The Real Facts of India

Why we are not able to do this......?

2010-08-10T22:08:00.000+05:30

Why not we strike in Weekends?

Why not we Strike on Saturday or Sunday?

Why not we strike against any Politician?

Why not we Strike against any Scandals?

Why not we strike against when poor farmers are committed susites?

Why not we strike against when schools are asking donations?

Why not we strike against salary hike of Politician?

Why not we strike against to reduce the highly expense of Politician and his / her family?

Why not we strike against to reduce the unemployment?

Why not we strike against any terrorist attacks?

Why not we strike against any Mafia or any underground criminals?

Why not we strike against any anti religious activity?

Why not we strike against any of insulting our national pride by other nationals?

Why not we strike against any celebrity or any politician’s family member done a crime?

For Ex. Mr. R. Mahajan (Do u think if u had done the same crime and you will be a famous like this?)

Why not we strike against to change the Law?

1947 – 2010 (I ask to one Minister Witch car he is using? Witch mobile he is using? / Witch cloths are he is wearing? / Witch clock he is wearing / Witch computer he is working on and what system he is using) probably most of the answer are Latest as per the market !!!!!………..But Our Law is still 63 years old

Do u think we need to change as per current technology and as per current situation? We are suffering from a big disaster by terrariums, Anti government units like nakshalwad or Money making politicians.

Why not we strike against to change the Law?

Have you ever known that.....

2010-03-31T14:20:00.000+05:30

Have you ever known that over 44,000 children are missing every year? 53 percent of children in India drop out at elementary level? 25 per cent of approximately 2.3 million sex workers in India are minors? a sex worker transmits HIV to at least 600 people in a 10 year-span of selling sex?

It's incredible that some of the richest and the poorest men belong to the same country...India. As a commoner, there could be innumerable times one empathizes with the homeless and friendless children on the streets. It takes just a few leisure minutes and a cup of tea to grouch about government's prospects and policies but it takes a while to delve own minds for introspection. All one needs is power, to drive beggars away from the metro cities to make it look 'clean and green' but it takes compassion and responsibility for one to think about anyone other than himself.

Mother Theresa said "It is not enough for us to say, 'I love God, but I do not love my neighbor,'" she said, God had "[made] himself the hungry one - the naked one - the homeless one." she said, is what "you and I must find" and alleviate. We can't possibly support hundreds so we start with one. Moment of truth: Whole hearted compassion and thus responsibility makes our country true India to live in.

Source: True India

India Economy: 2009 Forecast

2010-03-31T14:15:00.002+05:30

New Delhi, 16 Dec. 2008 started out well enough with growth figures approaching 10%. However, with the massive financial troubles which began towards the end of 2008, 2009 does not look quite as good. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected growth of a mere 6.5%. Previously, it had forecast 7%, down from another earlier estimate of 7.4%.

ADB stated, “India, South Asia's most dynamic economy in recent years, is reeling from the direct effect of the global financial crisis on its banking systems and financial markets. The growth projection for India has been revised down to seven per cent in 2008 and 6.5 per cent in 2009, from 9 per cent in 2007.”

In the first week of December, the World Bank anticipated the Indian economy would grow by 6.3% in 2008 and 5.8% in 2009.

It realized a 7.8% expansion in the first half of this fiscal year against 9.3% a year ago. The economy grew by 9% for the entire last fiscal year.

Inflation has been an ongoing threat in India, especially when it reached a peak of 12% in early August, 2008. Much of what drive this inflation is the country’s rapid growth and rising oil prices. Oil has fallen considerably since then, easing inflation.

Manufacturing is expected to be hit in 2009 due to a decreased demand as a result of the global downturn. India’s growth is not totally dependent on the West, but the slumps in the US, Europe, and even the Far East will be felt in India’s exports.

The Indian government will need to accelerate its reforms and push for more investment if it wants to maintain good growth rates in the face of the global slowdown.

In a news conference with the World Economic Forum (WEF), CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said, “"There is a pressure on bottom lines (of companies). Production is down. We do see economic growth moderating to 7.4-7.8 percent this fiscal.”

"Since inflation is down, we expect more fiscal and monetary measures to give a momentum to growth. The government should increase expenditure in infrastructure sector and put on-going projects on the fast track," he continued, but dismissed fears of large-scale corporate lay-offs.

The worldwide credit crunch has led to foreign investors dumping shares amounting to more than $12.5 billion, and the rupee has fallen in excess of 20%.

The WEF said, "It (global crisis) could also weaken the balance sheets of the financial institutions, cause a further fall in share and asset prices, and challenge the macroeconomic situation due to shrinking global growth.”

In November, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned that the global financial crisis may be worse and longer than many had expected, but that the government would take the necessary monetary and fiscal action to protect growth in India.

Charles Cole, EconomyWatch.com

Indian rupee

2010-03-27T18:20:00.006+05:30

The rupee (Hindi: रुपया) (code: INR) is the official unit of currency of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The most commonly used symbols for the rupee are Rs., or as Re. or रू. The ISO 4217 code for the Indian rupee is INR. On March 5, 2009 the Indian Government announced a contest to create a symbol for the Rupee.[1] The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa).
In most parts of India, the rupee is known as the rupee, rupaya (Hindi), rupiyo in Gujarati (રૂપિયો), roopayi in Telugu (రూపాయి) and Kannada (ರೂಪಾಯಿ), rubai in Tamil (ரூபாய்), roopa in Malayalam (രൂപ), rupaye in Marathi (रुपये) or one of the other terms derived from the Sanskrit रूप्यकम् rupyakam [2] (Devanagari: रूप्यकं), raupya meaning silver; rupyakam meaning (coin) of silver. However, in West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Orissa, and Assam, the Indian rupee is officially known by names derived from the Sanskrit तनक Tanka. Thus, the rupee is called টাকা Taka in Bengali, টকা tôka in Assamese, and ଟଙ୍କା Tôngka in Oriya, with the symbol T, and is written as such on Indian banknotes

Numeral system

As is standard in Indian English, large values of Indian rupees are counted in terms of thousands, lakh (100 thousand = 105 rupees, in digits 100,000), crore (100 lakhs = 107 rupees, in digits 10,000,000) and arawb (100 crore = 109 rupees, in digits 1,000,000,000). The use of million or billion, as is standard in American or British English, is far less common.

For example, the amount INR 3,25,84,729.25 is spoken as three crore twenty-five lakhs eighty-four thousand seven hundred twenty-nine rupees and twenty-five paise (see Indian numbering system).

History

Rupiya released by Sher Shah Suri, 1540–1545 CE

Modern Indian notes

India was one of the earliest issuers of coins (circa 6th century BC). The first "rupee" is believed to have been introduced by Sher Shah Suri (1486–1545), based on a ratio of 40 copper pieces (paisa) per rupee. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees were those by the Bank of Hindustan (1770–1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773–75, established by Warren Hastings) and the Bengal Bank (1784–91), amongst others.

During British rule, and the first decade of independence, 1 damidi(pie)=0.520833paise 1 kani(pice) =1.5625paise 1 paraka =3.125paise 1 anna =6.25paise 1 beda =12.5paise 1 pavala =25paise 1 artharupee =50paise 1 rupee =100paise

Until 1815, the Madras Presidency also issued a currency based on the fanam, with 12 fanams equal to the rupee.

Historically, the rupee, derived from the Sanskrit word raupya, which means silver, was a silver coin. This had severe consequences in the nineteenth century, when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of vast quantities of silver in the U.S. and various European colonies resulted in a decline in the relative value of silver to gold. Suddenly the standard currency of India could not buy as much from the outside world. This event was known as "the fall of the rupee".

India was not affected by the imperial order-in-council of 1825 that attempted to introduce the British sterling coinage to the British colonies. British India at that time was controlled by the British East India Company. The silver rupee continued as the currency of India throughout the entire period of the British Raj and beyond. In the year 1835, British India set itself firmly upon a mono-metallic silver standard based on the rupee. His decision was influenced by a letter, written in the year 1805, by Lord Liverpool that extoled the virtues of mono-metallism.

Following the Indian Mutiny in 1857, the British government took direct control of British India. Since 1851, gold sovereigns were being produced in large numbers at the Royal Mint branch in Sydney, New South Wales. In the year 1864 in an attempt to make the British gold sovereign become the 'imperial coin', the treasuries in Bombay and Calcutta were instructed to receive gold sovereigns. These gold sovereigns however never left the vaults. As was realized in the previous decade in Canada and the next year in Hong Kong, existing habits are not easy to replace. And just as the British government had finally given up any hopes of replacing the rupee in India with the pound sterling, they simultaneously realized, and for the same reasons, that they couldn't easily replace the silver dollar in the Straits Settlements with the Indian rupee, as had been the desire of the British East India Company.

Since the great silver crisis of 1873, a growing number of nations had been adopting the gold standard. In 1898, British India officially adopted the gold exchange standard by pegging the rupee to the British pound sterling at a fixed value of 1 shilling 4 pence (i.e., 15 rupees = 1 pound). In 1920, the actual silver value of the rupee was increased in value to 2 shillings (10 rupees = 1 pound). Interestingly in British East Africa at this time, the decision was made to replace the rupee with a florin. No such opportunity was, however, taken in British India.

In 1927, the peg was once more reduced, this time to 18 pence (13⅓ rupees = 1 pound). This peg was maintained until 1966, when the rupee was devalued and pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 7.5 rupees = 1 dollar (at the time, the rupee became equal to 11.4 British pence). This peg lasted until the U.S. dollar devalued in 1971.

The Indian rupee replaced the Danish Indian rupee in 1845, the French Indian rupee in 1954 and the Portuguese Indian escudo in 1961. Following independence in 1947, the Indian rupee replaced all the currencies of the previously autonomous states. Some of these states had issued rupees equal to those issued by the British (such as the Travancore rupee). Other currencies included the Hyderabad rupee and the Kutch kori.

In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi for "new paise"). In 1964, the initial "naye" was dropped. Many still refer to 25, 50 and 75 paise as 4, 8 and 12 annas respectively, not unlike the usage of "bit" in American English for ⅛ dollar.

In March 2009 the Indian Finance Ministry launched a public competition to select a symbol for the currency.

The rupee on the East African coast and South Arabia
In East Africa, Arabia, and Mesopotamia the Rupee and its subsidiary coinage was current at various times. The usage of the Rupee in East africa extended from Somalia in the north, to as far south as Natal. In Mozambique the British India rupees were overstamped, and in Kenya the British East Africa Company minted the rupee and its fractions as well as pice. The rise in the price of silver immediately after the First World War caused the rupee to rise in value to two shillings sterling. In 1920 in British East Africa, the opportunity was then taken to introduce a new florin coin, hence bringing the currency into line with sterling. Shortly after that, the Florin was split into two East African shillings. This assimilation to sterling did not however happen in British India itself. In Somalia the Italian colonial authority minted 'rupia' to the exact same standard, and called the pice 'besa'.

The rupee in the Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were originally an outlier of the British East India Company. The Spanish dollar had already taken hold in the Straits Settlements by the time the British arrived in the nineteenth century, however, the East India Company tried to introduce the rupee in its place. These attempts were resisted by the locals, and by 1867 when the British government took over direct control of the Straits Settlements from the East India Company, attempts to introduce the rupee were finally abandoned.

Polymer banknotes
In September 2009, Reserve Bank of India has decided to introduce polymer notes (polymer banknote) on a trial basis. Initially, 100 crore (1 billion) pieces of Rs. 10 denomination notes will be introduced.[5] According to the Reserve Bank officials, the polymer notes will have an average lifespan of 5 years (4 times the regular Indian bank notes) and be difficult to counterfeit. The polymer notes are cleaner than the regular notes, too.

International use
With Partition, the Pakistani rupee came into existence, initially using Indian coins and Indian currency notes simply overstamped with "Pakistan". In previous times, the Indian rupee was an official currency of other countries, including Aden, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the Trucial States, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, the Seychelles, and Mauritius.

The Indian government introduced the Gulf rupee, also known as the Persian Gulf rupee (XPGR), as a replacement for the Indian rupee for circulation exclusively outside the country with the Reserve Bank of India [Amendment] Act, 1 May 1959. This creation of a separate currency was an attempt to reduce the strain put on India's foreign reserves by gold smuggling. After India devalued the rupee on 6 June 1966, those countries still using it – Oman, Qatar, and the Trucial States (which became the United Arab Emirates in 1971) – replaced the Gulf rupee with their own currencies. Kuwait and Bahrain had already done so in 1961 and 1965 respectively.

The Bhutanese ngultrum is pegged at par with the Indian rupee, and both currencies are accepted in Bhutan. The Indian rupee is also accepted in towns in Nepal which lie near the border with India.vv
Coins

India Company, -1862

The three Presidencies established by the British East India Company (Bengal, Bombay and Madras) each issued their own coinages up to 1835. All three issued rupees together with fractions down to ⅛ and 1⁄16 rupee in silver. Madras also issued 2 rupees coins.

Copper denominations were more varied. Bengal issued 1 pie, ½, 1 and 2 paise. Bombay issued 1 pie, ¼, ½, 1, 1½, 2 and 4 paise. In Madras, there were copper coins for 2, 4 pies, 1, 2 and 4 paisa, with the first two denominated as ½ and 1 dub or 1⁄96 and 1⁄48 rupee. Note that Madras also issued the Madras fanam until 1815.

All three Presidencies issued gold mohurs and fractions of mohurs, including 1⁄16, ⅛, ¼ and ½ in Bengal, 1⁄15 (a gold rupee) and ⅓ (pancia) in Bombay and ¼, ⅓ and ½ in Madras.

In 1835, a single coinage for the EIC was introduced. It consisted of copper 1⁄12, ¼ and ½ anna, silver ¼, ½ and 1 rupee and gold 1 and 2 mohurs. In 1841, silver 2 annas were added, followed by copper ½ pice in 1853. The coinage of the EIC continued to be issued until 1862, even after the Company had been taken over by the Crown.

Regal issues, 1862–1947
In 1862, coins were introduced which are referred to as Regal issues. They bore the portrait of Queen Victoria and the designation "India". Denominations were 1⁄12 anna, ½ pice, ¼ and ½ anna (all in copper), 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee (silver) and 5 and 10 rupees and 1 mohur (gold). The gold denominations ceased production in 1891 while no ½ anna coins were issued dated later than 1877.

In 1906, bronze replaced copper for the lowest three denominations and in 1907, a cupro-nickel 1 anna was introduced. In 1918 and 1919, cupro-nickel 2, 4 and 8 annas were introduced, although the 4 and 8 annas coins were only issued until 1921 and did not replace their silver equivalents. Also in 1918, the Bombay mint struck gold sovereigns and 15 rupee coins identical in size to the sovereigns as an emergency measure due to the First World War.

In the early 1940s, several changes were implemented. The 1⁄12 anna and ½ pice ceased production, the ¼ anna was changed to a bronze, holed coin, cupro-nickel and nickel-brass ½ anna coins were introduced, nickel-brass was used to produce some 1 and 2 annas coins, and the composition of the silver coins was reduced from 91.7% to 80%. The last of the regal issues were cupro-nickel ¼, ½ and 1 rupee pieces minted in 1946 and 1947.

Independent issues, predecimal, 1950–1957
India's first coins after independence were issued in 1950. They were 1 pice, ½, 1 and 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee denominations. The sizes and compositions were the same as the final Regal issues, except for the 1 pice, which was bronze but not holed.

Independent issues, decimal, 1957-
The first decimal issues of India consisted of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 & 50 naye paise, as well as 1 rupee. The 1 naya paisa was bronze, the 2, 5 & 10 naye paise were cupro-nickel & the 25 & 50 naye paise & 1 rupee were nickel. In 1964, the word naya(e) was removed from all the coins. Between 1964 & 1967, aluminum 1, 2, 3, 5 & 10 paise were introduced. In 1968, nickel-brass 20 paise were introduced, replaced by aluminum coins in 1982. Between 1972 & 1975, cupro-nickel replaced nickel in the 25 & 50 paise as well as the 1 rupee. In 1982, cupro-nickel 2 rupees coins were introduced. In 1988, stainless steel 10, 25 & 50 paise were introduced, followed by 1 & 5 rupee coins in 1992.

Between 2005 & 2008, new, lighter 50 paise, 1, 2 & 5 rupee coins were introduced, all struck in ferritic stainless steel. The move was prompted by the melting down of older coins whose face value was less than their scrap value.

The coins commonly in circulation are 1, 2, 5 & 10 rupees. Although they remain valid, paise coins have become increasingly rare in regular usage.

Banknotes

British India, 1861–1947
In 1861, the Government of India introduced its first paper money, 10 rupee in 1864, 5 rupees in 1872, 10,000 rupees in 1899, 100 rupees in 1900, 50 rupees in 1905, 500 rupees in 1907 and 1000 rupees in 1909. In 1917, 1 and 2½ rupees notes were introduced.

The Reserve Bank of India began note production in 1938, issuing 2, 5, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 rupee notes, while the Government continued to issue 1 rupee notes.

Independent issues, 1949-
After independence, new designs were introduced to remove the portrait of the King. The government continued to issue the 1 rupee note, while the Reserve Bank issued other denominations, including the 5000 and 10,000 rupee notes introduced in 1949. In the 1970s, 20 and 50 rupee notes were introduced but denominations higher than 100 rupees were demonetized in 1978. In 1987, the 500 rupee note was introduced, followed by the 1000 rupees in 2000.

Interesting Facts about India

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India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
(Source: Gemological Institute of America).
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
India exports software to 90 countries.
The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Culture of India

2009-09-10T18:09:00.002+05:30

"Unity in diversity". It is not just another phrase or quotation. But, these words are highly prudent to a country like India that is incredibly rich in culture and heritage. Few quotations or statements cannot describe the pedestal that India holds in the world map because of its colorful and unique culture.

From the times of Mauryas, Cholas, Mughals till to the period of British Empire, India has always been famous for its traditions and hospitality. The warmth in the relations and euphoria in celebrations make the country stands out distinctively in the clutter. The country's liveliness and generosity attract a number of tourists. The cuisines, festivals, music, literature, and theatre..everything is 'special' in this 'land of gods'.

Traditional yet Contemporary
The Indian culture has never been rigid and that's why it's surviving with pride in the modern era. It timely imbibes the qualities of various other cultures and comes out as a contemporary and acceptable tradition. That is what unique about the Indian culture..it moves on with the time. There are certain things about India that are famous worldwide, like:

Way of Greeting
"Namaste", for an Indian it's a way common way of greeting outsiders and elders. Both palms placed together and raised below the face not only show the respect for others but it also makes you feel the affection in the greeting. It is for sure that no 'hello' or 'hi' can create that magic.

Flower Garlands
Indian people are also famous for welcoming with flower garlands. In the Indian marriages the exchange of garlands between bride and groom is a ritual in itself. People also offer flower garlands to gods and goddesses during their prayers.

