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|president =Pratibha PatilPranab Mukherjee

|pm =Manmohan SinghNarendra Modi

|currency =[[rupee]]

The '''Republic of India''' is a major [[Social democracy|social democratic]] nation located in [[South Asia]] with a [[population ]] of 1.1 billion people. It spans from the [[Himalayas]] in the north to the [[Indian Ocean]]. It borders [[China]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]] and [[Myanmar]]. India is the 7th largest country in the world in terms of area and second most populous country (standing at around 1.1 billion according to 2006 estimate), only behind China. Home to the Indus Valley CivilizationFounded on August 15, the history1947, culture and tradition the country was known as the ''Union of India is more than 3000 years old'' until it re-declared itself a [[democratic republic]]. Though India is the world's fourth third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, it has high levels of [[poverty]], [[illiteracy]], [[corruption]] and [[crime]].

The name "India" came from the word 'Indus', which derives from the [[Persian ]] word "[[Hindu]]" which was used to describe the Sindhu river (now known as the [[Indus]]).

Religion, [[caste]], and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today. However, with more job opportunities in the private sector and better chances of upward social mobility, India has begun a quiet social transformation in this area. The government has recognized 18 official languages; <ref>"In the early 1900s ... English was ascendant in India. ... It was the lingua franca to which Indians, who spoke more than a dozen distinct languages, turned when they did not otherwise understand one another." ([http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Knew-Infinity/dp/0671750615 ''The Man Who Knew Infinity''], page 25 - [[Robert Kanigel]])</ref> Hindi, the national language, is the most widely spoken, although English is a national lingua franca. Although 81% of its people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 138 million Muslims--one Muslims—one of the world's largest [[Muslim ]] populations. The population also includes Christians[[Christian]]s, Sikhs[[Sikh]]s, Jains[[Jain]]s, Buddhists[[Buddhist]]s, and Parsis[[Parsi]]s.

The Hindu [[caste system ]] reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient [[Sanskrit ]] sources divide society into four major categories, priests ([[Brahmin]]), warriors ([[Kshatriya]]), traders -[[merchant]]s ([[Vaishya]]) and farmers/laborers ([[Shudra]]). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as "[[untouchables]]." In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis--localjatis—local, endogamous groups based on occupation--and occupation—and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, but remains prevalent, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies. Moreover, caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities, where an increasing percentage of India's population lives. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system.

The beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era (1500–500BC) are called the "historical Vedic religion". Modern Hinduism grew out of the [[Vedas]],a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. They form the oldest layer of [[Sanskrit]] literature and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.[, the oldest of which is the [[Rigveda]], dated to 1700–1100BC. The Vedas center on worship of deities such as [[Indra]], Varuna and Agni, and on the Soma ritual. They performed fire-sacrifices, called yajña and chanted Vedic mantras but did not build temples or icons. The oldest Vedic traditions exhibit strong similarities to [[Zoroastrian]]ism and with other Indo-European religions. During the Epic and Puranic periods, the earliest versions of the epic poems [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharata]] were written roughly from 500–100BC, although these were orally transmitted for centuries prior to this period. The epics contain mythological stories about the rulers and wars of ancient India, and are interspersed with religious and philosophical treatises. The later Puranas recount tales about devas and devis, their interactions with humans and their battles against demons.

While for many years India has been known as an area of the world where a melting pot of religions could be practiced freely, troubling and persistent persecution against [[Christian]]s by the [[Hindu]] majority arose in the 1990s and has continued since that time. In October 2008, 38 Christians were killed and 30,000 fled from efforts of Hindu nationalist militants to force them to convert to Hinduism.<ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27380721</ref> There are also frequent attacks upon Indian Christians by [[Muslims]] in India, who make up a large proportion of the population. They subject the Indian Christian population to harassment and intimidation, particularly those who were previously Muslims. In 2006, a Muslim who converted to Christianity in the Indian state of Kashmir was shot dead by [[Jihadism|Jihadist]] militants.<ref>http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6705</ref>

*President--Pratibha PatilPresident—Pranab Mukherjee*Vice President--Mohammed President—Mohammed Hamid Ansari*Prime Minister--Manmohan SinghMinister—Narendra Modi*Home Minister--Shivraj PatilMinister—Rajnath Singh*Minister of External Affairs--Pranab MukherjeeAffairs—Shushma Swaraj*Ambassador to the U.S.--Ronen SenArun Singh*Ambassador to the UN--Nirupam SenUN—Syed Akbaruddin

The governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress sailed to a decisive victory in India’s parliamentary elections in May 2009, adding 57 seats. The election gave a second term to prime minister Manmohan Singh, age 77, a soft-spoken economic reformer, and ended the prospect of political instability in the world’s most populous democracy. The election confirmed that Sonia Gandhi, age 62, dominates the Congress Party. She is the the Italian-born widow of the assassinated former prime minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]] and the daughter-in-law of the prime minister before him, [[Indira Gandhi]], who was also assasinatedassassinated. The Congress-led coalition built its near-majority with an appeal to the rural poor. During its first term, buoyed by robust economic growth, it used record government revenues to increase social spending, not just raising health and education budgets, but also starting an ambitious public works program in the countryside and a costly loan repayment waiver for farmers. Mrs. Gandhi won support by casting herself as a leader who relinquished power, turning down her party’s appeals to become prime minister, first in 2004 and again this time. Instead, she chose the soft-spoken economist, Mr. Singh, and between them, they controlled the party and the government. She took care of the politics of keeping the coalition together, while he served as the chief executive who followed her advice.

The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa--in Orissa—in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP made strong inroads into lower castes in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, and other primarily religious issues), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.  Recently, the Bhartiya Janata Party scored a major victory in the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014, with Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister. Modi known to have made the Indian state of Gujarat become an economic powerhouse and one of the most developed state in India.

Always an active member of the United Nations, India now seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India has a long tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping operations.

In September 1997, the talks broke down over the structure of how to deal with the issues of Kashmir and peace and security. Pakistan advocated that separate working groups treat each issue. India responded that the two issues be taken up along with six others on a simultaneous basis. In May 1998 India, and then Pakistan, conducted nuclear tests. Attempts to restart dialogue between the two nations were given a major boost by the February 1999 meeting of both Prime Ministers in Lahore and their signing of three agreements. These efforts were stalled by the intrusion of Pakistani-backed forces into Indian-held territory near Kargil in May 1999 (that nearly turned into full -scale war), and by the military coup in Pakistan that overturned the Nawaz Sharif government in October the same year. In July 2001, Mr. Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf, leader of Pakistan after the coup, met in Agra, but talks ended after two days without result.

===South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)===

===Relations with China===

===Russia===

The Indian Air Force is becoming a 21st -century force through modernization, new tactics and the acquisition of modern aircraft, such as the SU-30MKI, a new advanced jet trainer (BAE Hawk) and the indigenously produced advanced light [[helicopter]] (Dhruv). In June 2007, the Indian Government announced intentions to release a request for proposals for 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

India's population is estimated at more than 1.1 billion and is growing at 1.3% a year. It has the world's 12th largest economy--and economy—and the third largest in [[Asia]] behind [[Japan]] and [[China]]--with —with total [[GDP]] of around $1 trillion ($1,000 billion). Services, industry, and [[agriculture]] account for 55%, 27%, and 18% of GDP respectively. Nearly two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. 700 million Indians live on $2 per day or less, but there is a large and growing [[middle class]] of 325-350 million with disposable income for consumer goods.

When India became independent from [[Britain]] in 1947 the Indian government recognized agriculture as a key area for economic development. Despite this there has been limited modernization of the sector. There hasn’t been an effective land reform package introduced to redistribute land from wealthy landlords to landless peasants. In the 1990’s 1990s almost half of rural families had plots of 0.5 hectares or no land at all, but a quarter of India’s agricultural land was owned by five percent of rich landowning families. This has made it nearly impossible to mechanize and introduce modern farm practices.

When India became independent in 1947 it had a largely underdeveloped Industrial system, with textiles and food processing been the key industries in the country. Only two percent of the working population had been employed in industry, which was concentrated in the major cities; [[MumbaiBombay]], [[KolkataCalcutta]] and [[ChennaiMadras]]. On gaining independence the new government was determined to reduce India’s dependence on imported goods and to promote greater wealth and employment throughout the country.

The size of India’s population provided it a large home market and the country had some natural resources (coal and Iron) a large and cheap labour force and outputs from agriculture (cotton, Jute) Mineral resources encouraged the government to develop heavy industries, such as Iron and steel, shipbuilding and chemicals. Despite these advantages development was relatively slow and only benefited a few growth centers. In addition, by the 1980’s1980s, many heavy industries were in decline, Industrial policy has changed to emphasize Agri-industries, consumer goods industries and small craft industries, rural development (community based development and self-help schemes) and high technology industries.

[[Consumer goods]] industries are more labour labor-intensive than large-scale heavy industries, so more jobs are created as a result. They also benefit from low labour costs and traditional skills, which make them more competitive in, export markets. E.g. jewellary, clothing, leather goods etc.

* '' India'' (Eyewitness Travel Guides by DK Publishing (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/India-Eyewitness-Travel-Guides-Publishing/dp/0789483955/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545500&sr=1-18 excerpt and text search])

== See also ==*[[World History Lecture Three]] for more information on Ancient India.*[[Anti-conversion legislation in India]]*[[Oriental art]]*[[Indian Painting]]* [[Nuclear target structures]]* [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]