Portal:India

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India Portal

Introduction

India (ISO: Bhārat), also known as the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

The Indian subcontinent was home to the Indus Valley Civilisation of the bronze age. In the next two millennia, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism were composed, social stratification based on caste emerged, and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires. The peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced the cultures of Southeast Asia. In India's medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, and Sikhism emerged, adding to a diverse culture. North India fell to the Delhi Sultanate; south India was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. In the early modern era, the expansive Mughal Empire was followed by British East India Company rule. India's modern age was marked by British Crown rule and a nationalist movement which, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolence and led to India's independence in 1947.

National Anthem of India

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India (ISO: Bhārat), also known as the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

The Indian subcontinent was home to the Indus Valley Civilisation of the bronze age. In the next two millennia, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism were composed, social stratification based on caste emerged, and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires. The peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced the cultures of Southeast Asia. In India's medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, and Sikhism emerged, adding to a diverse culture. North India fell to the Delhi Sultanate; south India was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. In the early modern era, the expansive Mughal Empire was followed by British East India Company rule. India's modern age was marked by British Crown rule and a nationalist movement which, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolence and led to India's independence in 1947.

Economic liberalisation, begun in 1991, has caused India to become a fast growing major economy and a newly industrialised country. Its gross domestic product ranks sixth in the world in market exchange rates and third in purchasing power parity. Its per capita income ranks 133rd and 116th in the two measures. India faces challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the second largest active military in the world and ranks high in military expenditure. India is a secular, federal republic, governed in a democratic parliamentary system, and administered in 29 states and seven union territories. A pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society, India is home to 1.3 billion people. It is also home to a high diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. Read more...

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The Toda people are a small pastoral tribe of less than 1,000 people who reside in the Nilgiri hills of Southern India. Shown here is a typical Toda hut, about 3 m (10 ft.) high, 5.5 m (18 ft.) long and 2.7 m (9 ft.) wide. They are built of bamboo fastened with rattan and thatched. The hut has only a tiny (about 0.9 x 0.9 m, 3 x 3 ft.) entrance at the front, which serves as protection from wild animals.

Photo credit: Pratheepps

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News

16 May 2019 – Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir: Multiple people are killed, including five terrorists, two civilians and two Indian soldiers, in Kashmir after a shootout. (Reuters)
4 May 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season: Cyclone Fani starts affecting Bangladesh, where over a million people have been evacuated from the storm's path. Authorities say the cyclone has killed at least five people in Bangladesh and damaged over a thousand homes. At least twelve people have been killed in total by the cyclone. (Reuters)
3 May 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season: Cyclone Fani, an extremely severe category 4 storm and one of the strongest in recent years, makes landfall at the coastal town of Puri in the Indian state of Odisha. Eight people have been killed in India, according to the Press Trust of India, and hundreds more injured. Severe damage and flooding has been reported. One million Indians and 2.1 million Bangladeshis have been evacuated. A storm surge possibly up to 1.5m (5ft) is expected. The storm, weakening as it travels northeast through India, is expected to reach Chittagong in Bangladesh Saturday. (Reuters) (BBC)
2 May 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season: Evacuation of approximately 800,000 people is underway as Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani heads toward the Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) and is expected to make landfall Friday with wind speeds in excess of 200 km/h (127 mph). (BBC)
1 May 2019 – Naxalite–Maoist insurgency: Sixteen soldiers, including a driver, are killed in a landmine explosion in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India. Maoist insurgents are currently active in the area, leading officials to believe them to be responsible. (CNN)
16 April 2019 –: Apple Inc. and Google remove TikTok from their app stores in India after a high court in Madras ruled the app could expose children to sexual content and cyberbullying. (CNN)
7 April 2019 – Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive: The United States Africa Command evacuates a contingent of U.S. troops from Libya due to the unrest. India also withdraws a contingent of peacekeepers from Tripoli. (The Guardian)

Did you know...

... that Baby Rani Maurya, who in August 2018 was sworn in as the seventh governor of Uttarakhand, India, is the second woman to hold that post?
... that the Hong Kong Regiment was paid more than other British Indian Army regiments and was known as "The Swagger Regiment"?
... that after arriving penniless in Liverpool in 1920, Indian physician Harbans Lall Gulati walked to London to obtain work?
... that India's Train 18 has no locomotive?
... that in Women's One Day International cricket, India has the fourth highest number of victories?
... that the yellow mangrove is very similar to the Indian mangrove, but the two can be distinguished when in fruit?
... that Asian Paints Ltd's former mascot Gattu, a mischievous boy with a paint bucket, was created by Indian cartoonist R. K. Laxman?
... that Migrant Architects of the NHS recounts how doctors from the Indian subcontinent immigrated to Britain and became general practitioners?
... that Mahant Chandnath, a Member of the Indian Parliament, is also the head of the Nath sect of Hinduism?
... that Indian Member of Parliament Mohammad Asrarul Haque polled the highest number of votes in his state of Bihar in the 2014 general election?
... that Indian quantum physicist Shasanka Mohan Roy developed an exact integral equation, now known as "Roy's equations"?
... that Indian peasant movement leader M.A. Rasul was sent to East Pakistan to build the Communist Party there?
... that in its early years, the Indian National Theatre troupe travelled in two lorries and used them as a stage?
... that the Ta'er Temple is believed to be where the 7th-century Chinese monk Xuanzang preached before he left for India?