India

The Oxford English Dictionary (third edition 2009) says that the name "India" comes from the Classical Latin name India. It was originally the name for the Indus Valley (modern-Pakistan).^[49] Latin took the name from ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός) and then from Old Persian Hinduš both which means the Indus river basin. The Old Persian name was used for the eastern province Sindh of the Achaemenid Empire. The name has a relation with the Sanskrit word sindhu. It means "river", especially the Indus River.^[50][51] The ancient Greeks called Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which means "the people of the Indus".^[52]

The name Bhārat (भारत; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ( listen)) is found in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India.^[53][54] It is used in different Indian languages in different forms. Bhārat is a modern form of the older name Bharātavarṣa (भारतवर्ष). It original meaning was the northern part of India.^[55][56] It has become a very popular name for India since the middle of the 19th century.^[53][57]

Hindustān ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ( listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India. It became popular by the 13th century.^[58] It is used widely since the Mughal Empire.^[59]

One of the oldest language of the world, Tamil, was born in today's India. Which is more than 3000 years old.^[61] Later, a king named Chandragupt Maurya built an empire called the Maurya Empire in 300 BC. It made most of South Asia into one whole country.^[62] From 180 BC, many other countries invaded India. Even later (100 BC  AD 1100), other Indian dynasties (empires) came, including the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas, and Pandyas.^[63] Southern India at that time was famous for its science, art, and writing. The Cholas of Thanjavur were pioneers at war in the seas and influenced Malaya, Borneo, Cambodia. The influence of Cholas are still noticeable in Southeast Asia.^[64]

Many dynasties ruled India around the year 1000. Some of these were the Mughal, Vijayanagara, and the Maratha empires. In the 1600s, European countries invaded India, and the British controlled most of India by 1856.^[65]

In the early 1900s, millions of people peacefully started to protest against British control. One of the people who led the freedom movement was Mahatma Gandhi, who only used peaceful tactics, including a way called "ahimsa", which means "non-violence".^[66] On 15 August 1947, India peacefully became free and independent from the British Empire. India's constitution was founded on 26 January 1950. Every year, on this day, Indians celebrate Republic Day. The first official leader (Prime Minister) of India was Jawaharlal Nehru.

After 1947, India had a socialist planned economy. It is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. It has fought many wars since independence from Britain, including the wars in 1947-48, 1965, 1971, and 1999 with Pakistan and in 1962 with China. It also fought a war to capture Goa, a Portuguese-built port and a city that was not a part of India until 1961. The Portuguese refused to give it to the country, and so India had to use force and the Portuguese were defeated. India has also done nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998. It is one of the few countries that have nuclear bombs.^[67] Since 1991, India has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.^[68]

India is the seventh biggest country in the world. It is the main part of the Indian subcontinent. The countries next to India are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Bhutan and Nepal. It is also near Sri Lanka and the Maldives, two island countries. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India, is near Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar.^[69]

India is a peninsula, which means that it is surrounded on three sides by water. In the west is the Arabian Sea, in the south is the Indian Ocean, and in the east is the Bay of Bengal. The coastline of India is of about 7,517 km (4,671 mi) long.^[70] The northern part of India has many mountains. The most famous mountain range in India is the Himalayas, which have some of the tallest mountains in the world. There are many rivers in India. The main rivers are the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, the Kaveri, the Narmada, and the Krishna.

India's total coastline is 7,517-kilometre (4,700-mile) long. The mainland's coastline is 5,423-kilometre (3,400-mile) long. The Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands have 2,094-kilometre (1,300-mile) long coastlines in total.^[71] From the Indian naval hydrographic charts, 43% of the mainland coast are sandy beaches, 11% are rocky shores and cliffs, and 46% are mudflats or marshy shores.^[71]

India has different climates.^[72] In South India, the climate is mainly tropical, which means it can get very hot in summer and cool in winter.^[72] The northern part, though, has a cooler climate, called subtropical. The mountainous regions can be alpine.^[72] The Himalayas, in the alpine climate region, can get extremely cold. The Himalayas do not allow the cold Central Asian winds from blowing into the Indian subcontinent. It keeps the most of the subcontinent warmer than most places at same latitudes.^[73][74] There is very heavy rainfall along the west coast and in the Eastern Himalayan foothills. The west, though, is drier. Because of some of the deserts of India, all of India gets rain for four months of the year. That time is called the monsoon. That is because the deserts attract water-filled winds from the Indian Ocean, which give rain when they come into India. When the monsoon rains come late or not so heavily, droughts (when the land dries out because there is less rain) are possible. Monsoons normally come around July–August.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi is the official residence (house where a person lives) of the President of India.

The Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan) in New Delhi is the place where the Parliament of India meets.

