India

India, officially theRepublic of India,is a country inSouth Asia.  It is theseventh-largest country by area; themost populous countryfrom June 2023 onwards;and since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy.Bounded by theIndian Oceanon the south, theArabian Seaon the southwest, and theBay of Bengalon the southeast, it shares land borders withPakistanto the west;China,Nepal, andBhutanto the north; andBangladeshandMyanmarto the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is nearSri Lankaand theMaldives; itsAndaman and Nicobar Islandsshare a maritime border withThailand, Myanmar, andIndonesia.
Modern humansarrived on theIndian subcontinentfrom Africa no later than 55,000 years ago.Their long occupation, predominantly in isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in humangenetic diversity.Settled lifeemerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of theIndusriver basin9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into theIndus Valley Civilisationof the third millennium BCE.By 1200BCE, anarchaic formofSanskrit, anIndo-European language, haddiffusedinto India from the northwest.Its hymnsrecorded the dawning ofHinduismin India.India's pre-existingDravidian languageswere supplanted in the northern regions.By 400BCE,castehad emerged within Hinduism,andBuddhismandJainismhad arisen, proclaimingsocial ordersunlinked to heredity.Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knitMauryaandGupta Empires.Widespread creativity suffused this era,but the status of women declined,anduntouchabilitybecame an organized belief.InSouth India, theMiddle kingdomsexported Dravidian language scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms ofSoutheast Asia.
In the early mediaeval era,Christianity,Islam,Judaism, andZoroastrianismbecame established on India's southern and western coasts.Muslim armies fromCentral Asiaintermittently overran India's northern plains.The resultingDelhi Sultanatedrew northern India into the cosmopolitannetworks of mediaeval Islam.In south India, theVijayanagara Empirecreated a long-lasting composite Hindu culture.In thePunjab,Sikhismemerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.TheMughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,leaving a legacy ofluminous architecture.Gradually expandingrule of the British East India Companyfollowed. It turned India into a colonial economy but consolidated itssovereignty.British Crown rulebegan in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,buttechnological changeswere introduced, and modern ideas of education and public life took root.A pioneering and influentialnationalist movementemerged. Noted for nonviolent resistance it became the major factor in ending British rule.In 1947, the British Indian Empire waspartitionedinto two independentdominions,a Hindu-majoritydominion of Indiaand a Muslim-majoritydominion of Pakistan. A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition.
India has been afederal republicsince 1950, governed through a democraticparliamentary system. It is apluralistic,multilingualandmulti-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to almost 1.4 billion in 2022.During this time, its nominalper capita incomeincreased from US$64 annually to US$2,601, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. A comparatively destitute country in 1951,India has become afast-growingmajor economyanda hub for information technology services; it has an expanding middle class.Indian moviesandmusicincreasingly influence global culture.India has reducedits poverty rate, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality.It is anuclear-weapon statethatranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes overKashmirwith its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century.Among the socio-economic challenges India faces aregender inequality,child malnutrition,and rising levels ofair pollution.India's land ismegadiversewith fourbiodiversity hotspots.India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance inits culture,is supported among these forests and elsewhere inprotected habitats.
According to theOxford English Dictionary(third edition 2009), the name "India" is derived from theClassical LatinIndia, a reference toSouth Asiaand an uncertain region to its east. In turn the name "India" derived successively fromHellenistic GreekIndia(Ἰνδία),ancient GreekIndos(Ἰνδός),Old PersianHindush(an eastern province of theAchaemenid Empire), and ultimately itscognate, theSanskritSindhu, or "river", specifically theIndus Riverand, by implication, its well-settled southern basin.Theancient Greeksreferred to the Indians asIndoi(Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".
The termBharat(Bhārat;pronounced[ˈbʱaːɾət]), mentioned in bothIndian epic poetryand theConstitution of India,is used in its variations bymany Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical nameBharatavarsha, which applied originally toNorth India,Bharatgained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.
Hindustan([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn]) is aMiddle Persianname for India that became popular by the 13th century,and was used widely since the era of theMughal Empire. The meaning ofHindustanhas varied, referring to a region encompassing the northernIndian subcontinent(present-day northern India andPakistan) or to India in its near entirety.
By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, orHomo sapiens, had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.After 6500BCE, evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared inMehrgarhand other sites inBalochistan, Pakistan.These gradually developed into theIndus Valley Civilisation,the first urban culture in South Asia,which flourished during 2500–1900BCEin Pakistan and western India.Centred around cities such asMohenjo-daro,Harappa,Dholavira, andKalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.