Indian Marriages
Time has changed but the lavishness has always been an integral and indispensable part of Indian marriages. In India, marriage is still taken as an institution where not two people but two families get united. So, it always calls for boisterous celebrations full of music and dance. Within India, every caste and community has its own way of performing the rituals of marriage. In Hindu marriages, while Punjabis perform the 'Roka' ceremony in weddings, Sindhis perform the 'Berana'. But most common of all is the ritual of Hast Milap ceremony popularly called Paanigrahan Sanskar.

Muslims also have their own special way of celebrating the marriage ceremony, popularly called Nikaah. During the auspicious occasion, the groom's family gives mehar (nuptial gift) to the bride. Parsis plant a young mango tree in a pot during the marriage ceremony. This ceremony is famous as 'Madhavsaro' ceremony. Every state has its own special way of celebrating the marriage ceremony.

Indian Dresses
Beauty of Indian women lies in the clothes she wears. Very traditional and ethnic yet contemporary Indian Saris are famous worldwide. It is worn with a blouse that covers the upper part of the body. In rural parts a version of sari, called ghagara -choli is very much popular. Choli is like a short blouse that covers the upper part of the body and ghagara is like a long skirt. In order to have a graceful and complete look, women folk carry a duppatta, which is a soft and delicate material of reasonable length thrown over the shoulder.

Though with slight variations, Salwar kameez is a dress that is famous in every part of India. This attire contains two pieces-kameez, which is a like a long top covering upper part of the body and salwar is like trousers. Like ghagara choli, salwar kameez is also complemented by dupatta.

For the men, there is no dearth of variety. From dhoti kurta to shirt pants, an Indian man prefers everything that fits well and looks good. But, traditionally you can see north Indians wearing kurta pajama, dhoti kurta or sherwani on formal celebrations whereas south Indian men prefer lungi with shirt.

Indian Jewelry
Unique designs, artistic looks and creativity are always a part of Indian jewelry. Made up of gold and silver, the jewelry actually represents the culture and tradition of India. In rural India, a resinous incrustation called lac is used for the personal ornamentation. Specialty of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the lac bangles and bracelets are worn and liked by the women of all states.

Without accessories, a car and a woman are always incomplete. From earrings, nose-rings, armlets, necklaces to anklets and bracelets, Indian jewelry give a woman everything that she needs to enhance her beauty.

Mehndi
Mehndi or henna is a kind of paste that is designed on the palms on the women on special occasions like engagement, marriage or festive celebrations. The paste is applied for few hours or overnight and washed when it gets dried completely. This gives reddish-brown color to the palms. In Indian marriages, especially in the north, a special night is celebrated before the day of marriage in which mehndi is designed on the palms of bridegroom and it is followed by some colorful dance and music. In certain parts of India, mehndi is a special kind of ancient folk art.

India-Religiously Yours!
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain or Zoroastrian; one can find people of all religions here in India. India is a secular state and every citizen enjoys an equal right of choosing and following a particular religion. More than three fourth of Indian population belongs to Hindu religion and you can find Hindu pilgrimages in every part of the country.

In northern part of India, you can visit various sacred religious places like Vaishno Devi, Amarnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Haridwar and Varanasi and in the southern part of the country you can take the blessings of God at the Sabrimala, Sringeri, Dakshineshwar-belur math, and Rameshwaram. If you are in the northeast, you can go to the Kamrup temple that is located on the outskirts of Guwahati on the nilachal hills. If you are roaming somewhere around Gujarat and interested in knowing about lord Krishna, then you must visit Dwarkanath temple that is built at the site where Meera Bai gave up the world. You can also visit Somnath temple that comprises one of the twelve jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.

The Muslims have their pilgrimages like Dargah Sharief of Ajmer at Rajasthan and Dargah of Ajan Pir in Assam. In northeast, there is Poa Mecca. It is believed that here a faithful Muslim can gain one fourth of the spiritual enlightenment that could be gained at Mecca.

In Punjab, there are number of pilgrimages for Sikhs like Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar, Tarn Taaran in west of Amritsar, Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib in Anandpur, Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda and Dera Baba Nanak in west of Gurdaspur. Hemkund Sahib, which is situated at an altitude of 4329 meters, is the highest Gurudwara in the world. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, mediated here for years in the mountains and here only he left his body to get united with Almighty.

Another pilgrimage of Sikhs is Manikaran Gurudwara that is situated in Himachal Pradesh and it is famous for its Hot springs. It is believed that these springs carry uranium and other radioactive materials. Takhat Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib in Maharashtra is another sacred religious place of Sikhs. In India, you can also find a number of churches in every state. If you are in south, you can visit Medak Church and Gundala church in Andhra Pradesh, Santa Cruz Basilica in Kochi, Kerela. Northern India also has famous churches like St. Joseph's Church in Uttar Pradesh and Church of the Sacred Heart in New Delhi. If you are enjoying the valleys of Himachal Pradesh, then you can get Jesus' blessings in Christ Church and St. Michael's Cathedral at Shimla.

So many religions and so many pilgrimages..but still people are united. It is just because of the Indian values that bind people together. These values weave people together just like beads in a string.

Worshipping Nature
Day in India starts with Surya Namaskar. In this people offer water to the sun and enchant mantras and prayers. Indians worship nature and that's what unique about its culture. In Hindu religion, trees and animals are worshipped like gods. People believe in God and keep fast ('vrata') on every festival. They offer morning's first fresh meal to cow and night's last meal to dog. Nowhere in the world one can find such generosity.

All the religions here start the day with morning hymns and these rich values are inculcated into the kids since childhood. Morning prayers and moral education is also a very important part of the education system in India.

Have ever been to any other country in the world where you can find such a great variety? Here people are not judged by caste, color or creed. They are judged by their values and this is what makes India a unique place to live.

Everything is Artistic here!
Nowhere in the world you can find such a great variety in performing and visual arts that you can find in India. From a roadside show to a highly sophisticated drama in the theatre, you can find anything and everything here.

Indian art can be categorized into two main categories- performing arts and visual arts.

Performing Arts
Dance, drama, theatre or music, every art is unique in itself. In India, religions, mythology and classical literature form the basis of most of the performing arts.

Indian classical dances like Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, Odissi and Kuchipudi mainly follow the codes of natya shastra, mythology and classical literature and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharta.

Another kind of performing art is theatre. Though the folk theatre prevails in each and every language and region, the professional theatre is popular only in big urban areas or metropolitan cities. Uniqueness of Indian theatre is the puppet show. For centuries, Puppet shows have been popular in creating awareness about social issues in masses and inculcating the moral values of truth and honesty in the kids.

For Indians, music is to the soul what food is to the body. Since Vedic period it's been capturing the heart and mind of every Indian. In the classical Indian music, there are basically two types of schools- the Hindustani Music (North) and the Carnatic Music (South). 'Raga' arrangement of musical notes is the key in the classical music. The Indian villages also have their special kind of music that carries colors of folk tradition. Music of Indian movies is also liked by the masses.

Films They are another kind of performing arts for which India is quite popular in the world. The country produces more than 1000 movies every year and these movies are not only popular in the domestic market but also have a wide viewership in the Asian and European countries. Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali or Marathi, India produces movie in every language. India film stars are equally loved and liked like Hollywood actors.

Visual Arts
Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder." But, if you look at the sculptures and paintings in India, then you cannot live without saying that the beauty lies in the hands of Indian Artists. India's history in the paintings is prominently visible in the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, Buddhists palm leaf manuscripts and Jain texts. Either it is free form of Ajanta paintings, leaf paintings or glass paintings; India has always been famous for this kind of visual art. The creativity and use of colors has always been graceful and unique in the Indian paintings. Keeping their culture and tradition in mind, Indian artists also imbibe the qualities of other European artists and this gives a contemporary look to the Indian paintings with a traditional touch. Well-known Indian painting schools are Rajput, Deccan, Kangra and Moghul.

From the Cholas dynasty to the present era, India has been ranked on top in the sculpture, another form of visual art. Deccan temples of Kanchipuram, Madurai & Rameswaram, the Sun temple of Orissa and the Khajurao temple in the Madhya Pradesh, each sacred place is the witness of Indian artisan. The sculptures at Sanchi Stupa throw a light on the life of Buddha and various folk deities. Sculptures of Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda with architectural touch show the social life of Buddha and counterparts. Temples of Ellora and Elephanta caves are the important evident of mastery of Indian sculptures. Flora and Fauna, Deities and various mythological characters; all these form the basis of designs in this beautiful form of visual art.

A very ancient and aesthetic kind of visual art in India is pottery. In this form of art lumps of clay are hand-molded to form toys and deities of worship. Terracotta and blue gaze are the two main varieties of pottery that are famous in India. Pottery also has a great religious significance. On Durga Puja and Ganesh Chathurthi the beautiful idols of Maa Durga and Lord Ganesha show the confluence of pottery, sculpture and painting.

It Calls for Celebrations
The 'Land of Gods' never needs a particular reason to celebrate. Celebration is a fundamental part of every Indian's life. From January to December, every month comes with a particular fair or festival. Makar Sakranti, Basanti Panchami, Holi, Ram Navami, Janamashtami, Diwali, Eid, Mahavir Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Guru Purv and Christmas; the festival of every religion has a significance and it is celebrated in a boisterous way.

Here people don't need a floor to dance. Celebrations on streets during Durga Puja, Ganesh Chathurthi, Janamashtmi and Holi show the real dancing talents of Indians.

Not only this, the country is famous everywhere for the handicrafts melas and fairs that it organizes during particular intervals. Surajkund Craft Mela that is held every year in February in Haryana attracts a large chunk of masses and foreign tourists. In such fairs and festivals, you can find the real India. Such theme melas and festivals unite the whole nation. People come to know about each other's cultures and traditions and their active participation shows how much they love to know about each other.

It Doesn't Have Just One
Number of religions, number of states and thus number of cuisines. If north India has chole bhature, tanduri chicken, rajma chawal, kadi chawal, dhokla, daal baati churma and biryani to relish, then our south India is not behind in the race. From masala dosa, rava uttpam, rasam, sambar-lemon rice to toran, appam, meen; the south Indian cuisine has a great variety to offer.

The concept of Thali is very famous in India. A thali is served in a very traditional form and in this you can enjoy the complete variety available in a particular cuisine. In small restaurants thali is the cheapest way of getting your mouth full. If you have stepped in to a hotel, then you can enjoy the variety in the form of combo meals.

The variety in Indian peppers like black pepper, coriander seeds, and tamarind, cardamom, saffron and cumin seeds not only enhance the flavor of the food but also add nutritive value to it. The Indian food is incomplete if you don't get something sweet in the end. Have a bowl full of kheer or a little mitha paan to add sweetness and freshness to your mouth.

Despite so many diversities, people in India are united and they feel proud of their culture and tradition. On the world stage, either through international film festivals or through beauty pageants, India displays regularly its talent and culture. Many rulers came but none could bring harm to its culture rather Indians preserved the good values of their cultures too. The flexibility and movement with time make Indian Culture fashionable and acceptable too.

General Knowledge about India

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Official Name

Bharat (Hindi), Republic of India (English)

Capital

New Delhi

Population

1, 027, 015, 247 (2001 Census)

Area

3.3 million square kilometers

Geographical Location

Between latitudes 8 ° 4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97° 25' east

Coastline Length

7600 km

Major Religions

Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism

Literacy

65.38%

President

Pratibha Patil

Prime Minister

Dr. Manmohan Singh

National Anthem

Jan gana mana written by Rabindranath Tagore

National Song

Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji

National Emblem

Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath

National Animal

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

National Bird

Peacock

National Flower

Lotus

National Tree

Banyan

National Fruit

Mango

National Currency

Rupee (One Rupee=100 paise)

National Sport

Hockey

Languages

India has two National languages (Central administrative). They are English (associate official) and Hindi (in the Devanagiri script). The Indian Constitution also officially recognizes 22 regional languages.

National Flag

Horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue color

History of India

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Origin
India is home to one of the richest and the most ancient civilizations in the world, which existed over 5,000 years ago. This civilization originated in the Indus River Valley, hence the name given to it was Indus Valley civilization. It is the origin of many of the ideas, philosophies and movements which have shaped the destiny of mankind. The civilization with its main cities Mohenjadaro and Harappa flourished for over eight centuries. Its people thought to be Dravidians, whose descendants still inhabit the far south of India.

Aryan and Greek Invasions
The country was influenced by many invasions, the Arya or Aryans (1500BC) as they are known today, are the first invaders. Aryans were a group of nomadic tribes who had originally inhabited the steppes of Central Asia, in particular the region between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Tall, fair haired, with clear cut features, they spoke a group of languages which have become known as Indo-European. They settled in the region to the north west of India, known as the Punjab. They brought with them new ideas, new technology and new gods, this is one of the most important epochs in Indian history. With time, the Aryans were engaged in struggle with the dark skinned people or Dasyus. The Dasyus were the Dravidians. The superiority of the Aryans resulted in the Dravidian submission.

The second great invasion into India occurred around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward, conquered the prized Indus Valley. After centuries of obscurity, doubt and conjecture, India came into the full light of recorded history with the invasion of Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 327 BC. Although Alexander crossed the Indus and defeated an Indian king, he turned back without extending his power into India.

Maurya and Gupta Periods
The receding tide of Greek power led to a period of confusion and uncertainty in northern India as various rulers tried to make capital of the vacuum that Alexander had left behind. These circumstances saw the rise of Mauryas, India's first imperial dynasty, founded by Chandragupta Maurya. Maurya dynasty reached its peak around 260 BC under the Emperor Ashoka, the most famous figures in Indian History. He left a series of inscriptions on pillars and rocks across the sub-continent. But after his death, the Mauryan empire gradually fell apart because his descendants were not as strong rulers as he was.

At the beginning of the fourth century AD, India was fragmented into a lot of small kingdoms. They were often invaded by stronger neighbors like Greeks. They conquered Indus Valley again but they didn't stay for long. Out of this seeming Chaos, King Chandragupta II united all of northern India into a great empire again.

The Gupta period has been described as the golden age of Indian history and under their rule of northern India, arts, including poetry and literature, flourished. The exquisite Ajanta and Ellora caves were excavated in this period. Gupta period extended from 320AD to 480AD. But in 455 AD the Huns invaded India from the north and destroyed the Guptan Empire. Again India was split into small kingdoms until the Muslim invasions around 1000 AD.

In South India, great empires rose, entirely independently from those of the north. These included the Kalachuris, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadhavas, Hoysalas, Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras and the Vijayanagar kingdom.

Muslim Invasions
The Medieval Period in Indian history began with the Muslim Invasions. While the Hindu kingdoms ruled in the south and Buddhism was fading in the north, Muslim invasions from the Middle East began, towards the end of the 12th century. The Muslim period in India began with the Turkish conquests under Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad Ghori. Many famous dynasties such as the the Slave Dynasty, Khilji Dynasty, Tughlaq Dynasty, Saiyyid and Lodhi, Bahmani Dynasty, and Others followed. In the16th century, Babur from Fergana (Uzbekistan), a descendant of Genghis Khan swept across the Khyber Pass, defeated Ibrahim Lodi the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate at the battle of Panipat and established the Great Mughal Dynasty which lasted for 200 years.

The Mughal (Mogul) period saw a remarkable blend of Indian, Persian and Central Asian influences manifested in an impressive legacy of magnificent palaces, forts, tombs and landscaped gardens-including India's magnificent edifice, the Taj Mahal. The golden era of the Mughal period was under the rule of Akbar the great.

European Invasions
The country’s riches in different cultures, wealth in spices and minerals - made it a target for invasion and colonisation by European powers from the fifteenth century onwards.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in India, in Goa, in the fifteenth century (1498). The Europeans arrived even before the Mughals. The Dutch East India company was chartered in 1602 and they established spice trade and factories in Cochin, Nagapatinam and Agra. They did not have any military ambitions for India. In 1613, the British East India Company, a trading company, started its first trading post in Gujarat. Later in the century, the East India Company opened permanent trading stations at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, each under the protection of native rulers.

Meanwhile around 1644, the French established trade with India. Pondicherry was the hub of French settlements. Other French factories and settlements were at Surat, their first trading post in 1666, then Masulipatanam, Karikal, Chandernagore in Bengal and Mahe at the Malabar coast. The struggle for establishing supremacy in trade resulted in wars between the English and the French in the Deccan. The latter of the three successive Carnatic wars between them, from 1746-48, 1748-54 and 1758-63 moreover sealed the fate of the French possessions in India

In 1757, at the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive, an employee of the British East India Company, defeated the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah and established their political sovereignty in India. It was an important step towards the eventual British dominance of the country. The First War of Independence (Sepoy Mutiny) or the first major Indian rebellion against the British after the battle of Plassey took place in 1857. Although the rebels succeeded in capturing territories in the Gangetic plain, it was recaptured by the British and the rebellion was completely crushed by mid 1858. The British government took over control of India from the East India Company. Britain then ruled India with local rulers for over three hundred years.

Indian Independence
Eventually demand grew for Indian independence. The socio- religious movements brought forth by various social reformers all over the country inspired national consciousness to improve their social condition and invoked the spirit of patriotism among the Indian masses. A national movement for independence was created. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Subhash Chandra Bosh, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Mahamana, Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu, Chander Shekhar Azad were the notable people of the movement. But the most relevantverent leader of the movement was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a lawyer who believed in non violent protest (civil disobedience). Gandhi worked with Jawaharlal Nehru, the secretary of the Indian National Congress and transformed the Indian National Congress political party into a mass movement to campaign against the British colonial rule. After several years of struggle, Britain decided to quit India.

But a major problem had arisen. A large Muslim minority doubted that an independent India would also mean a Hindu-dominated India. The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah began to call for an independent Muslim region- Pakistan. On 15th of August, 1947, India became completely independent from colonial rule, ending nearly 350 years of British presence in India. Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India.

Following independence India was divided, to create Pakistan, which initially also included present-day Bangladesh where there were Muslim majorities. The separation escalated the brewing violence into a bloodbath. It is estimated that over one million people were killed in sectarian violence as up to six million Muslims moved towards Pakistan and up to five million Hindus and Sikhs moved towards India. Mahatma Gandhi opposed partition and in 30th January 1948 he himself was gunned down by a Hindu fundamentalist, enraged by his support for the Muslims.

On January 26, 1950 India became a republic. The country adopted a new constitution based on the British parliamentary model. Newly independent, India worked to establish strong institutions of justice, media and bureaucracy.

Governments of India
Nehru governed India until his death in and Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded him as Prime Minister of India in 1964. He successfully repulsed Pakistan's twin attack on India-in the Rann of Kutch and in Kashmir. After India-Pakistan War of 1965, Shastri met in Tashkent with Pakistan's President and signed a “no-war” declaration.

After Shastri's death he was succeeded by Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi. She rode a wave of success in1971 with India's victory in the second Indo-Pak war (1971), resulting in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh; launching of the India's first satellite into space (1975), nuclear explosion in Pokhran (1974). Other major decisions during her tenure include the nationalization of banks and the abolition of privy purses to the princes. In her attempt to control population growth, she implemented a voluntary sterilization program. But her adversaries criticized it. In 1975, beset with deepening political and economic problems, Mrs. Gandhi declared a state of emergency and suspended many civil liberties. The Emergency was a dark night in Indian democracy.