India is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system.^[75] It is the democracy in the world by the number of people.^[76] It has six national parties, for example the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It also has more than 50 regional parties.^[77] The Congress is known as centre in Indian political culture,^[78] while the BJP is known as right-wing.^[79][80][81] The Congress was the majority in the Parliament from 1950 to the end of the 1980s. From the end of the 1980s, the BJP^[82] and the powerful regional parties are getting more seats in the Parliament over time. This forced the national parties to create coalition governments.^[83]

India is ruled under the Constitution of India. It is the country's highest document of law. It came into effect on 26 January 1950.^[84] Its original form said that India would be a "sovereign, democratic republic". In 1971, the statement was changed to "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic".^[85] India's has been said to be a "quasi-federal" form of government. That means, the country would have a strong federal government and weak state governments.^[86] The federal government is often called the "union government" or the "central government". But after political, economic and social changes at the end of the 1990s, the government became federal.^[87][88]

The union government is divided into three parts: the legislature (the one that make laws), the executive (the one that applies laws), and the judiciary (the one that makes sure that the laws are obeyed).^[89] All three parts are in New Delhi, the capital city of India.

The legislature of India is called the Parliament (संसद Sansad). It is divided into two houses: the upper house Rajya Sabha (Council of States); and the lower house Lok Sabha (House of the People).^[90] The Rajya Sabha has 245 members. They remain members for six years.^[91] Most members are elected indirectly by the legislatures of state and union territories.^[92] The Lok Sabha has 545 members. They remain members for five years. They are elected directly by the people's vote.^[93]

The executive is made up of the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers. The President is the head of state of India.^[94] The presidents are elected by an electoral college for a period of five years. The electoral college is made up of members of central and state legislatures.^[95][96] The Prime Minister is the head of government of India. The President can choose the Prime Minister, who has most of the power.^[92] The President has less power than the Prime Minister. The Union Council of Ministers helps the Prime Minister. It is similar to a cabinet in many countries.

The judicial branch is made up of three types of courts of law: the Supreme Court, the 24 High Courts and a number of trial courts.^[97] The Chief Justice of India is the head of the Supreme Court. The members of the court have the power to stop a law being passed by Parliament if they think that the law contradicts (opposes) the Constitution.^[98] They can make any government action invalid if it contradicts the Constitution.^[99]

For administration purposes, India has been divided into smaller pieces. Most of these pieces are called states, some are called union territories. States and union territories are different in the way they are represented. Most union territories are ruled by administrators (called Lieutenant Governors) sent by the central government. All the states, and the territories of Delhi, and Puducherry elect their local government themselves. In total, there are twenty-eight states and eight union territories.^[100]

States:

Union territories:

The Indian Armed Forces is the military of India. It is made up of an Army, Navy and Air Force. There are other parts like Paramilitary and Strategic Nuclear Command.

The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief. However, it is managed by the Ministry of Defence. In 2010, the Indian Armed Forces had 1.32 million active personnel. This makes it one of the largest militaries in the world.^[101]

The Indian Army is becoming more modern by buying and making new weapons. It is also building defenses against missiles of other countries.^[102] In the years 2018-2022, India imported more arms than any other nation in the world.^[103] Since its independence in 1947, India fought four wars with Pakistan and a war with China.

The national emblem of India shows four lions standing back-to-back. The lions symbolize power, pride, confidence, and courage. Only the government can use this emblem, according to the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.

The name India comes from the Greek word, 'Indus'. This came from the word sindhu, which, over time, turned into Hind, Hindi, or Hindu. The preferred endonym (the name given to the country by its own people) is "Bhārat" in Hindi and other Indian languages as contrasted with names from outsiders. Some of the national symbols are:

• National anthem: Jana Gana Mana
• National song: Vande Mataram
• National animal: Tiger
• National bird: Peacock
• National flower: Lotus
• National tree: Banyan
• National river: Ganges (Ganga)
• National Aquatic Animal: Ganges River Dolphin
• National fruit: Mango
• National heritage animal: Elephant
• National heritage bird: Indian eagle

• 
  Panthera tigris
  Tiger
  (national animal)
• 
  Pavo cristatus
  Peacock
  (national bird)
• 
  Nelumbonucifera
  Lotus
  (national flower)
• 
  Ficus benghalensis
  Banyan
  (national tree)
• 
  Ganges river
• 
  Ganges river dolphin
• 
  Mango
• 
  Indian eagle

There are disputes about certain parts of the Indian borders. Countries do not agree on where the borders are.^[104] Pakistan and China do not recognise the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.^[105] The Indian government claims it as an Indian state.^[105] Similarly, the Republic of India does not recognise the Pakistani and Chinese parts of Kashmir.^[105]

In 1914, British India and Tibet agreed on the McMahon Line, as part of the Simla Accord.^[106] In July 1914, China withdrew from the agreement.^[106] Indians and Tibetans see this line as the official border. China does not agree, and both mainland China and Taiwan do not recognize that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India. According to them, it is a part of South Tibet, which belongs to China.^[107][108]

The economy of the country is among the world's fastest growing. It is the 7th largest in the world with a nominal GDP of $2,250 billion (USD), and in terms of PPP, the economy is 3rd largest (worth US$8.720 trillion).^[109] The growth rate is 8.25% for fiscal 2010. However, that is still $3678 (considering PPP) per person per year. India's economy is based mainly on:

• Service sector: 43%
• Industries: 41%
• Information technology: 7%
• Farming: 7%
• Outsourcing: 2%.