During the period 2000–500BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from theChalcolithiccultures to theIron Ageones.TheVedas, the oldest scriptures associated withHinduism,were composed during this period,and historians have analysed these to posit aVedic culturein thePunjab regionand the upperGangetic Plain.Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves ofIndo-Aryan migrationinto the subcontinent from the north-west.Thecaste 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.On theDeccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.InSouth India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number ofmegalithicmonuments dating from this period,as well as by nearby traces ofagriculture,irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.
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 themahajanapadas.The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions.Jainismcame into prominence during the life of its exemplar,Mahavira.Buddhism, based on the teachings ofGautama 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.In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held uprenunciationas an ideal,and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom ofMagadhahad annexed or reduced other states to emerge as theMaurya Empire.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.The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as forAshoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhistdhamma.
TheSangam literatureof theTamil languagereveals that, between 200BCEand 200CE, the southern peninsula was ruled by theCheras, theCholas, and thePandyas, dynasties thattraded extensively with the Roman Empireand withWestandSoutheast Asia.In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.By the 4th and 5th centuries, theGupta Empirehad created a complex system of administration and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms.Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself.This renewal was reflected in a flowering ofsculptureandarchitecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.Classical Sanskrit literatureflowered as well, andIndian science,astronomy,medicine, andmathematicsmade significant advances.
The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.WhenHarshaofKannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by theChalukyaruler of the Deccan.When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by thePalaking ofBengal.When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by thePallavasfrom farther south, who in turn were opposed by thePandyasand theCholasfrom still farther south.No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region.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.The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the firstdevotional hymnswere created in the Tamil language.They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of allmodern languages of the subcontinent.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.Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-dayMyanmar,Thailand,Laos,Brunei,Cambodia,Vietnam,Philippines,Malaysia, andIndonesia.Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; Southeast Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, usingswift-horsecavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the IslamicDelhi Sultanatein 1206.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.By repeatedly repulsingMongol raidersin the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries ofmigrationof 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.The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenousVijayanagara Empire.Embracing a strongShaivitetradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.
In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.The resultingMughal Empiredid not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practicesand diverse and inclusive ruling elites,leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially underAkbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agricultureand mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,resulting in greater patronage ofpainting, literary forms, textiles, andarchitecture.Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as theMarathas, theRajputs, and theSikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience.Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.
By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including theEnglish East India Company, had established coastal outposts.The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength 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 theBengalregion by 1765 and sideline the other European companies.Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s.India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying theBritish Empirewith raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform, and culture.
Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 ofLord Dalhousieas 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 inEurope.However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off theIndian 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.Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and thedirect administration of Indiaby the British government. Proclaiming aunitary stateand a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest.In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of theIndian National Congressin 1885.
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.There was an increase in the number of large-scalefamines,and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.The railway network provided critical famine relief,notably reduced the cost of moving goods,and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.
AfterWorld War I, in which approximatelyone million Indians served,a new period began. It was marked byBritish reformsbut alsorepressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of anonviolentmovement of non-co-operation, of whichMahatma Gandhiwould become the leader and enduring symbol.During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.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 ofMuslim nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by thepartition of Indiainto two states: India and Pakistan.
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.Economic liberalisation, whichbegan in the 1980sand the collaboration with Soviet Union for technical know-how,has created a large urban middle class, transformed India intoone of the world's fastest-growing economies,and increased its geopolitical clout. Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;byreligiousandcaste-related violence;byMaoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;and byseparatism in Jammu and Kashmirandin Northeast India.It has unresolved territorial disputes withChinaand withPakistan.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.
India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop theIndian tectonic plate, a part of theIndo-Australian Plate.India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern supercontinentGondwana, began a north-eastwarddriftcaused byseafloor spreadingto its south-west, and later, south and south-east.Simultaneously, the vastTethyanoceanic crust, to its northeast, began tosubductunder theEurasian Plate.These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth'smantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indiancontinental crusteventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift theHimalayas.Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shapedtroughthat rapidly filled with river-borne sedimentand now constitutes theIndo-Gangetic Plain.The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in the ancientAravalli range, which extends from theDelhi Ridgein a southwesterly direction. To the west lies theThar Desert, the eastern spread of which is checked by the Aravallis.
