India ^{A fact file}
Full name: Republic of India
Official name: India (also known as ‘Bharat’ and ‘Hindosthan’)
Area: 3,287,590 sq km
Population: 1.04 billion
Capital: New Delhi
People: 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, 3% other
Language: Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Kashmiri, English
Religion: 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2.4% Christian, 2% Sikh, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.5% Jains, 0.4% other
Government
Government Type: federal republic
Head of State: President
Head of Government: Prime Minister.
Independence: August 15, 1947.
Constitution: January 26, 1950.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), prime minister (head of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative--bicameral parliament (Rajya Sabha or Council of States, and Lok Sabha or House of the People). Judicial--Supreme Court.
Political parties: Congress (I), Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, and numerous regional and small national parties.

India is a unique country with people resembling almost all shades of the world, in looks, speaking different languages from province to province and professing different religious faiths. But they are a united people and are proud to be called Indians. India is the biggest democratic country in the world. ..Read Political overview.

History:

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years B.C., but India's known history goes back to 3,200 BC when Hinduism was first founded..
read brief history

Geography:
India is a land of sky-touching mountains and mighty rivers. Extensive are its plains and no less wide are its plateaus. A vast land with such varied relief is inhabited by more than 1000 million people. The country consists of three main physical divisions. They are the Great Mountains of the North, the Great Plains of Northern India and the Great Plateau of Peninsular India. The southern plateau is flanked by the narrow coastal strips which are a part and parcel of the peninsular land mass.
Read Indian Geography

Economy:
GDP: $576 billion (2003); $648 (2004E)
Real Growth rate: 8.2% 2003
Per Capita GDP: $543 (2003); $602 (2004E).
India's economy consists of  traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. Government controls have been reduced on foreign trade and investment, and privatization of domestic output has proceeded slowly......Read more

Art & Culture:

Religion roots deep into Indian civilian soil. Despite being a secular democracy, India is one of the few countries on earth in which the social and religious structures that define the nation's identity remain intact, and have continued to do so for at least 4000 years despite invasions....Read Indian Culture.

STATES& UNION TERRITORIES:

Indian Union has 28 states and 7 union territories, a list is as under:
(Within bracket is the name of capital of the relevant state)

States
Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad), Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar), Assam (Dispur), Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Goa (Panaji), Gujarat (Gandhinagar), Haryana (Chandigarh), Himachal Pradesh (Shimla), Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar), Jharkhand (Ranchi), Karnataka (Banglore), Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram), Madhya Pradesh(Bhopal), Maharashtra(Mumbai), Manipur(Imphal), Meghalaya (Shillong), Mizoram(Aizawl), Nagaland (Kohima), Orissa (Bhubneshwar), Punjab (Chandigarh), Rajasthan (Jaipur), Sikkim (Gantok), Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Tripura (Agartala), Uttaranchal (Dehradoon), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow), West Bengal (Kolkata)

Union Territories
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Port Blair), Chandigarh (Chandigarh), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Silwasa),  Daman and Diu (Daman), Delhi (Delhi), Lakshadweep (Kavaratti), Pondichery (Pondicherry)


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