The people also suffered a lot from this emergency rule. In the same year India acquired Sikkim. Seeking a mandate at the polls for her policies, she called for elections in 1977. Congress party lost the election to the Janata Party and Moraji Desai became India's new prime minister. In 1979 Desai's government crumbled and Charan Singh of the Janata Secular Party formed an interim government. But in 1980, Gandhi's government returned to power.

In 1984, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh guards in apparent retaliation for dispatching troops to the Sikh Golden Temple. The years following the assassination, saw the Sikh Terrorism in Punjab. The situation has returned to normal after a decade of bitter violence.

Within 24 hours, Indira's son Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as the new prime minister. But his government was brought down in 1989 by allegations of corruption. Two major scandals, the "Spy" and the "Bofors" affairs, tarnished his reputation and he resigned his position. This was followed by opposition coalition governments headed by V.P. Singh and then Chandra Shekhar. That alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections in 1991. But Rajiv Gandhi who stood for the elections, met with a tragic end in 1991 at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai by an LTTE Suicide Bomber when he was attending an election meeting.

In the elections INC becomes the largest party and returned to power at the head of a coalition, under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. In 1996, he and his cabinet officials were subsequently indicted for major corruption. Religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims lead to bloody riots in 1992. Rao's tenure also marked extensive economic reforms under the Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in the early 90s, which paved the way for India's economy growth at a high rate.

In 1996, When general elections were held Rao and Congress were badly defeated, and he lost the prime minister ship. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged from national elections as the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha but without a parliamentary majority. Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP coalition government lasted only 13 days. With all political parties wishing to avoid another round of elections, a 14-party coalition led by the Janata Dal formed a government with H.D. Deve Gowda as Prime Minister but his government collapsed within a year. Another minor party leader, I.K. Gujral replaced Dev Gowda. In November 1997, the Congress Party again withdrew support from the United Front. In new elections in February 1998, the BJP won the largest number of seats in Parliament, but fell far short of a majority. The President inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government under Vajpayee. This coalition fell apart and new elections in 1999 improved the position of the BJP, Vajpayee formed a new coalition. In 1999, Pakistani infiltrators crossed the line of control in Kargil, Kashmir resulting in an armed conflict between the Indian army and Pakistani paramilitary forces, resulting in eventual withdrawal by the Pakistani soldiers. In 2004 elections, Congress formed the government under the former Finance Minister popularly known as the father of Indian Economic Reforms, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Prime Ministers of India

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JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU (Tenure1947-1964 )
The first Prime Minister of Independent India. He was born in 1889. An intellectual who laid the foundation for a better India. Author of the famous book 'The discovery of India'. Died in 1964.

GULZARI LAL NANDA (MAY - JUNE, 1964 'acting')
A Gandhian and veteran labour leader, was born in 1898. He held several portfolios in the Union Cabinet. Received 'Bharat Ratna' in 1997. Died in 1998.

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI (1964-1966)
A great Indian statesman and freedom fighter, born in 1904. He acquired the title 'Shastri' from Kashi Vidya Peetha'. The slogan 'Jai Jawan and Jai Kisan' was introduced by him. Died in 1966.

GULZARI LAL NANDA (11-24, JANUARY,1966 'acting')
A Gandhian and veteran labour leader, was born in 1898. He held several portfolios in the Union Cabinet. Received 'Bharat Ratna' in 1997. Died in 1998.

INDIRA GANDHI (1966-1977)
Daughter of the first P.M. of India Jawaharlal Nehru, was born at Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) in 1917. India's first women Prime Minister. Awarded 'Bharat Ratna' in 1971. Her bold polices led India to victory in the 1971 war against Pakistan. Assasinated in 1984.

MORARJI DESAI (1977-1979)
First non-congress party Prime Minister of India, was born in 1896. He served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1952-56. A staunch Gandhian and naturalist. Occupied the positions as Union Minister, Deputy Prime minister and Finance Minister. Awarded Bharat Ratna in1991. He passed away in 1995.

CHARAN SINGH (1979-1980)
He was born in 1902. Occupied the position of President of Lok Dal for many years. He was the Deputy Prime Minister during Janata regime. Died in 1987.

INDIRA GANDHI (1980-1984)
She was again elected as the Prime Minister in 1980. She was shot dead in 1984 at her residence. she encouraged 'scientific development' in the country.

RAJIV GANDHI (1984-1989)
Youngest Prime Minister of the World's largest democratic country, was born in 1944. Son of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. A commercial pilot turned politician, was assassinated during an election campaign in 1991. He was awarded with 'Bharat Ratna' posthumously.

VISWANATH PRATAP SINGH (1989-1990)
He was the Union Minister in Janata party ministry, a senior leader of Janata Dal. He was born in 1931. A renowned painter. Served as Prime Minister from 1989-90.

CHANDRASHEKHAR (1990-1991)
He was born in 1927. A parliamentarian, socialist and serving as President of Socialist Janata Party from 1977.

P.V.NARASIMHARAO (1991-1996)
He was born in 1921. Served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1971-73, External Affairs Minister, Defence Minister and Human Resources Minister in Congress Government from 1980 onwards and later as the Prime Minister.

A.B.VAJPAYEE (16. 5.1996 - 1.6.1996)
A brilliant parliamentarian, orator, poet and journalist, Freedom fighter and social worker, was born in 1924. Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha(1993). Founder member Jan Sangh, former President BJP. Received Padma Vibhushan, Best Parliamentarian award.

H.D.DEVEGOWDA (1.6.1996 - 21.4.1997)
He was born in 1933. Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Janata Dal leader.

I .K.GUJARAL (21.4.1997 - 18.3.1998)
He was born in 1919. Formerly in Union Cabinet from 67 - 76 and 89 - 90. Minister of External Affairs (89-90, 96-97), Ambassador to USSR (76 - 80).

A.B.VAJPAYEE ( 19.3.1998 to 22-05-2004)
Again elected as the Prime Minister from the BJP party from the Lucknow constituency (1998, 1999). Over the decades, the veteran has emerged as a national leader who has mass appeal and commands respect for his liberal worldview and commitment to democratic ideals.

Dr.MANMOHAN SINGH (May 22, 2004 - till date)
Present Prime Minister of India. Born in 1932, he is best known as ' father of Indian Reforms'. An academician by profession, he has taught in several universities and also held various positions in the government service. Former Finance Minister (1991) under the Congress government.

Presidents of India

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Dr. RAJENDRA PRASAD (1950-1962)
The first president of Independent India, Indian statesman and devout Gandhian, was born in 1884. He also handled the Ministry for food (1947). Awarded Bharat Ratna in 1962. Died in 1963.

Dr. S. RADAKRISHNAN (1962-1967)
Indian Scholar, Philosopher, Writer and statesman, was born in 1888. Served as the First Vice President (1952-62) and later the President. He taught at Oxford University for 16years.He was Chairman of UNESCO. 'The Hindu view of Life' and 'The India Philosophy' are his books. He was Awarded with 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954. He Died in 1975.

Dr. ZAKIR HUSSAIN (1967-1969)
A great patriot, educationalist and social worker. Born in 1897, served as chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Received Bharat Ratna in 1963. Died in 1969.

JUSTICE. M. HIDAYATULLAH (JULY -AUGUST, 1969 'acting')
Born in 1905, he was the judge of high court and served as Chief Commissioner of Scouts and Guides. Died in 1992.

V.V.GIRI (1969-1974)
He was born in 1884. Lawyer by profession, Veteran trade unionist. Received Bharat Ratna in 1975. Died in 1980.

FAKHRUDDIN ALI AHMED (1974-1977)
He was born in 1905. He was active in the freedom movement. Served as Union Minister from 1966 and later the President. Died in 1977.

B.D. JATTI (FEBRUARY - JULY, 1977 'acting')
He was born in 1913 and was a Lawyer by profession. He became Chief Minister of Karnataka and Governor of Orissa.

NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY (1977-1982)
Born in 1913. Served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister and Speaker of Lok Sabha. Freedom Fighter. President of Indian National Congress. Died in 1996.

GIANI ZAIL SINGH (1982-1987)
Giani Zail Singh was born in 1916. The Giani's innings in public life have been long and varied - freedom fighter, social reformer, champion of the down-trodden, State Congress Leader, successful Chief Minister and Union Home Minister. He was elected to the highest office of the President of India on July 15, 1982. Died in 1994.

R.VENKETARAMAN (1987-1992)
Shri Venkataraman was born in 1910. He was elected Vice-President of India in August, 1984. Having been elected to the Office of the President of India, Shri Venkataraman was sworn in on July 25, 1987. He is the Eighth President of the Republic of India.

DR.SHANKAR DAYAL SHARMA (1992-1997)
He was born in 1918. Scholar, freedom fighter, was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Congress President, Union Cabinet minister, Governor and Vice-President. Died in 1999.

K.R.NARAYAN (FROM JULY 25, 1997- JULY 24, 2002)
Shri Kocheril Raman Narayanan was born on October 27, 1920 in the village of Uzhavoor in Kottayam district, Kerala. He was elected as vice-president of India and served in this position from August 21, 1992. After that he assumed office as President of India on July 25, 1997.

Dr. AVUL PAKIR JAINULABHUDIN ABDUL KALAM (FROM 25 July 2002 TO 25 July 2007)
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabhudin Adbul Kalam, the present president of India was born on 15th October, 1931 at Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram district, Tamil Nadu. This genius rightfully termed as the father of India's missile technology formerly served as the scientific advisor to the government of India. He was sworn in as president on July 25, 2002.

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil(25 July 2007 to till date)

Indian National Movement

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Indian aspirations to remain as an independent entity has always remained scattered till the second half of the 19th century. These could always be subdued owing to the lack of an organised effort against the well organised masters. The real organised effort to achieve the political social and economic liberty was felt only after the formation of the Indian National Congress. The first reason for evolving a feeling of nationalism was the political unification of India. Before the advent of the British the subcontinent presented a collage of selfish kingdoms under rival chiefs and rulers.

The coming of the British brought western influence which inspired western education. The liberal and radical ideas of Europe influenced the Indian and created a new educated class. The use of western education and English as a language for communication brought closer the population in various region. Thus it helped in exchange of ideas and aspirations for liberty from the foreign rule.

The socio- religious movements brought forth by various social reformers all over the country inspired national consciousness to improve their social condition and invoked the spirit of patriotism in the Indian masses.

The promotion of vernacular language and its use in the Indian and Vernacular papers infused a feeling of nationalism in the people.

Throughout the British rule in India there was a section of Indians who were discontented and exploited politically, socially economically and spiritually. They took up the mission of subduing the British diplomacy and hoped to revive self-rule. The development of the means of communication eased traveling and exchange of ideas that inspired freedom.

The Indian nationalism witnesses a development in phases. In the First Phase ever since the evolution of Indian National Congress, a moderate movement with the will to co-operate for the grant of a better living atmosphere prevailed. They believed in the gradual realization of their national goals. The Dandi Salt March

In the second phase owing to the repression of the moderate policy of the Congress by the the rise of extremism resulted. Steered by a young and vigorous they resorted to reaction and conflict for achieving their goals. Boycott, resistances and demonstrations were their political weapons.

The third phase of the Indian national movement was dominated by the Gandhian ideology; non-violence, non co-operation and civil disobedience movement. All these, at that period of time worked or failed, but were revoked and modified and reapplied ultimately resulting in the freedom in 1947.

Rule of the British Governors and Governor Generals

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Robert Clive

After the victory of the English in Buxar Clive was appointed the governor and commander in chief of the English possessions in Lord Clive Bengal. Clive took up the task of stabilizing the political status of the territory under him. He settled relations with Oudh by the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765. In his move to settle the problem of administrating Bengal he introduced the Dual system. According to this system the real power of jurisdiction lay with the company while the responsibility of administration was of the Nawab of Bengal. This system proved a failure. It led to breakdown of the administrative machinery. Law and order broke down. There was economic disorder with the collection of revenue adding to the misery of the people. Agricultural depression affected trade and commerce with the company servants monopolizing the internal trade of Bengal thus adding to their personal wealth other than contributing to the company finances. The cottage industries of Bengal suffered as it was discouraged. The company servants increased the price of raw materials. The artisans who now found their occupation unprofitable left it.

Robert Clive also brought reforms in the administration of the company and the organisation of the military. He is claimed as the founder of the British political dominion in India and is said to have laid the foundation of all future progresses of the British in India.

Warren Hastings

Warren Hastings was appointed the Governor of Bengal in 1772. Bengal was now a state of disorWarren Hastingder. Warren Hastings took over the task of reforming the administration of Bengal. A Board of revenue comprising of the Governor and a council was to manage the revenue. The entire responsibility of internal administration was taken over by the company servants. To bring forth a reform in the affairs of revenue Warren Hastings introduced a five year settlement of land revenue in 1772. But owing to several defects this system was scrapped in 1776. Cornwallis resorted to annual settlement under the supervision by a committee of Revenue. He was thus unsuccessful in his attempt to reform the revenue system in Bengal.

Warren Hastings built a system of justice in 1772 at the district level by setting up a Diwani Adalat and a Faujdari Adalat. This was based on the Mughal model. In 1773 the Regulating Act was passed which provided for the setting up of a supreme court to try all British subjects. He attempted to codify the Muslim and Hindu laws .It was titled 'Code of Gentoo Laws'. In the field of commerce five custom houses were set up. He brought regulations to prevent misuse of dastaks, check the exploitation of weavers by company agents and developed trade relations with Bhutan and Tibet.

Warren Hasting faced an uphill task in dealing with the Indian rulers. He faced stiff resistance from the Marathas in the north and Hyder Ali in the south. In 1773 he concluded the treaty of Banaras with the Nawab of Oudh appeasing the emperor and getting financial gains thus blocking alliances between the Marathas and the Nawab of Oudh. Warren Hastings's diplomacy in participating the Rohilla War 1774 was a strategy of his to include Rohilkhand in the company's jurisdiction.

During the period 1772-1785 the territory of the East India Company included Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Banaras and Ghazipur. It also included the Northern Sarkars, port of Salsette and the harbours of Madras, Bombay and other minor ports. The Mughal territory included Delhi and other adjoining areas. The territory of Oudh which was autonomous was bound in an offensive-defensive alliance with the East India Company since 1765. The north western part of India was under the Sikh Misls, who controlled region around the Sultej. The Muslim chiefs ruled in North western Punjab, Multan, Sindh and Kashmir. The Marathas dominated over western India, parts of Central India from Delhi to Hyderabad and Gujarat to Cuttak. The Deccan which consisted of Hyderabad was ruled by the Nizam. Hyder Ali was ruling over Mysore. Tanjore and Travancore were under the Hindu rulers.

Cornwallis

The court of Directors sent Cornwallis in 1786 to carry out the policy of peace outlined in Pitts in India Act , to reorganise the administrative set up of the country. He had to find a satisfactory land revenue system, reform the judicial machinery and reorganise the commercial set up of the company. Lord Cornwallis introduced several judicial reforms. He set up the criminal courts. The lowest was the Darogas followed by the district courts headed by an European magistrate. Civil courts were also setup. The distinction between revenue and civil case was abolished. The Diwani courts could try all civil cases. At the lowest level was the Munsiff court presided over by Indian officers. Above the district courts were the four provincial courts of Appeal at Calcutta, Murshidabad, Dacca and Patna. Cornwallis brought about reforms introducing a police system. Each district had a Daroga,the district was divided in to areas under a Superintendent of police. In the matter of revenue Cornwallis divided the provinces of Bengal in 1787, each under a collector. The committee of Revenue was renamed as Board of Revenue. In 1790 Cornwallis got the approval of the Board of Directors who recognised the Zamindars as the owners of land.They were subjected to annual payment of land revenue. In 1793 the settlement was declared permanent. This Permanent Settlement introduced by Cornwallis on the basis of an enquiry conducted by Sir John Shore had its positive and negative implications.

Sir John Shore

Sir John Shore succeeded Cornwallis. He looked after the affairs of the company till 1798 when he was recalled due to failure in tackling with the mutiny of army officials of Bengal in 1785. Sir John Shore followed a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of the native states. This resulted in the Nizam employing French officers to train his army thus decreasing the English influence. The Marathas and Tipu Sultan also sought the help of the French thus undermining the British.

Lord Wellesley (1789-1805)

Lord Wellesley is considered to be one of the most brilliant Governor General of Bengal. Under his rule from 1798 the extended the dominions of the British. During his early period the French influence in Mysore, Hyderabad Gwalior was the first task to be tackled. He introduced the Subsidiary Alliance system to undo with the French influence and bring the Indian states within the purview of the British power of Jurisdiction. This was a very advantageous system that asserted British supremacy in India besides expansion of the company's dominion. Under the subsidiary system the ruler who accepted the sustem had to recognise the company, who in return would ensured protection of the territory. In 1798 the Nizam of Hyderabad accepted it, followed by the Nizam of Oudh and Mysore. Pehwa Baji Rao also accepted this treaty after his defeat at the hands of Holkar. The rulers of the Baroda and many Rajputs accepted this system. This system increased the resources of the company besides increasing the territory of the company too. The company had the right to exercise its military power in the affairs of the native states. This made the native states dependent on the company and ended foreign influence on the native rulers. Lord Wellesley gave up the policy of the non invention followed by sir John Shore. By 1805 the East India company territory in India extended from Sind to the west coast of Cape comorin and, to the north east along the Bay of Bengal to Burma. In northern India the company exercised control over Bengal, upper Sind and Punjab. The princely states of Oudh, Nagpur, Gwalior, Indore, Baroda, Hyderabad, and Mysore formed parts of the East India Company’s territories.

Lord Cornwallis(1805)

In 1805 Lord Cornwallis came back as the Governor General for the second time. The directors of the company who were not in support of the policy of extension of British dominions followed by Wellesley aspired to follow the policy of non-intervention.

Sir George Barlow

After his death in 1805 Sir George Barlow a senior member of the Governor General council became the Governor-General. He followed a policy of non intervention and withdrew the company protection for the Rajputs.

Lord Minto

George Barlow was followed by Lord Minto who was the president of the Board of control before he became the governor general of the company. Lord Minto intervened in the affairs of Berar in 1809 when it was attacked by Amir Khan. He also took strong steps to put down the French and Dutch.

Lord Warren Hastings

Lord Minto was followed by Lord Hastings who governed from 1813 to 1823. When he took up charge the prestige of the company was low. The Indian rulers were not ready to cooperate with the company. The company faced threats from the Gorkhas of Nepal. The Pindaris expanded their territories and activities by plundering, the Marathas wanted to expand their territory by recovering their lost territories. The company faced the threats of Holkar, the Sindia's, Bhonsle, the Peshawa and the Pindaris. Warren Hastings concluded that the policy of non intervention had to be done with . He involved the Gorkhas in a war from 1814 to 1816. The Treaty of Saguali was signed in 1816 and a friendly relation with the Gorkhas was established which in due course of time proved very advantageous for the company. The Pindaris were exterminated from central India. The Marathas were also defeated in the Third Maratha war . The Maratha confederacy was dissolved and their territories became the company's area of administration.