The remaining Indian Plate survives aspeninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as theSatpuraandVindhyaranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-richChota Nagpur Plateauin Jharkhand in the east.To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, theDeccan Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as theWesternandEastern Ghats;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 latitudeand 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.
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.According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and 46%mudflatsor marshy shores.
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include theGangesand theBrahmaputra, both of which drain into theBay of Bengal.Important tributaries of the Ganges include theYamunaand theKosi; the latter's extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods and course changes.Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include theGodavari, theMahanadi, theKaveri, and theKrishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;and theNarmadaand theTapti, which drain into theArabian Sea.Coastal features include the marshyRann of Kutchof western India and the alluvialSundarbansdelta of eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh.India has twoarchipelagos: theLakshadweep,coral atollsoff India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in theAndaman Sea.
Indian climateis strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and wintermonsoons.The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asiankatabatic windsfrom blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes.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.Four major climatic groupings predominate in India:tropical wet,tropical dry,subtropical humid, andmontane.
Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.Climate change in Indiais often thought to be the cause. Theretreat of Himalayan glaciershas adversely affected theflow rateof the major Himalayan rivers, including theGangesand theBrahmaputra.According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.
India is amegadiverse country, a term employed for 17 countries that display highbiological diversityand contain many species exclusivelyindigenous, orendemic, to them.India is thehabitatfor 8.6% of allmammals, 13.7% ofbirdspecies, 7.9% ofreptilespecies, 6% ofamphibianspecies, 12.2% offishspecies, and 6.0% of allflowering plantspecies.Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.India also contains four of the world's 34biodiversity hotspots,or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.
India's most dense forests, such as thetropical moist forestof theAndaman Islands, theWestern Ghats, andNortheast India, occupy approximately 3% of its land area.Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area.It predominates in thetemperate coniferous forestof theHimalayas, the moist deciduoussalforest of eastern India, and the dry deciduousteakforest of central and southern India.India has two natural zones ofthorn forest, one in theDeccan Plateau, immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible.
Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are theastringentAzadirachta indica, orneem, which is widely used in rural Indianherbal medicine,and the luxuriantFicus religiosa, orpeepul,which is displayed on the ancient seals ofMohenjo-daro,and under whichthe Buddhais recorded in thePali canonto have sought enlightenment.
Many Indian species have descended from those ofGondwana, the southernsupercontinentfrom which India separated more than 100 million years ago.India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species. However,volcanismandclimatic changeslater caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through twozoogeographicpasses flanking the Himalayas.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.Among endemics are the vulnerablehooded leaf monkeyand the threatenedBeddome's toadof the Western Ghats.
India contains 172IUCN-designatedthreatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms.These include the endangeredBengal tigerand theGanges river dolphin.Critically endangeredspecies include thegharial, acrocodilian; thegreat Indian bustard; and theIndian white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion ofdiclofenac-treated cattle.Before they were extensively used for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by theAsiatic cheetah; the blackbuck, no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is extinct.The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system ofnational parksandprotected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In 1972, India enacted theWildlife Protection ActandProject Tigerto safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.India hostsmore than five hundred wildlife sanctuariesandeighteenbiosphere reserves,four of which are part of theWorld Network of Biosphere Reserves;seventy-five wetlandsare registered under theRamsar Convention.
Aparliamentary republicwith amulti-party system,India has sixrecognisednational parties, including theIndian National Congress(INC) and theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP), and more than 50regional parties.The Congress is consideredcenterin Indianpolitical culture,and the BJPright-wing.For most of the period between 1950—when India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in theParliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP,as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-partycoalition governmentsat the center.
In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in1951,1957, and1962, thePandit Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964,Lal Bahadur Shastribriefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's daughterIndira Gandhi, who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in1967and1971. Following public discontent with thestate of emergencyshe declared in 1975, the Congress was voted out of power in1977; the then-newJanata Party, which had opposed the emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. There were two prime ministers during this period;Morarji DesaiandCharan Singh. Voted back into power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira Gandhi wasassassinated; she was succeeded by her sonRajiv Gandhi, who won an easy victory in the general electionslater that year. The Congress was voted out again in1989when aNational Frontcoalition, led by the newly formedJanata Dalin alliance with theLeft Front, won the elections; that government too proved relatively short-lived, lasting just under two years. There were two prime ministers during this period;V.P. SinghandChandra Shekhar.Elections were held again in1991; no party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as the largest single party, was able to form aminority governmentled byP. V. Narasimha Rao.