India's economy is diverse. Major industries include automobiles, cement, chemicals, consumer electronics, food processing, machinery, mining, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, steel, transportation equipment, and textiles.^[110]

However, despite economic growth, India continues to suffer from poverty. 27.5% of the population was living in poverty in 2004–2005.^[111] In addition, 80.4% of the population live on less than US$2 a day,^[112] which was lowered to 68% by 2009.^[113]

There are 1.4 billion people living in India.^[114] In 2023, India passed China to become the world's most populous country.^[115] About 65% of Indians live in rural areas, or land set aside for farming.^[116] The largest cities in India are Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad.^[100] Hindi and English are Official languages of India. India has 23 officially recognised languages.^[117] Altogether, 1,625 languages are spoken in India.^[118]

There are many different languages and cultures in India.^[100] There are two main language families in India, the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages. About 69% of Indians speak an Indo-Arayan language, and about 26% speak a Dravidian language. Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic group. Around 5% of the people speak a Tibeto-Burman language.

Hindi is the official language in India with the largest number of speakers.^[119] It is the official language of the union.^[120] Native speakers of Hindi represent about 41% of the Indian population (2001 Indian census). English is also used, mostly for business and in administration. It has the status of a 'subsidiary official language'.^[121] The constitution also recognises 21 other languages. Either many people speak those languages, or they have been recognized to be very important for Indian culture. The number of dialects in India is as high as 1,652.^[118]

In the south of India, many people speak Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. In the north, many people speak Chhattisgarhi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Marathi, Odia, and Bihari.^[122][123]

India has 23 official languages. Its constitution lists the name of the country in each of the languages.^[124] Hindi and English (listed in boldface) are the "official languages of the union" (Union meaning the Federal Government in Delhi);^[125] Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia are officially the "classical languages of India."

Cave paintings from the Stone Age are found across India. They show dances and rituals and suggest there was a prehistoric religion. During the Epic and Puranic periods, the earliest versions of the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata were written from about 500–100 BCE,^[128] although these were orally transmitted for centuries before this period.^[129] Other South Asian Stone Age sites apart from Pakistan are in modern India, such as the Bhimbetka rock shelters in central Madhya Pradesh and the Kupgal petroglyphs of eastern Karnataka, contain rock art showing religious rites and evidence of possible ritualised music.^[130]

Several modern religions are linked to India,^[131] namely modern Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. All of these religions have different schools (ways of thinking) and traditions that are related. As a group they are called the Eastern religions. The Indian religions are similar to one another in many ways: The basic beliefs, the way worship is done and several religious practices are very similar. These similarities mainly come from the fact that these religions have a common history and common origins. They also influenced each other.

The religion of Hinduism is the main faith followed by 79.80% of people in the Republic of India; Islam – 14.23%; Christianity – 2.30%; Sikhism – 1.72%; Buddhism – 0.70% and Jainism – 0.37%.^[132]

India sent a spacecraft to Mars for the first time in 2014. That made it the fourth country and first Asian country to do so, successfully. It was called the Mars Orbiter Mission.^[133]

ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single mission to create a world record. India became the first nation in the world to have launched over a hundred satellites in one mission. That was more than the 2014 Russian record of 37 satellites in a single launch.

This historic event of Chandrayaan-3^[134] is set to take place on Wednesday, August 23 at approximately 6:04pm Indian Standard Time. India's third lunar mission can be streamed live from 5:27pm.

India has the largest movie industry in the world. The Hindi film industry is known as Bollywood, and is mainly based in Bombay, now known as Mumbai. Other industries include Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood, Mollywood, Jollywood, Dhollywood, etc. It makes 1,000 movies a year, about twice as many as Hollywood.^[135]

Indians have excelled in hockey. They have also won eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals at the Olympic games. However, cricket is the most popular sport in India. The Indian cricket team won the 1983 and 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. They shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka and won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket in India is controlled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI. Domestic tournaments are the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy, and the Challenger Series. There is also the Indian cricket league and Indian premier league Twenty20 competitions.

Tennis has become popular due to the victories of the India Davis Cup team. Association football is also a popular sport in northeast India, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala.^[136] The Indian national football team has won the South Asian Football Federation Cup many times. Chess, which comes from India, is also becoming popular. This is with the increase in the number of Indian Grandmasters.^[137] Traditional sports include kabaddi, kho kho, and gilli-danda, which are played throughout India.

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