Warren Hastings brought reforms in the social, economic and political affairs of the people. In this he was assisted by John Malcolm, Sir Thomas Murnroe, Elphinstone and Sir Charles Metcalfe. In the area of Judicial reforms William Hastings suggested the setting up of more courts to dispose the cases quickly. In 1814 Lord Hastings provided a Munsif for every Thana appointed by the Judges of the Diwani Adalat. sardar Amins were appointed in every district. The power of the registrars were increased and magistrates were given the power of imprisonment. In the matters of Revenue he suggested a permanent settlement in the North western Provinces. The representatives of each village community had to adjust the share of the individual cultivators. Besides this the Bengal Tenancy Act was passed in 1822 by which the cultivators had hereditary right of possession of the land as long as they paid the rent. In 1820 Sir Thomas Monroe who became the Governor of Madras and he introduced the Ryotwari system by which the ryots became the direct payers of revenue without the intervention of the Zamindars or other middle men. For the promotion of the Education many schools were established. A college for promotion of English language was established in Calcutta. This was followed in Bombay and Madras. Warren Hastings ensured the liberty of the press which was restricted during the time of Wellesley The first Vernacular paper was published called 'Samachar Darpan' In the year 1823 William Hastings resigned and for a period of seven months a senior member of the Calcutta Council took charge in 1823.

Lord Amherst

After this period Lord Amherst took charge as Governor general. During his reign he was compelled by the force of circumstances to wage war against Burma. The first Burmese war started in 1824 and continued till 1826. The treaty of Yandaboo was concluded in 1826 was of great advantage for the British as they could now penetrate deep into North east.

Lord William Bentick (1828-1835)

William Cavendish Bentick succeeded Lord Amherst as Governor-General of India in 1828. He was appointed Governor of Madras in 12803. William Bentick pursued a liberal attitude. To improve the financial state of the company and the territories under the British he undertook many steps.. Firstly the sinecure jobs were abolished. Secondly Bhatta of the military personals were reduced. He abolished the provioncial court of Appeal. In 1823 the collectors were directed to check the validity of rent free lands . The opium trade of Malwa was regulated . The land revenue settlement of North west province was made in 1833. Lord William Bentick removed the ban on employing Indians, and started employing Indians to government jobs. To improve the Judicial system the provincial court of Appeal set up by Cornwallis were abolished. The power of the Magistrates were enhanced. A system of jury was introduced. The use of Vernaculars as court languages and codification of laws were introduced. In the administrative field Indians were re-employed based on the charter Act of 1823 and separate Board of revenue was set up at Allahabad. The educational reforms brought about by William Bentick was a milestone. He supported western education through English medium.This was supported by Indian social reforms likeRajaram Mohan RoyRaja Ram Mohan Roy. In 1835 a medical college was started at Calcutta. In the matters of social reforms Williams Bentick abolished the practice of Sati with the support of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

The suppression of the Thuggee ,a band of robbers was another remarkable achievement. The prohibition of female infanticide was another social reform which was declared punishable. Besides this William Bentick took up Public works. Relations with the Indian states during the time of Wiliam Bentick extended to the taking over of the administration of Mysore in 1831. In 1832, Cachar on the North east frontiers of Bengal was annexed and the plantation of tea was introduced. In 1834 Coorg was annexed and plantation of coffee was also started. Lord William Bentick established friendship with Maharaj Ranjit Singh at Rupar in 1831.A treaty with the Amirs of Sind was signed in 1832 for commercial purpose.

Charles Metcalfe

After William Bentick Charles Metcalfe became the Governor General from 1835 to 1836. During his rule the restriction on the press was removed. He was recalled by the Board of Directors and the Governor Generalship was conferred on Lord Auckland who governed from 1836-1842.

Lord Auckland

It was during his period that the First Afghan War was fought in which the English suffered reverses. He was succeeded by Lord Ellenborough who governed from 1842-44.

Lord Ellenborough

His period witnessed the end of the Anglo Afghan relations, annexation of Sind in 1843. He was also recalled by the Board of directors because his relation with them was not satisfactory. He was succeeded by Lord Hardinge.

Lord Hardinge

Lord Hardinge governed from 1844 to 1848. During this period first Sikh was fought from (1845 -1846).

Lord Dalhousie (1848-56)

Lord Dalhousie was appointed Governor General of India in 1848. His eight years of rule is considered one of the greatest period of British rule. His policy of Annexation was a lethal weapon of conquest which raised the rule of the East India Company to the height of glory. It was also during his rule that various reforms were brought to improve the conditions of India. Though these directly benefited the British yet they were foundations on which the country built itself after independence. The policy of annexation known as the Doctrine of Lapse was based on the forfeiture of the right to rule in the absence of a natural heir. By this policy the state of Satara was annexed in 1848, in 1849 the state of Sambhalpur and in 1853 Jhansi was also annexed. After the death of the Raja of Nagpur in 1853 the policy claimed yet another victim. By 1854 owing to the failure to have a natural heir Nagpur too was annexed.

Another method of annexation was by conquest. In 1849 Punjab was annexed after the Second Anglo Sikh War. In 1852 after the Second Burmese Lower Burma known as Pegu was annexed. In 1850 part of the state of Sikkim was annexed on the pretext of maltreatment of English officials. Other territories were annexed on the grounds of misgovernment and Assignment.To this policy fell the territories of Berar in 1853 and Oudh in 1856.

Dalhousie proved his worth in the matters of administration by the demarcation of various departments of the administrative machinery and appointment of Lieutenant Governor for Bengal. He introduced the non-regulation system under which the non-regulation provinces was to be under a Chief Commissioner responsible to the Governor-General in council. Punjab, Oudh, Burma were a few non-regulating provinces.

Dalhousie introduced Railways and Telegraph in India with a purpose to improve communication which was essential to administer the far flung areas of this vast country. He also reformed the postal system. To undertake works for the public benefit he introduced the public works department. In the educational field ,Dalhousie's reforms such as the system of vernacular education was praise worthy. Anglo Vernacular Schools were established. In the matters of commerce the policy of free trade was introduced by declaring free ports. Indian trade by now was dominated by the English. The military reforms of Dalhousie included the shift of the Bengal Artillery from Calcutta to Meerut. The Army head quarter shifted to Simla from Calcutta. Sensing the dangers of the increasing Indian troops he proposed reduction of Indian soldiers. He encouraged the inclusion of Gorkhas to the Indian Army; and organised an irregular force for Punjab.

Dalhousie policy of annexations and reforms only appealed to the English interests in India and this is said to have created the grounds for a rise of the Indian opposition which reflected as the mutiny of 1857. Though started by the sepoys of the Indian army, it gave an opportunity for the discontent Indian rulers to express their discontent. It also was an attempt aimed at erasing the British rule in India. Before the revolt of 1857 several revolts preceded reflecting the Indian opposition to the British domination. They included the Sanyasi revolt of 1770, the Chuar and Ho rebellion of Midnapur in 1768, 1820-22 and 1831. They continued their stand against the British till 1837. The Santhals of Rajmahal hills rebelled in 1855. In 1828 and 1830 the Ahoms in Assam rebelled against the company followed by the Khasi's in the Jaintia and Garo hills.

In 1817-19 the Bhils of the Western Ghats revolted and continued their struggle in 1831 and 1846. The rulers of the Kutch, the Wagheras of Okha Mandal, the Ramosis also revolted against the British. In South India the Raja of Vizianagram, the Poligars of Dindigul and Malabar rose in 1856. The imposition of the subsidiary alliance of 1805 on the ruler of Travancore led to the rise of Diwan Velu Tampi with the Nair battalion.

The revolt of 1857 broke out owing to political, administrative and economic causes besides the social and religious causes. The discontented sepoys of the British army were fuelled by the immediate reason, said to be the use of the greased cartridges. An infuriated sepoy Mangal Pandey is said to have shot dead aQueen Victorian officer leading to punishment and disbanding of the soldiers of that regiment. The revolt spread to the North Central part of India. Owing to poor organisation and superiority of the British forces the revolt was subdued.

The revolt of 1857 was followed by several changes that included the transfer of Indian administration from East India Company to the crown, respect of the honour, dignity and territorial possession of the native princes. Thus the revolt witnesses the end of an era of the rule of the few in the company. It also marked the beginning of an organised struggle for freedom from the British yoke.

Lord Lytton (1876-80)

Lord Lytton took charge in 1876. Though he had excelled as a poet, a novelist and essayist, he was not an able administrator. He brought reforms in trade bringing the policy of free trade. His policy towards the Afghans led to the second Afghan war. The Criticisms of the British policy led to the passing of the Vernacular press Act in 1878 and Indian Arms Act. In the field of financial reforms he brought reduction of Import duties, financial decentralization and equality of tax duties.

During 1876-78 a severe famine affected Madras, Bombay, Mysore and Hyderabad. In 1878 a Famine commission was appointed. Lord Lytton's rule was unpopular.

Lord Ripon (1880-84)

Lord Ripon was appointed the Viceroy of India in 1880. During his rule the Vernacular Press Act of 1882 was repeated. The first Factory Act was passed in 1881 to improve the condition of the factory labourers. The Financial decentralization was further extended. To make the central administration effective a system of Local Self Government was established in 1882. He also brought reforms on Land Revenue policy and the educational fields. The controversial Ilbert bill was passed in 1883 which sought to abolish every judicial disqualification based to have been favourable to India.

Lord Dufferin (1884-88)

Lord Dufferin assumed the Viceroyalty from 1884-88. He was an able administrator who averted a war between the Russian and the Afghans. The third Burmese War of 1885 during his rule resulted in the annexation of Upper Burma. It was during his period that the Indian National Congress was founded. Its first session was held at Bombay.

Lord Lansdowne (1888-93)

During the rule of Lord Lansdowne the British troops occupied Manipur. The Indian Councils Act of 1892 was passed which increased the number of members of the Legislature at the Centre and of Provincial legislatures. The second census of India was held in 1891. The boundary between India and Afghanistan was fixed, known as the Durand line this was to avert confrontations between the Afghans and the British.

Lord Elgin II (1893-99)

During the Viceroyalty of Lord Elgin II the main happenings included the Chitral expedition, the Tirah campaign. The Bubonic Plague that started at Bombay in 1896, the famine of 1896-98 was also note worthy.

Lord Curzon (1899-1905)

Lord CurzonLord Curzon became the Viceroy of Indian in 1899. He brought forth administrative reforms by changes in various aspects of the society. In 1902 a police commission was appointed to look into the police administration. It dealt with the various activities, from recruitment to the internal set up of the department, and the other matters like salaries etc.

To improve the educational system Lord Curzon appointed a Universities commission in 1902 and on the basis of its recommendation, the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904.

With a view to bring economic reforms legislations regarding famine, land revenue, Irrigation, agriculture, railways, taxation, currency was passed. He also brought judicial reforms besides reorganising the army. In 1904 he passed the Ancient Monument Act with an aim to protect and preserve historical monuments.

The most important change which Lord Curzon was known for, was the partition of Bengal in 1905. This partition was vehemently opposed by the nationalists of Bengal as it sought to segregate the Mohammedan from the Hindus and create a border of separation. It worsened the Indo-British relations.

Lord Minto III (1905-1910)

Lord Minto succeeded as Viceroy when the country was in a state of political unrest owing to Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal. British goods were boycotted and there was a state of lawlessness. Repressive laws were passed to curb it. The Minto Morley reforms of 1909 increased the number of members in the central and provincial legislative councils. The system of communal electorates for Muslims was introduced.

Lord Hardinge (1910-1916)

During the viceroyalty of Lord Hardinge George V who ascended the throne in 1910 visited India in 1911. It was during this that the capital of India was transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. His period also witnesses the outbreak of the First World War. The Indians contributed their part in various battles in Europe and Central Asia.

Lord Chlemsford (1916-1921)

In the event of the on going world war and the Indian contribution in the interest of Britain ,the August declaration of 1917 was passed. It sought to increase the involvement of the Indians in every branch of administration, gradually bringing self government ,to realise a responsible government in India. In 1919 the Government of India Act 1919 was passed which sought to introduce the system of dyarchy in the provinces. The Third Afghan war was fought in 1919. The non-cooperation movement introduced by Mahatma Gandhi was in full swing. It was amidst this that the Jallianwallah Bagh Massacre in Amritsar was inflicted upon by General dyer. The Indian Muslims had started the Khilafat Movement to protest the injustice shown to Turkey by the Allics of the first World War.

Lord Reading (1921-1926)

It was during the viceroyalty of Lord Reading that the Duke of Connaught came to India to inagurate the Montague-Chelemsford reforms. There was a period of boycott and demonstrations by Indian nationalists. The Prince of Wales visited India. This period also witnessed the Khilafat movement, followed by the Chawri chaura incident which resulted in the calling off of the non-cooperation movement started under Mahatma Gandhi.

Lord Irwin (1926-1931)

During this period the important events that occured in India were the appointment of the Simon Commission in 1927 to report the working of the Montague- Chlemsford reforms of 1919. There was demonstrations and boycott. This was followed by the Civil disobedience movement in 1930, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The first round table conference was held in London to discuss the report of the Simon Commission. The Gandhi Irwin pact put at rest the Civil disobedience movement and Gandhi was to attend the second round table conference.

Lord Willingdon (1931-1936)

The second round table conference was held at London. The famous communal Award was instituted by Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald in August 1932. It granted separate electorates to the depressed classes. As this basically aimed at separating Hindus the Poona Act to eliminate the communal nature of the communal award was passed. The third round table conference was held in 1932. In 1935 the Government of India Act was passed based on the White Paper of the British government of 1933.

Lord Linlithgow (1936-1944)

The provincial part of the Government of India Act of 1935 was introduced. Elections were held in the early part of 1937. The second world war broke out in 1939. The congress split into the Moderates and Extremists. Subhash Chandra Bose formed the Forward bloc. In 1940 Lord Linlithgow offered to solve the constitutional crisis with the Congress. In 1942 Sir Stafford Cripps brought a proposal to settle the constitutional problems. The mission was a failure.

In 1942 the congress passed the Quit India Resolution which aimed to shed off the British control

Lord Wavell (1944-1947)

Lord Wavell's period marked the end of the world war II. The Simla conference was held in 1941 to resolve the constitutional problems but it failed. In 1946 the cabinet mission plan provided for an interim government laid the procedure for the framing of a constitution for India. A Constituent Assembly was elected and it had its first meeting in 1946.

Lord Mountbatten (1947-1948)

Under Lord Mountbatten the proposal to divide India into India and Pakistan was given shape. The Indian Independence Act was passed as proposed by the June 3rd plan, under Lord Mountbatten. India became Independent on Aug 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten became the first Governor General of Free India.

Political parties in India

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The Indian political parties are categorized into two main types. National level parties and state level parties. National parties are political parties which, participate in different elections all over India. For example, Indian National Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and some other parties. State parties or regional parties are political parties which, participate in different elections but only within one state. For example Shiv Sena participates only in Maharashtra, Telegu Desam in Andra Pradesh, Akali Dal in Punjab, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and there are other such state parties. There are some small communist parties who participate only within one state. Some states have more than one state party. For example in Tamil Nadu another important state party is All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK). Because of these long party names many party names are abbreviated to their initials.

Some the political parties have their origin from before India's independence, for example, Indian National Congress, Forward Bloc, Akali Dal, National Conference and some other parties. Some of these parties were either social or political organization before India's independence and they became political parties after India's independence. But many of the present parties were established after India's independence. Members, who split from larger parties, established some of these parties. For example in the 1960s, Lok Dal was established by people who split from the Indian National Congress. Communist Party of India (Marxist) was established after the split in Communist Party of India and there are other such examples.

In Indian politics, there are political parties in which one person pulls all the strings. This feature existed even before India's independence, when Mahatma Gandhi was the father figure of the Indian National Congress until his death in 1948 even though he resigned from the Congress in 1933. Indira Gandhi for some period was in complete control of her party. Her party was also named, Congress (Indira). Shiv Sena is dominated by Bal Thakarey. Even when the Shiv Sena won the state elections in Maharashtra, Bal Thakarey handled the establishment of the state government but did not appoint himself as the Chief Minister but appointed someone else for this post.

Some of these parties, like the Shiv Sena in which one person pulls all the strings, have their stronghold in the public not because of their leader but because of party ideology. While other parties are completely dependable on the respect the leader of the party has in the public. One such party is Samata Party and its leader is George Fernandes. Another such party was Lok Shakti and its leader was Ramakrishna Hegde.

Many of the large national parties have a pre-election agreement with smaller parties on joint candidates in some constituencies. This candidate belongs to one of the parties and the other party supports this candidate. This is done to prevent a possibility of parties, with common national agenda or common state agenda, nominate their own different candidates causing the splitting of the votes of their wing and so losing the constituency to the rival wing.

In Indian politics there are also many independent candidates. These candidates participate in election constituencies independently without the support of any party. In very few cases the larger parties also support independent candidates.

Another feature unique to Indian politics is the high number of film actors who join the Indian politics. The Indian cinema produces films in different languages. The largest and the most popular film industry is the Hindi language film industry. Many national parties recruit Hindi movie actors in their parties. While many state parties with state chauvinism attract local film industry actors in their parties. These actors do not only appear along side with the party politicians to attract the mob towards the politicians gatherings, but they even participate as candidates in elections. Some of the state parties in south India were established by former movie actors.

National Parties

National parties are political parties which participate in different elections held all over India. Some of the national parties have their origin even before India's independence.

The oldest national party in India is the Indian National Congress (INC). In was established in 1885 as a pro-British Indian organization. Later on it became the main voice of India's freedom struggle. After India's independence, the British passed the administration of India to the leaders of the Indian National Congress.

Until 1966 the Congress was a stable party. In 1966 Indira Gandhi became the leader of the Congress and Prime Minister of India. From this period the Congress lost its stability. Some of the veteran members of the Congress did not accept her leadership and they tried to dispose her. In 1969 the Congress split and her opponents established a new Congress part. But still INC was the largest and ruling party of India.

Indira Gandhi's Congress lost the 1977 elections to the Janata Party. A few months after the defeat, another split happened in the Congress party. The party of Indira Gandhi was called Congress ( I ), the initial denoting of her name. During this period many more splits and coalitions occurred within the different Congress parties. Some of these new party members including its founders returned later on to the Congress ( I ) party and the party was renamed Indian National Congress.

But there are others who left the INC at different periods and established parties outside the fold of Congress and have a name Congress in their party name. Before the 1999 elections some senior members of the INC were forced to resign because they questioned the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. These people have created the National Congress Party to participate in 1999 elections.

The INC is in the Indian political arena prior to India's independence. There were other parties, which were established after independence, and, for some period, were challenging the continuous rule of the Congress, some of them were almost vanished from the political arena.

The first political party which, was seen as challenging the Congress continuous rule was Swatantra Party. It was established in 1959 and was supported by some big businessmen. It opposed the socialism policy of the Congress It had members in the Lok Sabha until 1977. Another party, which challenged the Congress party but later on almost vanished from the political arena, was Janata Party. Janata Party was the first political party in India to establish a non-Congress government when it won the 1977 elections.

Janata Party was established before the 1977 elections. The person responsible for the formation of Janata Party was Jayaprakash Narayan, called in short JP. JP was a freedom fighter and a social activist. Many in India respected him and saw in him a moral figure.