A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of1996. Several short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lastingUnited Frontcoalitions, which depended on external support. There were two prime ministers during this period;H.D. Deve GowdaandI.K. Gujral. In1998, the BJP was able to form a successful coalition, theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA). Led byAtal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress,coalition governmentto complete a five-year term.Again in the2004 Indian general elections, no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming another successful coalition: theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA). It had the support ofleft-leaningparties and MPs who opposed the BJP. The UPA returned to power in the2009 general electionwith increased numbers, and it no longer required external support fromIndia's communist parties.That year,Manmohan Singhbecame the first prime minister sinceJawaharlal Nehruin1957and1962to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term.In the2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the support of other parties.In the2019 general election, the BJP was victorious again with majority. In the2024 general election, the BJP failed to achieve majority and the BJP-led NDA coalitionformed the government.Narendra Modi, a formerchief ministerofGujarat, is serving as the 14th Prime Minister of India in his third term since May 26, 2014.
India is afederationwith aparliamentary systemgoverned under the Constitution of India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic.Federalism in Indiadefines the power distribution between the union and thestates. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950,originally stated India to be a "sovereign,democraticrepublic;" this characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign,socialist,secular, democratic republic".India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.
The Government of India comprises three branches: theExecutive,Legislature, andJudiciary.ThePresident of Indiais the ceremonialhead of state,who is elected indirectly for a five-year term by anelectoral collegecomprising members of national and state legislatures.ThePrime Minister of Indiais thehead of governmentand exercises mostexecutive power.Appointed by the president,the prime minister is by convention supported by thepartyorpolitical alliancehaving a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.The executive of the Indian government consists of the president, thevice-president, and theUnion Council of Ministers—with thecabinetbeing its executive committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament.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 servantsact as permanent executives and all decisions of theexecutiveare implemented by them.
The legislature of India is thebicameralparliament. Operating under aWestminster-styleparliamentary system, it comprises an upper house called theRajya Sabha(Council of States) and a lower house called theLok Sabha(House of the People).The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245members who serve staggered six-year terms with elections every 2 years.Most are elected indirectly by thestate and union territoriallegislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.The Lok Sabha's 543members are elected directly by popular vote among citizens aged at least 18;they representsingle-member constituenciesfor five-yearterms.The Indian constitution historically allowed for thenominationofAnglo-Indiansto two seats in the Lok Sabha; this provision was removed in 2019.A number of seats from each state are reserved for candidates fromScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribesin proportion to their population within that state.
India has a three-tierunitaryindependent judiciarycomprising thesupreme court, headed by theChief Justice of India, 25high courts, and a large number of trial courts.The supreme court hasoriginal jurisdictionover cases involvingfundamental rightsand over disputes between states and the centre and hasappellate jurisdictionover the high courts.It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitutionand invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.
India is a federal union comprising 28statesand 8union territories.All states, as well as the union territories ofJammu and Kashmir,Puducherryand theNational 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 theStates Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.
In the 1950s, India strongly supporteddecolonisationinAfricaandAsiaandplayed a leading rolein theNon-Aligned Movement.After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China, India went towar with China in 1962and was widely thought to have been humiliated.This was followed by anothermilitary conflict in 1967in which India successfully repelled Chinese attack.India has hadtense relationswith neighbouring Pakistan; the two nations have gone to war four times: in1947,1965,1971, and1999. Three of these wars were fought over thedisputed territory of Kashmir, while the third, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for theindependence of Bangladesh.In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host country: apeace-keeping operationinSri Lankabetween 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent a1988 coup d'état attemptin the Maldives. After the 1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economicties with the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.
Aside from its ongoingspecial relationship with Russia,India has wide-rangingdefence relations with IsraelandFrance. In recent years, it has played key roles in theSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperationand theWorld Trade Organization. The nation has provided 100,000militaryandpolicepersonnel to serve in 35UN peacekeeping operationsacross four continents. It participates in theEast Asia Summit, theG8+5, and other multilateral forums.India has close economic ties with countries inSouth America,Asia, and Africa; it pursues a"Look East" policythat seeks to strengthen partnerships with theASEANnations,Japan, andSouth Koreathat revolve around many issues, but especially those involving economic investment and regional security.
