "Sushil Kumar Wins Gold in World Wrestling Championship", The Times of India, retrieved 5 October 2010
- Zvelebil, K. V. (1 August 1997), Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature, Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2
External links
Government
General information
- India. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
- India at Curlie
- India from UCB Libraries GovPubs
- India from the BBC News
- Indian State district block village website
- Wikimedia Atlas of India
- Geographic data related to India at OpenStreetMap
- Key Development Forecasts for India from International Futures