In the early 1970s the reign of Indira Gandhi began to show signs of corruption and dictatorship and there was a general feeling that liberal democracy is coming to an end. JP openly attacked Indira Gandhi's policy and asked other leaders to express their views about the dangers. Between 1975-77 emergency rule was declared. During this period many of Gandhi's political rivals were arrested and put behind the bars. Censorship was enforced on Indian press. The justice system was restricted and turned into 'puppet show' of the government. The people also suffered a lot from this emergency rule. Under the birth control policy many people were forced to have sterilization. Even so Indira Gandhi was sure that the Indian people would support her because her general intention was to make India a better place and so she declared elections in 1977.

To prevent her victory different political parties organized as one party. This party was called Janata Party. The main factions of this party were, Congress (O), Lok Dal, Jan Sangh, and other parties. This party won the 1977 elections and Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India. But this party as it was formed did not survive for a long time. This party which was actually a group of factions with one desire to defeat Indira Gandhi, did not find any thing common among its members after they defeated Gandhi. As long as JP was alive, the different factions still stayed together. But after his death in 1978 a clear split occurred in the Janata Party between Morarji Desai's supporters and Charan Singh's supporters. In 1979 Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister and other members tried to replace Prime Minister. During this period Jagjivan Ram, an untouchable according to strict Hindu society, was very near to become a Prime Minister. But finally Charan Singh of the Lok Dal faction was proclaimed the new Prime Minister. A few weeks after Charan Singh became the Prime Minister, because of the instability in the coalition, the president declared on new elections.

In 1980 new national elections took place in which Indira Gandhi's Congress again won the elections. Later on after these elections, different factions of the Janata Party broke up from the Janata Party and established their own parties. Among these parties were Jan Sangh which later on was renamed Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Janata Party continues to survive, but is very small. In the 1996 elections it did not win any seat in the national elections and in the 1998 elections it won only one seat.

Another political party which, was actually a political bloc of different factions and managed to form a government was Janata Dal. This party was established because of the claim that there was corruption in the Congress government. In 1984 Rajiv Gandhi formed the Congress government. The finance minister of his government was VP Singh. VP Singh found out that a Swedish company, Bofors, was bribing some senior members of the Congress. Singh tried to investigate this affair. Gandhi moved him from the office and made him Defence Minister, but Singh resigned from the government and started a new party called Janata Dal. This party was made up of former Janata Party, Lok Dal and some INC members. In the 1989 elections this party came second after INC but it managed to establish a coalition government with other parties. This coalition was called National Front. This front also broke up after two years.

Between 1996 and 2004 the largest party was the Bhartiya Janata Party. The BJP began its political career after India's independence with only three members in the first elections held in 1952. The BJP is a Hindu nationalist party, which draws its inspiration from Hinduism. This party sees in India a Hindu state and it emphasizes Hindu pride and Hindu past of India.

This party was established after India's independence, but its origin is also pre-independence. In the 19th century a Hindu nationalist organization, Arya Samaj, was established. The ideas of this organization influenced another Hindu organization established later in British India, the Hindu Mahasabha. Hindu Mahasabha opposed the secular Congress philosophy and wanted to establish a Hindu state in British India. Another Hindu organization in British India was Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), meaning national volunteers organization. One person who belonged in different stages of his life to these two organizations assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. After his assassination these two organizations were outlawed for sometime. The leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, Shyam Mookherji resigned from the party and established with the members of RSS a new Hindu nationalist party, which was named Jana Sangh. This party had moderate ideas than the its former components. In its first two decades the party's major holds were in north India's Hindi speaking regions, because this party supported turning Hindi into the national language of India (see Official Language of India). In 1977 this party was an important faction of the Janata Party. In the 1980s it broke from the Janata Party and changed its name to Bhartiya Jana Sangh. Later on it renamed itself as Bhartiya Janata Party.

There are also other national parties, which were established in India. The Bahujan Samaj Party was established in the 1980s. But even though this party is a national party, its represents only the oppressed classes of India. Samajwadi Party was established in 1992. Two communist parties, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist party of India- Marxist (CPM) are also national parties. There are some parties who have national agendas but participate only in certain regions of India and not all over India. For example Forward Bloc (see also Subhas Chandra Bose) which participates in elections only in West Bengal and neighboring Bihar.

Regional Parties

Regional parties are parties whose main holds are in one certain state and mostly they participate in the elections only within that state. Most of these regional parties have agenda fitting certain culture dominant within that state. Some of these regional parties also participate in neighboring states, which have constituencies with culture similar to the first state. Different state parties were established at different periods because of different reasons. Some even have origins prior to India's independence.

In Tamil Nadu in south India, two main state parties are All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK). Of these two parties the DMK is the veteran party. The origins of these parties are prior to India's independence. The main ideology of this party is Tamil national pride. Before India's independence there were two Dravidian parties. One was Independent Party, which demand an independent Dravidstan in south India. Other was Justice Party, which had a Dravidian pride ideology. After India's independence, the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) was established from the merger of these two parties in the former state of Madras, in south India. This party first demanded an independent Dravidstan for all of south India. Later on the demand was changed to independent Tamil state. Finally this party compromised on a Tamil Nadu state within the Indian Union.

In the beginning this party was anti-north Indian. They opposed to any entrance of any kind of cultures of north India. They specially attacked the attempt to introduce Hindi language in Tamil Nadu (see also Official languages of India). This party members also saw in the Tamili Brahmans agents of north India who immigrated to south India to enforce to north Indian Aryan culture on the south Indians (see Aryans and Dravidians). The party demanded to reserve the government jobs for Dravidians and not to 'immigrant' Brahmans. In 1972 this party split and a new party was founded by MC Ramachandaran and it was named All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK). In 1987 Ramachandaran died and Jayalalita inherited him. In the last few years these Tamilian pride parties have moderated their ideologies and before the 1998 elections the AIADMK even cooperated with BJP, which is considered as a north Indian party.

In Andra Pradesh, also in south India, Telegu Desam was founded in 1982 by Telegu film actor, NT Rao. The ideology of the party is similar to the ideology of the AIADMK, which is local cultural pride. In the Telugu Desam case, the local cultural pride is of Telugu culture.

Another one state party is Akali Dal and its main hold is in Punjab, north India. This party is considered a state party, but actually it is a religion oriented party whose followers are the Sikhs. This party also has its origin prior to India's independence. Before independence this party demanded from the British a separate entity for the Sikhs in Punjab. During the independence period these demands were delayed for a while. After independence this party began demanding special status for the Sikh culture and the Punjabi language. They struggled for a Punjabi state with a Sikh majority within the Indian Union and recognition of Punjabi as a distinct language. They succeeded in forming the establishment of Punjab in 1966, but it had a very small majority of the Sikhs (see Internal map of India). But they also succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Punjabi as a distinct language and not as a dialect of Hindi (see Official languages of India). Later on the Akali Dal broke up into some factions. Some of the militant factions of the Akali Dal demanded an independent Sikh state to be called Khalistan. But the dominant Akali Dal faction in Punjab wants Punjab to be a part of Indian Union.

In Assam in east India and in Maharashtra in west India there are political parties which came into existence because of the discriminatory feelings of the local 'sons of soil' population.

In British India, Assam was a British province. For some period the British attached Assam to the neighboring Bengal province. During this period the Bengalis held many senior government posts. Later on Assam again became a separate province, but the government posts were still hold by the Bengalis. In the 1960s and the 1970s many Bengali oriented people immigrated to Assam. In the 1980s the Asom Gana Parishad was founded with an agenda to give back Assam to the Assamese people.

In Maharashtra, in west India, the local population is known as Maharashtrians. Their language is known as Marathi. Sometimes the Maharashtrians are also known as Marathi. The capital of Maharashtra is Mumbai, formerly Bombay. During the British rule, the city of Bombay was the capital of Bombay State. The Bombay State included in it regions of present day Maharashtra and present day Gujarat. The main language of Gujarat is Gujarati. The Gujaratis are the business communities of India. The city of Bombay was the business center of India. Many business communities from Gujarat settled in Bombay and were the important business community of Bombay. But the majority of the population of Bombay was Marathi and they were the working classes of the city. Many Indians from all around India also immigrated to Bombay to find a better future. This made Bombay the largest Indian cosmopolitan.

In 1960 Bombay State was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Bombay the cultural capital of the Marathis and the Gujaratis was made capital of Maharashtra. After Maharashtra was established, a general feeling among many Marathis, was that Bombay is ruled and governed by 'foreigners'. Their main targets were not the Gujarati business communities, but immigrants who arrived from all over India and settled in Bombay. So these people established the Shiv Sena party. This party which began as a protest movement of the Marathis in Bombay, slowly became popular all around Maharashtra. This party ideology was spiced with Hindu-Marathi nationalist pride. Its rivals consider this party as a fanatic and anti-Muslim party. According to the party policy, many places in Maharashtra were renamed with Marathi oriented names. For example Bombay was renamed back to its original name Mumbai (see Changing names of Indian places).

There are other state parties in India. To name a few there are, National Conference in Kashmir, Haryana Vikas Party in Haryana, Manipur People's Party in Manipur, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak in Goa, Sikkim Democratic Front in Sikkim, Mizo National Front in Mizoram, and many other parties. People who broke away from larger national parties, like the Congress founded some state parties. For example the West Bengal Trinamul Congress, Tamil Manila Congress, Kerala Congress. There are also communist state parties.

External Borders of India

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India gained its independence on 15/8/1947. The day before that British India was partitioned and Pakistan was created on both sides of India. In west was West Pakistan and in the east was East Pakistan, now an independent state called Bangladesh.

During the independence period India was not quiet socially. All around India there were bloody riots between the Hindus and the Muslims, while the militant Sikhs were siding with the Hindus. Two regions which suffered the most from these riots were Punjab in the north and Bengal in the east. Some of Punjab and Bengal remained in India, while the other parts became Pakistan. Passages between India and Pakistan in these regions were also the main passages through which millions of Indians moved from one side to other. Hindus and Sikhs moved to India and Muslims to the two entities of Pakistan.

The communal riots which were not the only problem India's government had. Other problems were deciding its borders with Pakistan and convincing princely states to join India when some of these states wanted to declare independence.

The British administered India by two systems. One was Provinces which were administered regions under complete British control and the other was princely states, which were ruled by local Indian rulers subjected to the British. When the British gave India and Pakistan independence, the provinces were handed over to the respective governments and it was agreed that the princely states could join India or Pakistan according to two principles. The ruler's will and the people's will.

Three princely states which were within India's borders refused to join India. One of them was Junagad. Junagad, in the present day Gujarat, was a small princely state whose ruler was a Muslim and he opted for Pakistan but the residents of his state were mostly Hindus and they opted for India. After some riots which occurred in Junagad the ruler emigrated or exiled to Pakistan and thus Junagad was included in India.

Two other two states wanted to declare independence. One was Hyderabad in south India and Kashmir in north India. Both these states were big princely states, about the size of England. The rulers of these states claimed that with the end of British rule in India, ended also the agreements these ruling families had with the British and therefore were independent. Hyderabad's ruling family was Muslim, but the majority of its residents were Hindus and they wanted to join India. After some riots in Hyderabad and the request from these people to the Indian government to join India, the Indian government acting according to the principle of 'people's will' sent its army to Hyderabad to include it in India.

Kashmir's problem was more complicated. Its ruling family was Hindus and most of its residents were Muslims, but what made it more complicated was that it was also bordering on Pakistan. Both, India and Pakistan, wanted to include Kashmir to their countries while the ruler opted for an independent Kashmir. The Pakistanis claimed that majority of the Kashmiris were Muslims and therefore Kashmir should be Pakistan. While the Indians not only claimed that Kashmir's ruler was a Hindu but they also had support from the Muslim leaders of Kashmir who wanted to join India and therefore claimed that as per the principle of 'people's will' they had the rights on Kashmir. The Pakistanis also acting according to the 'people's will' sent army and mercenaries into Kashmir. This action by the Pakistanis caused the ruler of Kashmir to ask help from the Indian government and he agreed in exchange to join India under specific terms which would give Kashmir more autonomy than the other Indian states. The Indian government sent its troops to Kashmir and there was a war between the Indian and Pakistani troops. During the war the United Nation intervened and a cease fire was declared. Parts of Kashmir which the Pakistanis invaded remained in their hands while India claims its rights over them, Pakistan claims that the whole of Kashmir belongs to Pakistan. The official map of India includes in Kashmir some parts which are actually in Pakistani control. Every few years in the month of August when the patriotic feelings are high (because of the independence days) there are always firing incidents in Kashmir between the Indian and Pakistani troops.

After 1948 the external borders changed a few times again. In 1949 the Hindu kingdom of Tripura, sized about 10000 square kilometers, on the eastern side of India, joined India. In 1950 the British troops ultimately left India. 26/1/1950 is celebrated in India as the 'Republic Day'. But there were still two other European countries in India, France and Portugal. France had small pockets in India and they handed them to the Indian government in 1950. The Portuguese remained in India with three pockets, two small regions, Daman and Diu. And one big region, Goa.

Religiously the people of Goa belong to two religions, Hindus and Christians. About one third of the Goanese are Christians and the rest are mainly Hindus. The Goanese wanted to join India and so an uprising took place in Goa. In 1961 the Indian government decided to free Goa from the foreign rule. The Portuguese did not have a big army in India and they preferred to leave India.

In 1962 a war broke out between India and China. In this war the Indians lost some territories in Kashmir and in north east India to China. In 1975 India gained other territories which previously were not Indian territories. The kingdom of Sikkim (about 7000 square kilometers) was annexed to India. Sikkim's rulers were Buddhist and they were socially, culturally and politically connected with Tibet. After the British arrived in this region, they established political agreements with the Sikkim rulers giving them certain rights over Sikkim. But the Tibet rulers saw in Sikkim their subject. After the British left India, Sikkim became an Indian subject according to which India managed the security and foreign affairs of Sikkin but did not intervene in internal Sikkim problems. But after the riots which occurred in Sikkim in 1975, India annexed Sikkim. But the Chinese who occupied Tibet in 1959 saw in Sikkim part of Tibet and it does not recognize India's annexation of Sikkim.

Education in India

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Every ten years the literate population of India goes up by about 10%. During its independence, there were only 12% literate Indians, according to the 1991 census there are 52% literate Indians, meaning that over half a billion people are literate. Education is monitored in India by state governments and this finds its expression in different figures for different states. Kerala in south India, with a population of 30 million, has the highest literacy rate in India of about 90%. Rajasthan in north India, with a population of 45 million, has the lowest literacy rate of about 40%.

Literacy rate among the urban population is higher than among the villagers. It is also higher among the men than among the women. In some states the gap between literate men and literate women is very salient. For example, in Rajastan and Bihar, the gap is about 30%, while in Kerala and Mizoram it is about 7%. Literacy rate among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (see Caste system in modern India) is lower than in the general population. Among the Scheduled Tribes it is the lowest because many tribes still prefer to stay away from the main stream population. But since independence the literacy rate among the women and the lower castes has grown up at a much higher rate than among the general population.

The state governments allow free education at primary level. But, not all Indians get the opportunity to go to school. Schools are funded from different sources like government, local bodies and private funds. The smaller the funds the less the students receive. School institutions range from schools without any building to schools with all the hi-tech facilities and even sites on the internet.

According to researches made in the 1980s about one-third of Indians study or studied in schools, which have English as medium of instruction. This number has gone up in the 1990s. For these people, English is in many senses their first language and it is easier for them to read, write and even communicate in English than in their own Indian languages. This makes India the second largest English speaking country in the world after USA.

At the time of independence in 1947 there were 19 universities in India. In 1997 there were 219 universities or institutions at university levels. The larger universities have many colleges affiliated to them. The language of instruction at the better rated colleges is English. Among the universities, some universities are considered as high standard good level universities. In 1995 there were over 5 million students in Indian universities. In general, less then 3% of India's population has academic education, which is very low compared to world standard. But numerically India has almost 24 million university graduates. India is also among the few countries in the world to launch satellite and has proven its nuclear capability. Because of this high number of academicians and their good knowledge of English, many technology companies (especially in the computer field) from around the world have arrived in India.

The Business potential of India

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India is considered as one of the poorest and backward countries in the world. Only 52% of its population is literate. Its per capita income is about $350. Less than 50% of the houses have electricity, less than 23% of the houses have sanitation facilities. With these figures it might seem that India isn't a good market for business. But if these figures are broken up in different factors like Indian states or into numbers, one might find that India could be a good lucrative market for business.

In the educational field, after every ten years the literate population of India goes up by about 10%. During its independence, there were only 12% literate Indians and according to 1991 census there were 52% literate Indians, meaning that over half a billion people are literate. Among the literates, about one-third of them (according to researches made in the 1980s) study or studied in schools which have English as language of instruction. For these people, English is in many senses their first language and it is easier for them to read and write and even communicate in English than in their Indian languages. This makes India the second largest English speaking country in the world after USA.

In 1995 there were over 5 million students in Indian universities. In general, less then 3% of India's population has academic education, which is very low compared to world standard. But numerically India has almost 24 million university graduates. India is also among the few countries in the world to launch satellite and has proven its nuclear capability. Because of this high number of academicians and their good knowledge of English, many technology companies (especially in the computer field) from around the world have arrived in India.

The per capita income of India is low at $350. From this figure one can conclude that the salaries are low in India and therefore it is cheap to produce in India. But one might also conclude that India isn't a good market for marketing quality and costly products. But, even though the per capita income in India is low, India is a huge market, even for costly products. In general, India has a potential of almost a billion buyers. About 10% of Indian households have an income of just over $1400. Numerically that is about 100 million people, which is about the population of Germany. Less them 5% of Indian households have an income of over $30000, but numerically that is over 40 million people. Some estimated that by the year 2000, the number of Indian households to have this level of income would surpass that of USA. Beyond these figures, when the Indian income is measured by purchasing power parity - PPP - calculations, the Indian economy and income gives better figures. In this sense India is the fifth largest economy in the world. The middle class of India is estimated at 180 million people. For these reasons, many international companies and names in different fields, from shoes to cars, have arrived in India and they manufacture and sell their goods in India.

True to 1994, Indians had more than 40 million televisions; 10 million telephones; 60 million radios; 10 million refrigerators; 16 million two-wheel vehicles; 2 million cars and according to 1997 figures almost a million cellular phones. Some estimate that by the year 2002, about 25 million Indians can be potential buyers of cellular phones. There are many business fields which are new in India and have huge potentials like credit cards. According to 1995 figures there were less than a million credit card holders, while the potential is estimated at about 10 million by the year 2000. Another potential market that involves millions of people is tourism. In general India has about 2 million foreign tourists per year, which is low considering India's potential as a cultural country. But India also has over 130 million Indians travelling around India.