China'snuclear 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.India conducted itsfirst nuclear weapons testin 1974 and carried outadditional underground testingin 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has signed neither theComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treatynor theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing anuclear triadcapability as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.It is developing aballistic missile defence shieldand, afifth-generation fighter jet.Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation ofVikrant-class aircraft carriersandArihant-class nuclear submarines.
India is estimated to possess up to 172 nuclear warheads, and is considered to be producing both highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons-grade plutonium, with its HEU production assumed to be focused on its growing number of nuclear-powered vessels' and submarines' fuels.Kristensenet al.of Nuclear Information Project with theFederation of American Scientistsestimate that India is operating eight nuclear-capable systems as of 2024, including aircraft, land-based and sea-based ballistic missile systems, with most of its programs in development thought to be nearing "completion and to be fielded with the armed forces soon".
Since the end of theCold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military co-operation with theUnited Statesand theEuropean Union.In 2008, acivilian nuclear agreementwas 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 theInternational Atomic Energy Agencyand theNuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involvingcivilian nuclear energywith Russia,France,theUnited Kingdom,andCanada.
The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.45 million active troops, they compose theworld's second-largest military. It comprises theIndian Army, theIndian Navy, theIndian Air Force, and theIndian Coast Guard.The official Indiandefence budgetfor 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP.Defence expenditure was pegged at US$70.12 billion for fiscal year 2022–23 and, increased 9.8% than previous fiscal year.India is the world's second-largest arms importer; between 2016 and 2020, it accounted for 9.5% of the total global arms imports.Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.In May 2017, theIndian Space Research Organisationlaunched theSouth Asia Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouringSAARCcountries.In October 2018, India signed a US$5.43 billion (over₹400 billion) agreement withRussiato procure fourS-400 Triumfsurface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-rangemissile defencesystem.
According to theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF), the Indian economy in 2024 was nominally worth $3.94 trillion; it was thefifth-largest economyby market exchange rates and is, at around $15.0 trillion, thethird-largestbypurchasing power parity(PPP).With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,India is one of theworld's fastest-growing economies.However, due to its low GDP per capita—which ranks 136th in the world in nominal per capita income and 125th in per capita income adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP)—the vast majority of Indians fall into the low-income group.Until 1991, all Indian governments followedprotectionistpolicies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespreadstate intervention and regulationlargely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acutebalance of payments crisis in 1991forced the nation toliberalise its economy;since then, it has moved increasingly towards a free-market systemby emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.India has been a member ofWorld Trade Organizationsince 1 January 1995.
The 522-million-workerIndian labour forceis theworld's second largest, as of 2017.The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the agricultural sector 18.1%. India'sforeign exchange remittancesof US$100 billion in 2022,highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries.Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.7%;In 2021, India was theworld's ninth-largest importerand thesixteenth-largest exporter.Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.India was the world's second-largest textile exporter afterChinain the 2013 calendar year.
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.Though ranking 68th inglobal 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.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.India is ranked 39th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2024.In 2023, India's consumer market was theworld's fifth largest.
Driven by growth, India's nominalGDP per capitaincreased steadily from US$308 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,380 in 2010, to an estimated US$2,731 in 2024. It is expected to grow to US$3,264 by 2026.However, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future.
According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.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.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.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, andpublic healthand nutrition.
According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by theEconomist 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:Bengaluru(3rd),Mumbai(5th),Chennai(5th) andNew Delhi(8th).
India's telecommunication industryis thesecond-largest in the worldwith over 1.2 billion subscribers. It contributes 6.5% to India's GDP.After the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second-largest smartphone market in the world after China.
TheIndian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.In 2022, India became the world's third-largest vehicle market after China and the United States, surpassing Japan.At the end of 2011, theIndian IT industryemployed 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.
Thepharmaceutical industry in Indiaemerged as a global player. As of 2021, with 3000 pharmaceutical companies and 10,500 manufacturing units, India is the world's third-largest pharmaceutical producer, largest producer of generic medicines and supply up to 50–60% of global vaccines demand, these all contribute up toUS$24.44 billions in exports and India's local pharmaceutical market is estimated up toUS$42 billion.India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.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).
India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts isrenewable.The country's usage of coalis a major cause ofgreenhouse gas emissions by Indiabutits renewable energyis competing strongly.India emits about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This equates to about 2.5 tons ofcarbon dioxideper person per year, which is half the world average.Increasingaccess to electricityandclean cookingwithliquefied petroleum gashave been priorities for energy in India.
Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. In 2006, India contained thelargest numberof people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.The proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.Under the World Bank's later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.According to aFood and Agriculture Organizationreport in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.TheMidday Meal Schemeattempts to lower these rates.
A 2018Walk Free Foundationreport estimated that nearly 8 million people in India were living in different forms ofmodern slavery, such asbonded labour,child labour, human trafficking, and forced begging, among others.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.
Since 1991,economic inequalitybetween India's states has consistently grown: the per-capitanet state domestic productof the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest.Corruption in Indiais perceived to have decreased. According to theCorruption 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.
With an estimated 1,428,627,663 residents in 2023, India is the world's most populous country.1,210,193,422 residents were reported in the2011 provisional census report.Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011,compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.The median age was 28.7 in 2020.The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.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.
The life expectancy in India is at 70 years—71.5 years for women, 68.7 years for men.There are around 93 physicians per 100,000 people.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.Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.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.According to the 2011 census, there are 53million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among themMumbai,Delhi,Kolkata,Chennai,Bengaluru,HyderabadandAhmedabad, in decreasing order by population.The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.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.Keralais the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; whileBiharthe least with 63.82%.
Among speakers of theIndian languages, 74% speakIndo-Aryan languages, the easternmost branch of theIndo-European languages; 24% speakDravidian languages, indigenous toSouth Asiaand spoken widely before the spread of Indo-Aryan languages and 2% speakAustroasiatic languagesor theSino-Tibetan languages. India has no national language.Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.Englishis used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";it is important ineducation, 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 thereligion in Indiawith the largest number of followers wasHinduism(79.80% of the population), followed byIslam(14.23%); the remaining wereChristianity(2.30%),Sikhism(1.72%),Buddhism(0.70%),Jainism(0.36%) and others(0.9%).India has thethird-largestMuslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.
Indian cultural history spans more than4,500 years.During theVedic period(c.1700BCE– c.500BCE), the foundations ofHindu philosophy,mythology,theologyandliteraturewere laid, and many beliefs and practices which still exist today, such asdhárma,kárma,yóga, andmokṣa, were established.India is notable forits religious diversity, withHinduism,Buddhism,Sikhism,Islam,Christianity, andJainismamong the nation's major religions.The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of theUpanishads,theYoga Sutras, theBhaktimovement,and byBuddhist philosophy.
India has a very ancient tradition of art, which has exchanged many influences with the rest ofEurasia, especially in the first millennium, whenBuddhist artspread with Indian religions toCentral,EastandSoutheast Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art.Thousands ofseals from the Indus Valley Civilizationof the third millennium BCE have been found, usually carved with animals, but a few with human figures. The"Pashupati" seal, excavated inMohenjo-daro, Pakistan, in 1928–29, is the best known.After this there is a long period with virtually nothing surviving.Almost all surviving ancient Indian art thereafter is in various forms of religioussculpturein durable materials, or coins. There was probably originally far more in wood, which is lost. In north IndiaMauryan artis the first imperial movement.In the first millennium CE,Buddhist artspread with Indian religions toCentral,EastandSoutheast Asia, the last also greatly influenced byHindu art.Over the following centuries a distinctly Indian style of sculpting the human figure developed, with less interest in articulating precise anatomy thanancient Greek sculpturebut showing smoothly flowing forms expressingprana("breath" or life-force).This is often complicated by the need to give figures multiple arms or heads, or represent different genders on the left and right of figures, as with theArdhanarishvaraform of Shiva andParvati.
Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from Buddhiststupassuch asSanchi,SarnathandAmaravati,or is rock cutreliefsat sites such asAjanta,KarlaandEllora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later.In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups, and sculptors probably usually served all communities.Gupta art, at its peakc.300CE– c.500CE, is often regarded as a classical period whose influence lingered for many centuries after; it saw a new dominance of Hindu sculpture, as at theElephanta Caves.Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic afterc.800CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues.But in the South, under thePallavaandChola dynasties, sculpture in both stone and bronze had asustained period of great achievement; the large bronzes with Shiva asNatarajahave become an iconic symbol of India.
