It's India!

Capital

New Delhi

National Anthem

“Jana – Gana – Mana” (Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People)

       Flag and Meaning

Saffron - a symbol of courage

White - peace and honesty

Blue - vigilance, truth and loyalty, perseverance & justice

Green - hope, joy, fertility and love and in many cultures have a sacred significance

     -          The Indian emblem shows the blue Ashoka Chakra - the "wheel of the law"

     -          The Chakra was based on the emblem of the 3rd century Mauryan emperor, Ashoka

  -          The 24 spokes of the wheel signifies 24 hours and progress every hour

Location

Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

Geography

Coordinates:  20 00 N, 77 00 E

Area: 3,287,263 sq km

Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Population

1,189,172,906 (July 2011 est.)

Current government type

Federal republic

Political state

Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times

Regular elections

Democracy is okay, but is complicated by tensions over religion, ethnicity, and male dominance. There is a lot of variation within each country.

Education and literacy rates

Literacy Rates:

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 61%

Male: 73.4%

Female: 47.8% (2001 census)

Education:

3.2% of GDP 

School life expectancy:

Total: 10 years

Male: 11 years

Female: 10 years (2007)

Languages

Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%

Religions

HINDU 80.5%, MUSLIM 13.4%, CHRISTIAN 2.3%, SIKH 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

Birth rates

20.97 births /1,000

Death rates

7.48 deaths /1,000

Life expectancy

Total population: 66.8 years

Male: 65.77 years

Female: 67.95 years

Ethnic groups

Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

Legal system

Based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Christians, Hindus, and Muslims.

Suffrage (voting rights)

18 years of age; universal

Unemployment rate

10.8% (2010)

Population below poverty line

25% (2007)

Industries

Agriculture – products: Rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, lentils, onions, potatoes; dairy products, sheep, goats, poultry; fish

Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software, pharmaceuticals

Communications

Internet users: 61.338 million (2009)

Telephones – cell phones: 670 million (2010) (number 2 in the world) 

Military service

Include Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force, and Coast Guard. 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women may join as officers, but for noncombat roles only.

Transnational issues

Trafficking in persons: India is a source for men, women, and children being trafficked and sold for force labor and sexual exploitation. Not just commercial sexual exploitation, but also forced marriage. Children are forced to work on factory, agriculture, as servants and be beggars.

Refugees and Internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China); 69,609 (Sri Lanka); 9,472 (Afghanistan)

IDPs: at least 600,000(2007)

http://www.edc.ca/english/docs/gindia_e.pdf

The world factbook