The standard of living, like education figures is different from state to state. Punjab in north India has the highest income per capita in India, while Bihar in east India has the lowest. Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat are considered as the more prosperous states of India. Bihar, Orissa, Madya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are considered as the less prosperous states of India. Goa which was created in 1987 also has a high per capita income. The prosperity of states finds its expression in electricity used by the states. In prosperous states all the villages are electrified, while in the less prosperous states not all villages are electrified. But the electric figures can be misleading because some states, like Kerala, where all villages are electrified there are hours in the day when there are electricity problems. Because of these electricity problems, many houses and businesses use private generators.

According to the 1991 census about a quarter of India's population live in cities. The standard of living is higher in cities than in villages. The urban people are more aware to modernization than villagers. Less than one third of the villages are electrified while almost 75% of the urban dwellers have electrified homes. Less than 10% of the village households have sanitation facilities while 60% of the urban households have sanitation facilities. Its not rare in Indian villages to find satellite dishes on house roofs, while in the whole village there isn't a single toilet. Drinking water is more secure in cities than in villages. In many villages, water is even today pumped from wells or from water streams. Most of the urban houses don't have 24 hours water facilities, but instead these houses and buildings have big water tanks which get filled during those hours when there is water in order to secure 24 hours water facilities for the houses. These problems mentioned above, have good business opportunities for development planners. As mentioned above people who live in cities are more aware of modernization than villagers. About a quarter of India's population (numerically that is about the whole population of USA) is urban. At least 23 Indian cities have over million residents. Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai are the four main cities of India. The first three cities have over 10 million residents each.

The first impression a foreigner gets of Mumbai is poverty. But Mumbai for Indians is like New York and Los Angles together. In many fields it is the center of India. Mumbai is the commercial, financial and entertainment center of India. Of the 23 stock exchanges in India, the stock exchanges of Mumbai are the most important. In general there are over 7000 companies registered in Indian stock exchanges, second after USA. India produces the largest number of movies in the world. Until the mid-90s it had over 800 movies a year. In this field Bollywood(like Hollywood) in Mumbai is the entertainment center, even though some other cities of India, like Chennai in south India produces more movies than Mumbai.

The Mumbai cinema is perhaps the only culture common to Indians all over India. The Hindi movies produced in Mumbai (before the boom of cable TV) were the most popular entertainment of India. In Indian movies, except in a few cases, there are always a few dances and songs. But almost all of these songs are sung by professional singers called playback singers and the actors only move their lips in the film. One such playback singer, Lata Mangeshkar, sung over 50000 songs for different actresses in different Indian languages. These Indian films and their dances, songs, singers, and actors are very popular in India and with Indians all around the world. Many non-Indian companies that sell Indian music almost never sell music from Indian movies, only classical, missing a huge market.

In the last few years Hyderabad, capital of Andra Pradesh, is competing with Chenai as the movie center of India. Hyderabad is also competing with Bangalore as the 'silicon valley' of India. Bangalore is considered today as the technology center of India. Most of the high technology companies that operate in India are centered in Bangalore. Bangalore is called 'garden city'. It is very clean compared to other Indian cities. It is also seen as the most westernized city in India because of the pubs and western style shopping centers.

Until the early 1990s, the Indian governments were very conservative in their approach towards west. They were very suspicious of the capitalist system. One of the reasons for this fear of western capitalist system was the fact that a British trading company, East India Company, came to India as a trading company and turned up to be rulers of India. During Indira Gandhi's reign as Prime Minister, many new laws were enforced which prohibited foreign companies from holding more than 49% of the companies shares operating in India. For this reason many foreign companies left India and came back again in the 1990s. Many other companies, from shoes to cars, who foresaw the potential of Indian market also arrived in India. For the last few years, the 'hot' field in Indian business is computers. Many international computer companies have subsidiaries in India. A combination of low salaries, good English knowledge of Indians, big number of academicians and the government's desire to make India a high technology country has made India to transform into one of the computer centers in the world. The Indian government has established many software parks in different places in India where foreign companies can also establish software companies.

Cities of India

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About a quarter of India's population is urban. Numerically that is about the whole population of USA. At least 23 Indian cities have over million residents. Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai are the four main cities of India. The first three cities have over 10 million residents each.

Delhi is actually comprised of two cities, Old Delhi and New Delhi, which is the capital of India. Delhi has a large number of historical monuments and is probably the city with the largest number of historical monuments in the world. Calcutta was considered in the past as the center of Indian culture and intellectuals. Some of the famous modern India philosophers, like Swami Vivekananda, were centered in Calcutta. Today Calcutta is seen as the most polluted and poverty stricken city of India. Calcutta was also the most populated city of India. In the early 1990s Mumbai became the most populated city of India and is in many fields the center of India.

The first impression a foreigner gets of Mumbai is poverty. But Mumbai for Indians is like New York and Los Angles together. Mumbai was always the commercial, financial and entertainment center of India. Of the 23 stock exchanges in India, the stock exchanges of Mumbai are the most important. India produces the largest number of movies in the world. Until the mid-90s it had over 800 movies a year. In this field Bollywood(like Hollywood) in Mumbai is the entertainment center, even though some other cities of India, like Chennai in south India produces more movies than Mumbai.

In the last few years Hyderabad, capital of Andra Pradesh, is competing with Chennai as the movie center of India. Hyderabad is also competing with Bangalore as the 'silicon valley' of India. Bangalore is considered today as the technology center of India. Most of the high technology companies that operate in India are centered in Bangalore. Bangalore is called 'garden city'. It is very clean compared to other Indian cities. It is also seen as the most westernized city in India because of the pubs and western style shopping centers.

Most of the larger cities listed below are industrial centers of India. Cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Banglore, Ahmedabad and Bhopal are filled with mills and factories. Agra and Jaipur also have industries, but their main attraction is tourism. Madurai and Varanasi are important pilgrimage centers for Hindus.

Cities with a population of over a million

	City	State
01	Mumbai	Maharastra
02	Calcutta	West Bengal
03	Delhi	Delhi
04	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
05	Hyderabad	Andra Pradesh
06	Bangalore	Karnataka
07	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
08	Pune	Maharashtra
09	Kanpur	Uttar Pradesh
10	Lucknow	Uttar Pradesh
11	Nagpur	Maharashtra
12	Surat	Gujarat
13	Jaipur	Rajasthan
14	Vadodara	Gujarat
15	Indore	Madya Pradesh
16	Patna	Bihar
17	Madurai	Tamil Nadu
18	Bhopal	Madya Pradesh
19	Ludhiana	Punjab
20	Coimbatore	Tamil Nadu
21	Varanasi	Uttar Pradesh
22	Vishakhapatnam	Andra Pradesh
23	Agra	Uttar Pradesh

Changing names of Indian places

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The modern European forces began arriving in India since 1498. The Portuguese arrived first and later on the English arrived in 1600. Indians speak different languages and their general accents are different from that of the Europeans. The Europeans had some difficulties pronouncing Indian names and they renamed some Indians places so that it was easy for them to pronounce.

In the present wave of nationalism, many Indians places were officially renamed back to their original names or were given new names. But the former names are still used by the general public and sometimes the places are still recognized by their former names rather than by their new official names.

Former and present names of Indian places

Former name	Present official name
Alleppey	Alappuzha
Broach	Bharuch
Madras	Chennai
Cape Comorin	Kanyakumari
Cochin	Kochi
Cranganore	Kodungallur
Calcutta	Kolkata
Quillon	Kollam
Calicut	Kozhikode
Mamallapuram	Mahabalipuram
Bombay	Mumbai
New Bombay	Navi Mumbai
Panjim	Panaji
Aurangabad	Sambhajinagar
Tellicherry	Thalasseri
Tanjore	Thanjavur
Trivandrum	Thiruvananthapuram
Trichur	Thrissur
Trichy	Tiruchirappalli
Ooty	Udhagamandalam
Baroda	Vadodara

Indian Nationalism and the Gandhi murders

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Nationalist assassinated three important leaders in post-independent India by the surname Gandhi. The first was Mahatma Gandhi who was assassinated in 1948. The second was Indira Gandhi (no family relations to Mahatma Gandhi) who was assassinated in 1984. And the third was her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. Of the three Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated because of Indian nationalism, the other two were assassinated because of regional nationalism.

During India's independence period there were organizations in India who wanted to establish on the whole of British India a Hindu state. These organizations opposed to the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. After the partition of India these organizations blamed the Indian National Congress and especially its spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi as responsible for the partition. They saw in Gandhi a traitor. Mahatma Gandhi also took some steps that made him in the minds of Hindu nationalists, pro-Muslim and Pakistan. Because of these reasons a group of Hindu nationalist assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India in the early 1980s. During her term, there was a demand by the Sikhs for an independent Sikh state in Punjab. These demanders used terror to pressure the Indian government and the leaders of this group found refuge in the holiest Sikh shrine, 'Golden Temple' in Amritsar. These leaders believed that the Indian government would not dare send an army to a holiest place of Sikhs, because of the social consequences this might cause and also because many Indian soldiers belong religiously to the Sikh religion. But Indira Gandhi dare send the army to the holiest Sikh shrine and caused lot of death and destruction, which she ordered soon to rebuild. A few months later in 1984 her Sikh bodyguards shoot her to death.

Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as India's Prime Minister right after his mother's assassination. His assassination was connected to the problems which existed in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, the Tamils who emigrated from India to Sri Lanka demanded a separate Tamil state in north Sri Lanka. In this warfare between the two sides, Rajiv Gandhi was pressured by Tamilians in India and outside India to intervene. Rajiv Gandhi suggested diplomatic help to the Sri Lankan government, but they refused it, and so Rajiv sent the Indian navy to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans who did not have big navy like India agreed to the Indian army to negotiate with the Tamil rebellions in Sri Lanka. The Tamils at first accepted the Indian army with open hands, but slowly a warfare began between the Indian army and the Tamil rebellions in which many Tamilis died. In 1991 during an election campaign, Rajiv Gandhi, then in opposition, arrived in Tamil Nadu. In one of his rallies a suicide bomber exploded near him and killed him.

Separatist Movements in India

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In the first years of India's independence many predicted that India, because of its diversities, will not survive as a single state, but will break up into separate states. Since India's independence in 1947 there were many attempts by different communities in India to establish independent countries on Indian soil using terror and other means, but so far India remains united country.

In Kashmir, in north India, there were organizations and underground organizations which demanded first to attach Kashmir to Pakistan and later on started demanding an independent Kashmir state. In Punjab, to the south of Kashmir, the Sikhs demanded an independent Sikh country to be called Khalistan.

In north- east India, there were many demands for separate states by different groups. North -east India was, during British period, province of Assam. In this region which borders China, there are many communities which are referred to under Indian law as tribes. These tribal people have Chinese appearance and speak in languages from the Sino-Tibetian family. Since India's independence, many tribal communities in this region, in the beginning with Chinese support, tried to establish independent states apart from India. In the 1960s rebellions from Mizoram region even declared independence. The Indian army suppressed these rebellions in this region and the rebellion leaders signed peace treaties with the Indian government. The Indian government created autonomous states for the different tribes in this region within the Indian Union. These states were created by detaching parts from Assam. This action including other actions some Indian governments took in Assam, caused discontent among the Assamese and they also demanded to separate from India. In the 1980s there was even a terror organization which included rebellions from the seven north east Indian states and they worked together against the Indian government.

In south India, before India's independence there was a demand for an independent Dravidstan for the whole of south India. After India independence, this demand was mild down for autonomous Dravidian states within the Indian union. But the Tamilians who emigrated from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka demand an independent state in north Sri Lanka and it is presumed they receive lot of support from Indian Tamilians.

India since Independence

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India was a British colony. It earned its independence from the British on 15/08/1947. Day before that Pakistan which was created as a result of partition of British India was established and flanked on two sides of India: West Pakistan which is called today Pakistan, and east Pakistan, now an independent state called Bangladesh. After its independence, the political leaders of India adopted the liberal democratic system for the country.

Since its independence, India has transformed a lot. When India attained independence in 1947, its population was around 400 million people. Now there are billion people in India. India is the largest democracy in the world. It has the biggest number of people with franchise rights and the largest number of political parties, which take part in election campaign.

Before its independence, India was never a single country but a bunch of different entities. Many predicted that India, because of diversities in its cultures, religion, languages, castes, manners, local histories, nationalities and identities, would not survive as a single democratic country, but would break up into smaller countries.

Since independence, India had many political problems. During independence the most burning issues were the riots between the Hindus and Muslims while the Sikhs were siding with Hindus. Another issue was convincing the Princely states not to declare independence or join Pakistan but to join the Indian Union. India also had a few wars with its neighbors on border issues.
India also has many internal problems. Different communities with different identities - regional, language, caste, religion - demanded different rights for their communities. Some communities demanded more autonomy for their cultures within the Indian states. Others demanded autonomous states within the Indian Union, while the others demanded to be independent from India.
With all its problems India survives as a single state with democratic character.

List of States and Union Territories

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India is a Union of 28 States and 7 Union Territories. Each state has its own government with a Governor as the figurehead, while each Union Territory is administered directly by the President through an administrator appointed by him .

STATE	CAPITAL
Andra Pradesh	Hyderabad
Arunachal Pradesh	Itangar
Assam	Dispur
Bihar	Patna
Chhattisgarh	Raipur
Goa	Panaji
Gujarat	Gandhinagar
Haryana	Chandigarh
Himachal Pradesh	Shimla
Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar and Jammu
Jharkhand	Ranchi
Karnataka	Bangalore
Kerala	Thiruvananthapuram
Madya Pradesh	Bhopal
Maharashtra	Mumbai
Manipur	Imphal
Meghalaya	Shillong
Mizoram	Aizawi
Nagaland	Kohima
Orissa	Bhubaneshwar
Punjab	Chandigarh
Rajasthan	Jaipur
Sikkim	Gangtok
Tamil Nadu	Chennai
Tripura	Agartala
Uttaranchal	Dehradun
Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow
West Bengal	Kolkata
Union Territories		Capital
Andaman and Nicobar Islands		Port Blair
Chandigarh		Chandigarh
Dadar and Nagar Haveli		Silvassa
Daman and Diu		Daman
Delhi		Delhi
Lakshadeep		Kavaratti
Pondicherry		Pondicherry

Languages in India

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Languages in India

In different parts of India, different languages are spoken. Most of the languages of India belong to two families, Aryan and Dravidian. Languages spoken in the five states of south India belong to the Dravidian family and most of the languages spoken in the north are of Aryan family. The general script of the Aryan languages is different from the general script of Dravidian languages. The Indians also distinguish between the general north Indian accent and general south Indian accent. Along with these two main language families, there are other languages from the Sini - Mongoloid family spoken in east India.

The languages spoken in present India, evolved in different phases of Indian history. In the earlier stage of Indian history other languages were spoken. The holy books of different religions that developed in ancient India are written in different languages. The holy books of Hinduism were written Sanskrit. The holy books of Buddhism were written in Pali. The holy books of Jainism were written in Ardhamaghadi. These three languages aren’t spoken fluently in India today, but Sanskrit is recognized as one of the official languages of India. The modern Aryan languages are considered to have evolved from Sanskrit. The evolvement of south Indian languages isn’t clear. Many believe that before the arrival of the Aryans, Dravidian languages were spoken over all India. Some of the tribes of north India speak (or spoke in the near past) in dialects similar to Dravidian languages. Among the present Dravidian languages of south India, Tamil language had exerted its greatest influence on other Dravidian languages.

Languages and Dialects

Language is one of the main seeds of a person’s ethnic identity. The Indian constitution recognizes, for now, 18 official Indian languages. But, almost each of these 18 languages, include different dialects or variations of that language. Besides these 18 languages, there are other languages which are recognized by the central government, but not as official languages. There are other languages which aren’t recognized by the central government. Some of the present India’s states boundaries created were based on the boundaries of the main Indian languages as recognized by the Indian constitution.

The process of creating Indian states began after India’s independence in 1947. During the British rule of India, there were two types of British India states, princely states and provinces. With India’s independence, provinces like Bombay and Bengal became Indian states and the small princely states adjoining the big provinces were added to the provinces. In some cases some small adjoining princely states were joined together to make a new state like Rajasthan. Big princely states like Hyderabad, Mysore and others were also made states. But many local leaders demanded states for their culture and identity. The main demand was to create states based on language boundaries. This process of creating states based on languages began in 1953 and even today there are demands for new states for different language speakers.

States whose boundaries are based on languages are Kerala for Malyalam speakers. Tamil Nadu for Tamil speakers. Karnataka for Kanadda speakers. Andra Pradesh for Telugu speakers. Maharashtra for Marathi speakers. Orissa for Oriya speakers. West Bengal for Bengali speakers. Gujarat for Gujarati speakers. Punjab for Punjabi speakers. Assam for Assami speakers. Some of these states like Bengal and Orissa were provinces during British rule. Though many states were created based on language boundaries, there are other states which weren’t created based on language boundaries and there are many language speaker who don’t have their own state.

To name a few other languages spoken in India, one can name Dogri, Ladacki and Kashmiri which are spoken in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir state. In Sikkim, different languages are spoken. The main language there is Nepali. In Manipur the main language is Manipuri. In Madya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh the main language is Hindi, which is also become the national language of India. Some languages of India aren’t specific to a region of India, like Sindhi whose speakers came to India from Sindh (in present day Pakistan), but are scattered all over India. Urdu is spoken by many Muslims all over India. The different tribes of India (some of them only a few hundreds) also have their own languages.

As stated earlier most of the main Indian languages have different dialects and variations, sometimes very different from each other. Hindi has more than ten variations. Hindi spoken in Rajasthan is different from Hindi spoken in Bihar or Hindi of Himachal Pradesh. Sometimes the different variations of a language are considered as separate language with their own literature. One of Hindi dialects spoken in east India is Maithali. Many Maithali speakers regard their language as a different language from Hindi. Also Rajasthani from Rajasthan is considered sometimes as a different language and not as Hindi. But, actually Rajasthani also isn’t one language but different tribal languages spoken by the people of Rajasthan and they all call their languages after the name of their region.

Another language named after its region is Konkani spoken in Goa and named as such because of the Konkan coast. To the north of Goa in the Konkan coast of Maharashtra there is another ‘Konkani’ language which is considered a dialect derived from the Marathi language and is different from Goa’s Konkani language.

The Indian constitution uses the term ‘mother tongue’ instead of language or dialect. Officially the central government recognizes 18 languages, but each language includes in it many mother tongues. The Indian census records over 200 different mother tongues.

Despite the different languages and dialects, most of the official languages speakers have developed a standard of speaking language which has become the accepted style of speaking for that language. Sometimes, like in the case of Hindi this language is completely different from some of its dialects.

Languages recognized by the Indian constitution

1. Assamese.

2. Bengali.

3. Gujarati.

4. Hindi.

5. Kannada.

6. Kashmiri.

7. Konkani.

8. Malayalam.

9. Manipuri.

10. Marathi.

11. Nepali.

12. Oriya.

13. Punjabi.

14. Sanskrit.

15. Sindhi.

16. Tamil.

17. Telugu.

18. Urdu.

English in India

Officially English has a status of assistant language, but in fact it is the most important language of India. After Hindi it is the most commonly spoken language in India and probably the most read and written language in India. Indians who know English will always try to show that they know English. English symbolizes in Indians minds, better education, better culture and higher intellect. Indians who know English often mingle it with Indian languages in their conversations. It is also usual among Indians to abruptly move to speak fluent English in the middle of their conversations. English also serves as the communicator among Indians who speak different language. English is very important in some systems – legal, financial, educational, business – in India. Until the beginning of 1990s, foreign movies in India weren’t translated or dubbed in Indian languages, but were broadcast in English and were meant for English speakers only. The reason Indians give such importance to English is related to the fact that India was a British colony (see Europeans in India).