Ancient painting has only survived at a few sites, of which the crowded scenes of court life in theAjanta Cavesare by far the most important, but it was evidently highly developed, and is mentioned as a courtly accomplishment in Gupta times.Painted manuscripts of religious texts survive from Eastern India about the 10th century onwards, most of the earliest being Buddhist and later Jain. No doubt the style of these was used in larger paintings.The Persian-derivedDeccan painting, starting just before theMughal miniature, between them give the first large body of secular painting, with an emphasis on portraits, and the recording of princely pleasures and wars.The style spread to Hindu courts, especiallyamong the Rajputs, and developed a variety of styles, with the smaller courts often the most innovative, with figures such asNihâl ChandandNainsukh.As a market developed among European residents, it was supplied byCompany paintingby Indian artists with considerable Western influence.In the 19th century, cheapKalighat paintingsof gods and everyday life, done on paper, were urbanfolk artfromCalcutta, which later saw theBengal School of Art, reflecting the art colleges founded by the British, the first movement inmodern Indian painting.
Much of Indian architecture, including theTaj Mahal, other works ofIndo-Islamic Mughal architecture, andSouth Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.Vernacular architectureis also regional in its flavours.Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed toMamuni Mayan,explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.As applied inHindu temple architecture, it is influenced by theShilpa Shastras, a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is theVastu-Purusha mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".The Taj Mahal, built inAgrabetween 1631 and 1648 by orders ofMughal emperorShah Jahanin memory of his wife, has been described in theUNESCO World Heritage Listas "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew onIndo-Islamic architecture.
The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500BCEand 1200CE, was in theSanskritlanguage.Major works ofSanskrit literatureinclude theRigveda(c.1500BCE– c.1200BCE), theepics:Mahābhārata(c.400BCE– c.400CE) and theRamayana(c.300BCEand later);Abhijñānaśākuntalam(The Recognition of Śakuntalā, and other dramas ofKālidāsa(c.5th centuryCE) andMahākāvyapoetry.InTamil literature, theSangam literature(c.600BCE– c.300BCE) consisting of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence ofdevotional poetslikeKabīr,Tulsīdās, andGuru 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.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 theworksof the Bengali poet, author and philosopherRabindranath Tagore,who was a recipient of theNobel Prize in Literature.
Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles.Classical musicencompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the northernHindustaniand the southernCarnaticschools.Regionalised popular forms includefilmiandfolk music; thesyncretictradition of thebaulsis a well-known form of the latter.Indian dancealso features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the better-knownfolk dancesare:bhangraof Punjab,bihuof Assam,Jhumairandchhauof Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal,garbaanddandiyaof Gujarat,ghoomarof Rajasthan, andlavaniof Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accordedclassical dance statusby India'sNational Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are:bharatanatyamof the state of Tamil Nadu,kathakof Uttar Pradesh,kathakaliandmohiniyattamof Kerala,kuchipudiof Andhra Pradesh,manipuriof Manipur,odissiof Odisha, and thesattriyaof Assam.
Theatre in Indiamelds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social and political events, Indian theatre includes: thebhavaiof Gujarat, thejatraof West Bengal, thenautankiandramlilaof North India,tamashaof Maharashtra,burrakathaof Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,terukkuttuof Tamil Nadu, and theyakshaganaof Karnataka.India has a theatre training institute theNational School of Drama(NSD) that is situated atNew Delhi. It is an autonomous organisation under theMinistry of culture,Government of India.TheIndian film industryproduces the world's most-watched cinema.Established regional cinematic traditions exist in theAssamese,Bengali,Bhojpuri,Hindi,Kannada,Malayalam,Punjabi,Gujarati,Marathi,Odia,Tamil, andTelugulanguages.The Hindi language film industry (Bollywood) is the largest sector representing 43% of box office revenue, followed by theSouth IndianTelugu and Tamil film industries which represent 36% combined.
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.Thestate monopolyon television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012there 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).
Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. TheIndian caste systemembodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found on the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands ofendogamoushereditary groups, often termed asjātis, or "castes".India abolisheduntouchabilityin 1950 with the adoption of theconstitutionand has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives.
Family valuesare important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generationalpatrilinealjoint familieshave been the norm in India, thoughnuclear familiesare becoming common in urban areas.An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, havetheir marriages arrangedby their parents or other family elders.Marriage is thought to be for life,and the divorce rate is extremely low,with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.Child marriagesare common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.Female infanticide in India, and latelyfemale foeticide, have created skewed gender ratios; the number ofmissing womenin 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.According to an Indian government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care.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.The payment ofdowry, althoughillegal, remains widespread across class lines.Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly frombride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.