When the British started ruling India, they searched for Indian mediators who could help them to administer India. The British turned to high caste Indians to work for them. Many high caste Indians, especially the Brahmans worked for them. The British policy was to create an Indian class who should think like the British, or as it was said then in Britain “Indians in blood and color but English in taste, in opinions and morals and intellect”. The British also established in India universities based on British models with emphasis on English. These Indians also got their education in British universities. The English Christian missionaries came to India from 1813 and they also built schools at primary level for Indians in which the language of instruction was local language. Later on the missionaries built high schools with English as the language of instruction which obliged the Indians who wanted to study to have a good knowledge of English. The British rulers began building their universities in India from 1857. English became the first language in Indian education. The ‘modern’ leaders of that era in India also supported English language and claimed it to be the main key towards success. Indians who knew good English were seen as the new elite of India. Many new schools were established in which the language of instruction was English. According to the British laws the language of instruction at university level was English and therefore schools that emphasized English were preferred by ambitious Indians. Even after India’s independence, English remained the main language of India. Officially it was given a status of an assistant language and was supposed to terminate officially after 15 years of India’s independence, but it still remains the important language of India.

Even today schools in India that emphasis English are considered better schools and the same is the case at university levels, even though there is a trend towards Indianization. In the 1970s and 1980s about one third of the Indian schools had English as their first language. For most of these students, English is their first language and it is easier for them to communicate, read and write in English than in Indian languages, including their mother tongues.

Just like the Americans, Australians or even the British who have their unique English words and phrases, the Indians also have their own unique English. The Indians and the Indian English language press uses many words derived from Indian languages, especially from Hindi. Other than that, the Indian accent is sometimes difficult for non-Indians to understand. There are some Indian pronunciations that don’t exist in non Indian languages. The British also had problems with that and they caused some changes in Indian words so that they could pronounce them. Even the Indians started using these changed words and made them part of their English. Two examples of such changed words are currey and sari.

The creation of India

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In 1945 the war was over. The Allied forces, of which the British were part of, won in this war. Winston Churchill who was the Prime Minister of UK was a great hero. In that year elections occurred in England. Churchill hoped to win again in these elections. He and his Conservative Party supported the continuation of British Empire and British rule over India. On the other hand the Labour Party claimed it was time to end the British Empire. In these elections the Labour Party won and it became clear the British would leave India.

At this stage different communities in India began demanding from the British to establish in India a state or states according to their political philosophies. The British who ruled India through the policy of 'divide and rule' did every thing possible during their rule over India to separate and even incite the different communities of India and so vivified different nationalistic feelings. The Indian National Congress wanted to establish a secular state all over British India. The Hindu Mahasabha wanted to establish a Hindu state all over British India. The Sikhs demanded a separate Sikh entity in the Punjab region. The Dravidians wanted an independent Dravidstan in south India. The Tamils, who are part of Dravidian culture, demanded an independent Tamil state. The princely states of Hyderabad and Kashmir demanded independence. Of the different lobbies, the lobby that succeeded to most in achieving their demands was the Muslim League.

The Muslim League demanded a Muslim state in regions where there was a Muslim majority. Muhammad Jinnah who was the leader of the Muslim League is blamed by the Indians as responsible for the partition of India. The Indians blame Jinnah that he evoked Muslim nationalistic feelings among the Indian Muslims and so causing the riots all over India, between the Hindus and Sikhs on one side and the Muslims on the other. Until then they claimed the Hindus and the Muslims lived peacefully side by side. In these riots which occurred in British India, hundreds of thousands of people died.

The British who at first intended to leave India as one country, decided because of these riots to establish two states in British India, India and Pakistan. The British transferred India's administration to the Indian National Congress and Pakistan's administration to the Muslim League. The British also decided that the Princely States would join either country according to two criterions 1) wish of the people 2) wish of the ruler. When the British left India there were 562 Princely states in British India and 11 provinces.

The Indian politician responsible in convincing the Princely States to join India was Vallabhai Patel. Patel was the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. He was a senior member of the Congress and was very popular among the Indian people. He could have been the first Prime Minister of India, but Mahatma Gandhi wanted the young Jawarharlal Nehru to be India's first Prime Minister and therefore Patel withdrew his candidacy.

On 15/08/1947 India achieved its independence with Jawarharlal Nehru as its first Prime Minister.

Jews in India

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The Jews of India aren't one singular community. Among themselves they are divided into different communities. Each community has its own different culture, background and origin. Each community claims its arrival in India in different ways and it is not always clear how they really came to India. The three main Jewish communities of India are: Bene Israel, Cochini and Baghdadi. Besides there were Ashkenazi Jews and a community in east India which claim Israeli origin and call themselves Bne Menashe. The first three communities had some social religious connections with each other but most of the social religious connections of each community were within their own community and they regarded the other as ‘outsiders’.

Zoroastrianism in India

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A small religious community, which exists mostly in Mumbai, is Zoroastrianism. The follower is called Parsi because the religion arrived in India from Persia. This religion was established by Zarathustra in 6th or 7th century BC. The followers of this religion exiled from Iran in the 7th century AD. because of religious persecutions by the Muslims. They arrived in Gujarat region of India.

The Parsis believe in the existence of one invisible God. They believe that there is a continuous war between the good forces (forces of light) and the evil forces (forces of darkness). The good forces will win if people will do good deeds think good and speak well. God is represented in their temples through fire, which symbolizes light. The holiest place for them is the village of Udvada in Gujarat, India. The holy language of the Parsis is an ancient language spoken in Iran, Avesta. The Parsis believe that fire, water, air and earth are pure element to be preserved and therefore they do not cremate or bury their dead ones but leave them on high towers, specially built for this purpose, to be eaten by hawks and crows.

The Parsis are less then 0.02% of India's population but their contribution to India is much more than their proportion in India's population. Some Parsis were main figures in establishing the Indian Nationalist movement. They were the pioneers in establishing the modern Indian industry. The rich Parsi families contributed enormously to establish institutions of all kinds in India. Even today some of the bigger finance houses in India belong to followers of this religion.

Jainism in India

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Jainism was born in India about the same period as Buddhism. It was established by Mahavira in about 500 B. C. Mahavira like Buddha belonged to the warrior caste. Mahavira was called ‘Jina’ meaning the big winner and from this name was derived the name of the religion.

In many senses Jainism is similar to Buddhism. Jainism like Buddhism, developed as a dissention to the Brahmanic philosophy that was dominant during that period in north- east India. Mahavira just like Buddha isn’t the first prophet of his religion. In Jainism like Buddhism there is a belief in reincarnation which eventually leads to liberation. Both these religions don’t center in religious philosophy around Almighty worship. But Jainism is different than Buddhism in its ascetic beliefs. Both these religions emphasis on non-violence, but in Jainism non-violence is its main core.

Jains believe that every thing has life and this also includes stones, sand, trees and every other thing. The fact that trees breath came to be known to the science world only from the 20th century. Mahavira who believed that every thing has life and also believed in non-violence practically didn’t eat anything causing his self- starvation to death. Mahavira was also extremely ascetic and walked around completely naked because of his renouncement of life.

Mahavira’s religion followers are less extreme than him in diets. They are vegetarians. But the religious Jains will do everything possible to prevent hurting any being. They won’t walk in fields where there are insects to prevent the possibility of stepping on them. They also cover their mouth to prevent the possibility of swallowing small invisible microbes. They mostly do not work in professions where there is a possibility of killing any living being like in agriculture instead professions like banking and business. But it is not clear what came first, businessmen who adopted Jain philosophy because it was easy for them to follow or Jainish philosophy which convinced the Jains to adopt non violent professions.

There are two Jain philosophies. Shvetember and Digamber. Digamber monks like Mahavira don’t wear any clothes, but normally they don’t walk like that outside their temples. The Digambers include among them only men. The Shvetembers monks wear white clothes and they include women.

Sikhism in India

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About 2% of India's population are Sikhs. Even so, the Sikhs, because of their unique appearance sometimes stand for India. Traditionally the men keep their hair and do not shave their beard or moustache. They gather their head hair in a turban.

Sikhism is comparatively a new religion in India. This religion was established by Guru Nanak. Nanak was born into a Hindu family in 1469 in the Punjab region. Since childhood he loved to travel, learn and preach humanity. In those days people who taught and preached were titled Guru meaning teacher, his followers became to be known as Sikhs meaning learners. And so Guru Nanak developed a new religion and it also included beliefs from the two dominant religions in the Punjab region, Hinduism and Islam. Some claim that Guru Nanak tried to developed a new religion and included in it what he thought were the good beliefs of these two religions. Like in Islam the belief in the existence of one invisible God. Like in Hinduism the belief in Karma and reincarnation, meaning your actions in this life will decide your fate in the next incarnation. The Sikhs also cremate their dead ones as is done in Hinduism.

The creators of Sikhism tried to abolish some of the Indian customs such as the caste system and Sati - burning of the widow. In Sikhism everyone has equal rights irrespective of caste, creed, color, race, sex or religion. Sikhism rejects pilgrimage, fasting, superstitions and other such rituals. Sikhism does not have a clergy class as it considers this as a gateway to corruption. However they have readers and singers in their temples.

A Sikh place of worship is called Gurdwara. Sikhism does not support pilgrimage to holy sites because according to Sikhism, God is everywhere and not in any certain place. But Sikhism has a few important sites, of which, the Hari Mandir, also known as the 'Golden Temple' in Amritsar in Punjab is the most important site and is considered the holiest shrine of Sikhism.

Sikhism emphasis community services and helping the needy. One of the distinct features of Sikhism is the common kitchen called Langar. In every Gurdwara there is a Langar. Every Sikh is supposed to contribute in preparing the meals in the free kitchen. The meals are served to all and are eaten sitting on the floor and this is to emphasis the point that all are equals. Sikhism does not believe in holding fasts for body is God's present to human being and therefore humans must foster, maintain and preserve it in good sound condition, unless fasting is done to foster the human body like healthy diets.

Guru Nanak who established Sikhism was its first Guru. After him there were nine more Gurus who were the highest religious authority. The last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, proclaimed that after him the Guru of the Sikhs would be the holy book of Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib.

Guru Granth Sahib is written in Gurumukhi script. It includes the writings of the Sikh Gurus and the writings of Hindu and Muslims saints. But out of humility Guru Gobind Singh did not include his own writings in the book he had proclaimed as the permanent Guru of the Sikhs. His writings appear in a separate book called Dasam Granth. Guru Gobind Singh is also the Guru behind the unique appearance of Sikh men.

During Guru Gobind's term as the Guru of the Sikhs and also before him, the ruling empire of Punjab region was the Moghul Empire. The Moghuls were Muslims. Some of the Moghul emperors, like Aurangazeb were fanatic Muslims who harassed the non- Muslims, including the Sikhs. Some of the Sikh Gurus were even executed by the Moghul emperors. In order to stop their persecutions, Guru Gobind decided to make his followers, the Sikhs (meaning learners), a community of fighters. He changed his surname to Singh, which means lion. His followers also changed their surname to Singh. Since then a ceremony of baptizing was established among the Sikhs in which the boys were given the title Singh and the girls were titled Kaur meaning princess. In those days "Singh" as a surname was very popular among a famous warrior caste of north India, the Rajputs. Some of the first Sikhs were also Rajputs.

In order to make it easier for his followers to recognize each other, Gobind Singh, chose five marks, some of which even today symbolize the Sikhs. The five signs were, uncut hair; comb; sword or dagger; bracelet on the right wrist and shorts. The religious Sikhs dress according to Guru Gobind Singh's order, carrying a sword. Most of the Sikhs even today have uncut hair and gather it in a turban. But some easygoing Sikhs cut their hair or they do not gather their uncut hair in a turban.

The emphasis on militant tradition and community service in Sikhism continues even today and many Sikhs serve in the Indian army or police. The Sikhs also have a reputation as experts in steering, from cars to airplanes.They were among the first communities in India who dared to drive vehicles specially lorries. India being a vast country needed drivers who could also travel at nights. But many Indians believed in superstitions like ghosts and haunted places, while the Sikhs rejected these kinds of beliefs and therefore traveled at nights, since then their reputation as steering masters of India.

Christianity in India

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About 2.5% of India’s population are Christians. Christianity arrived in India almost about the same period as it arrived in Europe, meaning about 2000 years ago. Christianity originates in Israel. The first Christians were Jews and in the beginning Christianity was seen as a Jewish cult. Most of the Apostles of Christians acted in Europe to convert the Europeans to Christianity. But one of the Apostles, St. Judas Thomas, arrived in India and converted Indians to Christianity. St. Thomas was a carpenter and a disciple of Jesus. He was brought to India by a merchant to build a temple. St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, in south India in 52 AD. He succeeded in converting local Indians to Christianity. His converts were called Syrian Christians. One assumption says that some of the Syrian Christians were actually Jews converted by St. Judas Thomas to Christianity. The disciples of Jesus at first intended to convince the Jews to adopt the philosophy of Jesus as new Judaism. Later on other Christian saints arrived to India as missioners. But most of the Indian were converted to Christianity by the missionaries who arrived in India with the European powers from 15th century.

The European powers arrived in India for commercial reasons, especially spices. But they also started converting local Indians to Christianity. Five European countries sent their representatives to India, Great Britain; France; Denmark; Netherlands and Portugal. Of the five European powers the Portuguese were most enthusiast to baptize Indians. The Portuguese were the first European power to arrive in India. Their first ship, under the leadership of Vasco DaGama, arrived in south India in 1498 after it had circled the whole continent of Africa. The Portuguese inspired by the Pope’s order to baptize people around the world not only fought wars against the local Indian rulers, but they even tried to enforced their Roman Catholic prayers on Syrian Christians.

After many wars the Portuguese were defeated by local rulers and they had only one big pocket of control in India, Goa. The Portuguese not only fought the Indian rulers, but they also fought against other European powers in India especially Dutch and English. Many Portuguese churches in Kerala were turned into English and Dutch churches after they were captured by these powers.

The English missionaries started acting in India at a much later period. The British, unlike the Portuguese, didn’t allow the missionaries to enter their territory in the beginning. The British arrived in India in 1600 and they allowed the missionaries to enter their territory only from 1813. The British allowed different churches to establish missionaries in their territory. The missionaries didn’t only spread Christianity, but they also did humanitarian deeds giving the needy basic necessities of life like food, clothes and shelter. The missionaries also built schools in India and many of them even today have Christian or European originated name. The British church missionaries succeeded less than the Portuguese in converting Indians to Christianity, but unlike the Portuguese who tried to enforce Christianity, these Protestant converts were voluntary. The Portuguese were also aware of the Indian custom according to which the wife followed her husband’s faith and therefore married their men to Indian women.

There are about 30 million Christians in India. The major centers of Christianity in India are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Manipur and Mizoram. There is also a big community of Christians in Mumbai. The main division of Christians in India is like in the Christian world, Protestants and Catholic. There are also different denomination among them, Syrian Church, Armenian Church, Anglican Church and others. Most of the India Christians were converted by the Portuguese. There is also an Anglo-Indian community in India.

Islam in India

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The Muslims are about 12% of India's population. But their influence on the Indian society was much stronger. The main reason was that there were many Muslims rulers in different parts of India. Most of the Muslim rulers of India were invaders from the west (see India in the past ).

Islam was established in Saudi Arabia. But most of Islam's spreaders in India arrived from non-Arab countries (It must be noted that Arab traders and travellers had arrived into India even before Islam was established in Arabia. These Arabs probably had their own places of worship, later on transformed into mosques.). The first spreaders of Islam in India were individuals who saw in spreading Islam a holy precept. They began coming to India from the 11th century . They arrived in India from Bukhara, Turkey, Iran, Yemen and Afghanistan. The most famous preacher of Islam in India was Khwaja Chishti, who arrived from Iran and his sect is called Sufism. But the accepted assumption in India is that most of India's Muslims were converted to Islam through the sword. Meaning the Indians were given an option between death or adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along with heavy taxes- Jeziya (poll tax) and Kharaj (property tax).

The process of converting Indians to Islam began in the 8th century, when the Arabs began invading north India and present day Pakistan. After the Arabs other Muslims invaded India. These invasions by Muslims in India were not continuous and not all Muslim invaders were Islamic fanatics. One of the Moghul emperors, Akbar, was very liberal and he even established a new religion, Din E Elahi, which included in it, beliefs from different religions. In some of the monuments built by Akbar symbols of different religions are visible. In contrast with Akbar his great grand son, Aurangazeb, was a fanatic Muslim and during his term the non-Muslims suffered a lot. Many worshipping sites of different religions were destroyed and transformed into mosques.

Most of the Indian Muslims converted to Islam were belonged to the lower classes of the Indian society. Besides these Muslims there are also Muslims who belonged to the ruling families of the different Indian kingdoms. Some of these rulers were Hindus who actually belonged to the warrior castes of the Hindu society and adopted Islam. Others are descendants of Muslim rulers who invaded India. The different Muslim rulers of India also brought to their kingdoms Muslim mercenaries, businessmen and slaves from different parts of the world like Russia; Afghanistan; Turkey; Arab countries and Africa. These people remained in India, married local Indians and converted them to Islam. Because of the different origins as stated and because of other reasons the Muslims of India refer to themselves not only as Muslims but also with other titles.

In general the Muslims of India like the Muslim world is divided into two main sects, Sunni and Shia. And just like in the whole Muslim world there is tension between these two sects. Each sect has many different schools. There are also Muslims who claim to be the descendants from the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and the men in this community add the title Syed before their names. Other claim to be the descendants from the first Muslims and add the title Sheik. Along with these Muslim world divisions, the Indian Muslims also have other divisions.

Different communities who adopted Islam in different ways have different community names. In west India the Bohra and Khoja are Muslim communities who adopted Islam influenced by different Muslim preachers. The Khojas also split into different communities. The leader of the Khoja (Nizari) community is Aga Khan. The Nawait are descendants of Arab and Persian immigrants. In south India in the state of Kerala, the Mophilla community is descendants from Arab merchants. A well known Indian Muslim community is Pathan. The Pathan are Muslims who arrived from Afghanistan. They normally have their surname as Khan. The Pathan have an image of being brave, honest and righteous. Many Indians who adopted Islam adopted the surname Khan and they claim that they are Pathans, which is not always true. The original Pathans claim that they originate from the Tribes of Israel.

In the beginning of the 20th century, some reformist Muslims organizations evolved in India who wanted to adjust Islamic philosophy to the modern world. These organizations wanted to cancel polygamy and were in favor of women education.

Buddhism in India

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Buddhism evolved in India. There were periods in India's past when Buddhism was dominant in India. Today less then 1% of India's population is Buddhist. Buddhism has more followers in countries east of India.