ManyIndian festivalsare religious in origin. The best known includeDiwali,Ganesh Chaturthi,Thai Pongal,Holi,Durga Puja,Eid ul-Fitr,Bakr-Id,Christmas, andVaisakhi.
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%,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.
The education system of India is the world's second-largest.India has over 900 universities, 40,000 collegesand 1.5 million schools.In India's higher education system, a significant number of seats are reserved underaffirmative actionpolicies for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to itseconomic development.
From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional dress in India wasdraped.For women it took the form of asari, a single piece of cloth many yards long.The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder.In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or Indianpetticoat, and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also commonly worn with an Indianblouse, orcholi, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—serving to cover the midriff and obscure the upper body's contours.For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, thedhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.
The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at first by theDelhi sultanate(c.1300 CE) and then continued by theMughal Empire(c.1525 CE).Among the garments introduced during this time and still commonly worn are: theshalwarsandpyjamas, both styles of trousers, and the tunicskurtaandkameez.In southern India, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.
Salwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on thebias, in which case they are calledchuridars. When they are ordinarily wide at the waist and their bottoms are hemmed but not cuffed, they are called pyjamas. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic,its side seams left open below the waistline.Thekurtais traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such aschikan; and typically falls to either just above or just below the wearer's knees.
In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they remain popular on formal occasions.The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans.In white-collar office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle- and upper classes often wearbandgala, or shortNehru jackets, with pants, with the groom and hisgroomsmensportingsherwanisand churidars.The dhoti, once the universal garment of Hindu males, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwovenkhadiallowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,is seldom seen in the cities.
The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked in a plain fashion and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.The cooked cereal could be steamed rice;chapati, a thin unleavened bread made from wheat flour, or occasionally cornmeal, and griddle-cooked dry;theidli, a steamed breakfast cake, ordosa, a griddled pancake, both leavened and made from a batter of rice- andgrammeal.The savoury dishes might includelentils,pulsesand vegetables commonly spiced withgingerandgarlic, but also with a combination of spices that may includecoriander,cumin,turmeric,cinnamon,cardamonand others as informed by culinary conventions.They might also include poultry, fish, or meat dishes. In some instances, the ingredients might be mixed during the process of cooking.
A platter, orthali, used for eating usually has a central place reserved for the cooked cereal, and peripheral ones for the flavourful accompaniments, which are often served in small bowls. The cereal and its accompaniments are eaten simultaneously rather than a piecemeal manner. This is accomplished by mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or folding, wrapping, scooping or dipping—such as chapati and cooked vegetables or lentils.
India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.The appearance ofahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in many religious orders early in Indian history, especiallyUpanishadic Hinduism,BuddhismandJainism, is thought to have contributed to the predominance of vegetarianism among a large segment of India's Hindu population, especially in southern India, Gujarat, theHindi-speaking belt of north-central India, as well as among Jains.Although meat is eaten widely in India, the proportional consumption of meat in the overall diet is low.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.
The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during theMughal Empire. Dishes such as thepilaf,developed in theAbbasid caliphate,and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern India from regions to its northwest.To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia, onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.Rice 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 Indianbiryani,a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.In the food served in Indian restaurants worldwide the diversity of Indian food has been partially concealed by the dominance ofPunjabi cuisine. The popularity oftandoori chicken—cooked in thetandooroven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally fromCentral Asia—dates to the 1950s, and was caused in large part by an entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab who had been displaced by the 1947partition of India.
Severaltraditional indigenous sports—such askabaddi,kho kho,pehlwani,gilli-danda,hopscotchandmartial artssuch asKalarippayattuandmarma adi—remain popular.Chessis commonly held to haveoriginated in Indiaaschaturaṅga;in recent years, there has been a rise in the number of Indiangrandmasters,and world champions.Parcheesiis derived fromPachisi, another traditional Indian pastime, which in early modern times was played on a giant marble court byMughal emperorAkbar the Great.
Cricketis the most popular sport in India.Indiahas won twoCricket World Cups, the1983 editionand the2011 edition. India has won eight field hockey gold medals in thesummer olympics.India has participated in shooting sports and has won several medals at theOlympics, theWorld Shooting Championships, and the Commonwealth Games.Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally includebadminton,boxing,and wrestling.Footballis popular inWest Bengal,Goa,Tamil Nadu,Kerala, and thenorth-eastern states. The major domestic league is theIndian Premier League. Professional leagues in other sports include theIndian Super League(football) and thePro Kabaddi League.
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