Buddhism was established in about 500 BC. Buddhism began with a prince called Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha belonged to an aristocratic family. As a prince he had lot of wealth. He never left his palace. At some point Siddharta began to leave his palace and behold for the first time poverty, sickness and misery. After seeing this Siddharta lost interest in his spoiled life and left his palace forever and gave his rich personal belongings to the needy. He joined a group of ascetics who were searching for enlightenment. In those days people searching for enlightenment believed that this could be gained only by people who were capable of resisting their basic needs. These people almost did not eat anything and almost starved themselves to death. Siddharta also adopted this path of searching enlightenment. But at some point he came to a conclusion that this was neither the way towards enlightenment nor the spoiled life he had as a prince was the right path towards enlightenment. According to him the right path was somewhere in the middle and he called it the 'middle path'.

In order to focus on his enlightenment search, Buddha sat under a fig tree and after fighting many temptations he got his enlightenment. In his region 'enlightened' people were called Buddha. And so Siddharta was named Buddha. According to Buddha's theory life is a long suffering. The suffering is caused because of the passions people desire to accomplish. The more one desires and the less he accomplishes the more he suffers. People who do not accomplish their desirable passions in their lives will be born again to this life circle which is full of suffering and so will distant themselves from the world of no suffering - Nirvana.

To get Nirvana, one has to follow the eight-fold path which are to believe right, desire right, think right, live right, do the right efforts, think the right thoughts, behave right and to do the right meditation.

Buddhism emphasis non- violence. Buddha attacked the Brahmanic custom of animal slaughtering during religious ceremonies. Religiously the Buddhists are vegetarians. But a strong narrative in India claims that Buddha, died because he ate a sick animal. Buddhism does not have a God, nor is it atheistic. Many Buddhists keep images of Buddha. Buddha is not seen as the first prophet of the religion, but as the fourth prophet of the religion.

There are two main doctrines in Buddhism, Mahayana and Hinayana. Mahayana Buddhist believe that the right path of a follower will lead to the redemption of all human beings. The Hinayana believe that each person is responsible for his own fate. Along with these doctrines there are other Buddhist beliefs like 'Zen Buddhism' from Japan and the 'Hindu Tantric Buddhism' from Tibet. Zen Buddhism is a mixture of Buddhism as it arrived from India to Japan and original Japanese beliefs. The Hindu Tantric Buddhism is a mixture of Indian Buddhism and original Tibetian beliefs which existed among the Tibetians before the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet, among it magic, ghosts and tantras (meaningless mystical sentences).

Hinduism in India

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Hinduism is a religion with various gods and goddesses. According to Hinduism, three Lords rule the world. Brahma: the creator; Vishnu: the preserver and Shiva: the destroyer. Lord Vishnu did his job of preserving the world by incarnating himself in different forms at times of crisis.
The three Lords that rule the world have consorts and they are goddesses. Consort of Brahma is Sarasvati; goddess of learning. Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi; goddess of wealth and prosperity. Shiva's consort is Parvati who is worshipped as Kali or Durga.

Along them there are a number of other gods and goddesses. To name a few of them, there is Ganesh, who has an elephant's head and he is also a son of Shiva and Parvati. Hanuman, who is an ape. Surya, Lord of sun. Ganga Ma, goddess of river Ganges. Samundra, Lord of the sea. Indra, king of the gods ( but he isn't an important god). Prithvi, goddess of earth. Shakti, goddess of power. The Hindus call their goddesses 'Ma' meaning mother.

Some gods have more than one name. Shiva is also known as Shankar, Mahadev, Natraj, Mahesh and many other names. Ganesh is also called Ganpati. God Vishnu incarnated 9 times to do his job and in his every appearance he had a different form which are also worshipped as gods. Among his appearances, he appeared as Rama, Krishna, Narsimha, Parsuram and Buddha. Krishna also has different names, Gopal; Kishan; Shyam and other names. He also has other titles with meanings like 'Basuri Wala' which means the flute musician and 'Makhan Chor' which means the butter stealer. There are also gods who can change their forms, for example: Parvati can change into Kali or Durga.

Not all of these gods are worshiped by all Hindus. Some Hindus worship only Vishnu. Others worship only Shiva. Others worship only the goddesses and call these goddesses collectively as Shakti meaning power. Many of these goddess worshipers worship Parvati in her images as Kali or Durga. People who worship Shiva or Vishnu also worship characters and images connected with these gods. Vishnu worshipers (Vaishnaites) also worship his appearances. Shiva's worshipers (Shaivites) also worship images of bull called Nandi, who was Shiva's carrier and a unique stone design connected to Shiva. There are also Hindus who worship all the gods. There are some gods who are worshiped all over India like Rama and Krishna and other gods who are worshiped more in one region than the other like Ganesh who is worshiped mainly in west India. Hindus also worship gods according to their personal needs. People who engage in wrestling, body building and other physical sports worship Hanuman, who in Hindu legends was an ape with lot of physical strength. Businessmen worship Lakshmi, goddess of wealth.

Though Hindus worship different idols, many Hindus believe in one God and perceive in these different gods and goddesses as different faces of the same one God. Others believe that idolatry is the wrong interpretation of Hinduism.

Hindus believe in reincarnation. The basic belief is that a person's fate is determined according to his deeds. These deeds in Hinduism are called 'Karma'. A soul who does good Karma in this life will be awarded with a better life in the next incarnation. Souls who do bad Karma will be punished for their sins, if not in this incarnation then in the next incarnation and will continue to be born in this world again and again. The good souls will be liberated from the circle of rebirth and get redemption which is called 'Moksha' meaning freedom. Hindus normally cremate their dead ones, so that the soul of the dead would go to heaven, except in a few cases of Hindu saints, who are believed to have attained 'Moksha'.

The main Hindu books are the four Vedas. They are Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The concluding portions of the Vedas are called Upanisads. There are also other holy books like Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharta etc. The different gods and goddesses in the Hindu mythology are derived from these books. Ramayana and Mahabharta are the most popular Hindu books.

The main story of Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama. Rama was born in a royal family and was suppose to be the king, but because of his step- mother, he was forced to exile from his kingdom for fourteen years. During this period his consort Sita was kidnapped by a demon called Ravan, who was king of Lanka. Rama with the help of his brother, Lakshman, and an army of monkeys under the leadership of Hanuman, rescued Sita. Many Indians believe that the present day Sri Lanka was then the kingdom of Lanka.

Mahabharta is a family epic. In this epic the Pandva family and the Kaurav family who are cousins fight with each other for the control over a kingdom. Kaurav family, which consisted of 100 brothers rule an empire. The five Pandva brothers ask for a small kingdom which belongs to them. The Kauravs refuse to give the Pandvas the kingdom so there is a war between the Pandvas and the Kauravs in which it is believed that all the kingdoms of that period in India took part. In this war the Pandvas, with the help of Lord Krishna win the war. Before the commencement of the war, while the two armies are facing each other, one of the Pandva brothers Arjun gets depressed. Arjun is depressed because he has to fight against people whom he knows, loves and respects. At this point Krishna, (who was also a king of a kingdom, and participated in this war only as the chariot driver for Arjun) convinces Arjun to fight. Krishna lectures Arjun about life, human beings and their religious duties. He explains to Arjun that he belongs to a warrior caste and he has to fight for that's his destination in this incarnation. Those chapters in the Mahabharta which are Krishna's discourses on religious philosophy are called Bhagvad Gita. Because of it's importance the Bhagvad Gita is considered as a separate holy book. Another Hindu holy book that deals with religious duties is 'Law of Manu' or the 'Dharma Shastra'.

In the wars that occur in the holy books, as in Mahabharta, the different sides had different war weapons which had characters similar to modern day war weapons. In some stories the traveling vehicles were normally birds and animals. But these animals and birds had features similar to modern day aircrafts. There were even aircrafts with over velocity of light. The main war weapons were bows and arrows. But these arrows were more like modern missiles than simple arrows. These arrows were capable of carrying bombs with destructive power similar to modern day chemical, biological or even atom bombs. Other arrows could be targeted on specific human beings. There were even arrows capable of neutralizing other arrows, similar to modern day anti-missiles.

Hindus have many holy places. Badrinath, Puri, Dwarkha and Rameshwaram are four holiest places for the Hindus. Other holy places are Varanasi, Rishikesh, Nasik, Pushkar, Ujjain and other places. Some rivers are also holy to them. Among them are Godavri, Yamuna and above all Ganges which the Indians call Ganga. Another holy river is Sarasvati and it is invisible. Hindus also worship and respect some animals and birds like cobra, apes, peacocks and cow. Hindus also respect some trees and bush trees. The famous and the most respected bush tree is Tulsi.
Some of the Hindu customs, which exist or existed, do not have their bearing in Hindu scriptures but became part of Hinduism in different ways and fashion. For example, the Hindus see in cow a sacred animal. Religiously there is no reason to see cow as sacred and it is believed that cows were made 'sacred' to prevent their slaughter during periods of droughts and hunger. Cobra worship also is not found in Hindu scripts. This custom became part of Hinduism when some Indian tribes who use to worship cobra adopted Hinduism. Burning of the widow on the dead husband's pyre also has no religious justification. This custom, outlawed in 1829, was probably brought to India by the Scythians invaders of India. Among the Scythians it was a custom to bury the dead king with his mistresses or wives, servants and other things so that they could continue to serve him in the next world. When these Scythians arrived in India, they adopted the Indian system of funeral, which was cremating the dead. And so instead of burying their kings and his servers they started cremating their dead with his surviving lovers. The Scythians were warrior tribes and they were given a status of warrior castes in Hindu religious hierarchy. The different castes who claimed warrior status or higher also adopted this custom.

There are four castes in Hindu religion arranged in a hierarchy. The highest caste is Brahman, and they are the priest caste of Hinduism. After them are the Kshatria, who are the warrior castes. After them are the Vaishya caste , who are business people. And after them are the Sudra, who are the common peasants and workers. Below these four castes there are casteless, the untouchables. The four castes were not allowed to have any physical contact with the untouchables.

Each caste is divided into many sub-castes. The religious word for caste is Varna and for sub-caste Jat or Jati. But sometimes in English the term caste is used in both cases. Religiously, people are born in a caste and it cannot be changed. Each caste has some compulsory duties, which its members must do. Each caste has professional limits which decides what profession each caste can follow. Each caste members can have social relations only with its caste members. Religiously this includes marraige and even eating only with caste members. Please note that socially the caste system is different from the religious form of caste system.

How did Hinduism originated is a difficult question. The accepted theory is that Hinduism was evolved after the historical meeting between the Aryans and Dravidians. Some claim that Hinduism is mainly an Aryan culture whereas the others claim that it is mainly a Dravidian culture. Religiously the Vedas were given by Brahma.

Before Hinduism there existed another religion in India called Brahmanism and its followers were called Brahmans. The Brahmans were the spiritual and moral guides of the Indian society. The members of this religion were a close sect and others could not join it. The Brahmans slowly started accepting others into their religion and so was created Hinduism which included in it the customs which were not part of the Vedas. One of the reasons the Brahmans accepted others to their religion was the fear to loose their status as moral guides to priests of a new religion that started in India, namely Buddhism. The Brahmans even accepted Buddha as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and part of his teachings and philosophy like non-violence into their religion.

India in the past - its rulers

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Different parts of India have different histories and legends. Indians in different parts of the country look at their past from a different point of view than Indians in other parts of India. Indian history has a past of over thousands of years. The Hindus record their religious history at over millions of year. They believe that the world is created and destroyed every few million years. Religious Hindus and some Hindu historians record their present history at over 7000 years. This belief is different from the accepted general history which claims Indian history to be shorter than 5000 years.

In general Indian history different kingdoms were established in different parts of India, some by foreign invaders. The first known invaders of India were Aryans (also mentioned sometimes as Indo-Aryans). It is believed that the Aryans arrived in north India somewhere from Iran and southern Russia at around 1500 B. C. The Aryans fought and pushed the local people called Dravidians southwards. The Aryans are referred to in Indian history as fair skinned people who pushed the dark skinned Dravidians southwards (see also Aryans and Dravidians - a controversial issue).

The north Indians are considered to be the descendants of the Aryans and the south Indians are considered descendants of the Dravidians. Even today the most basic division of the Indian society is of north Indian Aryans and south Indian Dravidians. But this division isn’t proper. Many Indians emigrated from one part of India to other parts of India and not all local people of north India were pushed southwards by the Aryans. Some stayed and served the Aryans and others moved to live in the forests and the jungles of north India. There were also other foreign immigrations and invaders who arrived mainly in north India. Many Dravidians consider themselves as original Indians and their culture as the original culture of India. They also feel that their culture is discriminated by the north Indians (see also Regional parties).

After the Aryans many others invaded India. Alexander the Great and other Greeks arrived in India. The ancient Persian Empire expanded its boundaries up to India. But the Persian Empire like Alexander the Great, didn’t arrive to the center of present India but to present day Pakistan and up to the borders of present India. But there were other Greeks who arrived in India and established kingdoms in India. Others to arrive in ancient India were Scythians, Kushans and Huns. These invaders also established some kingdoms in India. At a much later period there were Muslim invaders - Turks, Arabs, Afghans and others. And of course the Europeans - Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, French and English. In between Indians also established their own kingdoms and empires. These different kingdoms fought among themselves to expand their kingdom boundaries. But never in Indian history was there a kingdom that ruled the whole of India. These different kingdoms that were established in different parts in India created different aspects of Indian history for different regions of India.

Different regions of India adore different heroes and empires from India’s past. For example people from Maharashtra in west India adore the Maratha Empire which was created in Maharashtra and ruled over large parts of India in the 17th and 18th century. Their most respected hero is Shivaji who created the Maratha Empire. People of Tamil Nadu have their own Tamil originated heroes and empires like the Chola Empire that ruled south India and some parts of north India between the 9th to 13th century. For some period the Cholas also reigned over parts of south Asia, including Sri Lanka, and some islands now parts of Malaysia and Indonesia. At other periods in Indian history other empires were established from Tamil Nadu among them the Pandya Empire and the Pallava Empire.

Two famous empires from Bihar in north-east India were Gupta and Maurya Empires, which ruled most of north India and large parts of south India. One of the Mauryan Emperors, Asoka, had perhaps the largest Indian Empire which covered almost the whole of present India. The Maurya Empire existed somewere between 4th century B. C. till 1st century B. C. The Gupta Empire existed between 4th century A. D. till 7th century A. D.

There were many other empires which were established at different periods in different parts of India and reigned over large parts of India. In south India the Vijayanagar Empire was established in the 14th century. In central India the Bahmani Empire was also established in the 14th century. Alongside with the empires, there were also small kingdoms which ruled on small parts of India. In present day Rajasthan there were many such kingdoms and their rulers belonged to the Rajput caste. The Rajputs even today symbolize the warrior castes of India. These kingdoms sometimes were completely independent and at other times acted as autonomies of bigger empires. Some of these kingdoms came into existence after a collapse of bigger empire and sometimes after a mutiny in a bigger empire. The Bahmani Empire broke up into five kingdoms. The world famous Moghul Empire from the Delhi-Agra region collapsed into many small kingdoms and into Maratha Empire.

The Moghuls are perhaps the most famous of the Indian Empires which ever existed. At their height they controlled the whole of north India, present day Pakistan and large parts of south India. In their empire they had many kings and rulers who were subjected to them. In west India, there were many local rulers who were subjected to the Moghul Empire. These rulers of West India were called Maratha (or Maharatha). Till the Moghul Empire, different Maratha rulers acted sometimes as independent rulers and at other times subjected to different larger kingdoms or empires including the Moghuls.

When Aurangzeb attained the Moghul throne, the empire began its first step towards collapsing. Aurangzeb was a religious and fanatic Muslim. He tried to enforce Islam and Islamic law on his citizens. As a result the Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji revolted and declared independence. Shivaji was also nominated emperor of the Marathas. The Marathas enlarged their empire by taking control over more Moghul territories and other rulers territories.

After Shivaji’s death in 1680 the Maratha people had lot of interior crisis. Sometimes the different Maratha parties acted as one power and at other times as separate independent powers sometimes fighting each other. After Aurengzeb’s death in 1707 the Moghuls started collapsing into separate independent kingdoms even though there was always a acting Moghul Emperor. In this period of chaos in the Moghul and Maratha empires, some European powers – English, French, Dutch, Danish and Portuguese - began controlling Indian territories.

Among these European powers the Portuguese arrived first in India in 1498 via sea after they had circled the whole of the African continent. The Portuguese had to circle the whole of African continent because in those days the Muslim Ottoman Empire of Turkey which ruled the middle east caused lots of problems to European Christian merchants who tried to pass through their land. Therefore the Europeans tried to find other routes to reach India. Columbus tried to get to India while sailing westwards from Europe. Columbus presumed that because the earth is round he would eventually get to India while sailing westwards, instead he found the continent of America whose existence was not known then to the Europeans. Columbus thought that he had arrived in India and called the natives Indians.

The Europeans came to India because of commercial reasons. The Indian sub-continent was then world famous for its spices. Local rulers leased to the Europeans, land so that they could build factories. Later on the Europeans got permits from local leaders to build forts around their factories. The Europeans then established forces to protect their interests. The next step of the European was occupying Indian land with these armies and so one of the European powers, the British, became the rulers of India.

The British control of India was a result of several factors. The Portuguese who along with their business tried to enforce Roman Catholicism on Indian(including the Syrian Christians) were defeated by local rulers sometimes in collaboration with Protestant European powers. But still the Portuguese remained in India with small pockets. Their main center in India was Goa. The Dutch and the Danes left India for their reasons. The two main European powers that remained in India were British and French. These two powers tried different ways to control India and to defeat each other.

The kingdoms of India, especially in north India, sought with the collapse of the Moghul Empire, patronage of another Empire. The French and the British both tried to fill this place. The British succeeded more than the French in convincing the local leaders. But not all Indian rulers were interested in British patronage or British rule on Indian soil. The Sikhs in north India, Marathas rulers in west India and kingdom of Mysore in south India were among those who opposed the British rule.

The British succeeded in defeating the Indian rulers (some of whom got also French assistance against the British) and became the rulers of India. But the French like the Portuguese remained in India with small pockets and both these powers remained in India even after the British left India in 1947.

The British ruled India via two administrative systems. One was ‘Provinces’ and the other ‘Princely States’. Provinces were British territories completely under British control. Princely States were states in British India with local ruler or king with honorary titles like Maharaja, Raja, Maharana, Rana, Nizam, Badshah and other titles meaning king or ruler in different Indian languages. These rulers were subjected to the British Empire.

During India’s independence in 1947 there were 562 Princely States and 11 Provinces.

INDIA

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Who is India
Who is India and what is her claim? Is she as elusive to find as the insides of a seed? A mere country cannot assume the bewitching charms that hang on her slender wrists. Who is India?

Sit by the ruins, and the inscriptions in caves, and listen. Listen to the seers and the folklorists, to the waters of the perennial rivers and the echoes from the immortal gigantic mountains. Look at the personifications of prayer carved out of marble or stone, and lie under a banyan tree, and listen - Listen to India.

India is the name given to the vast peninsula which the continent of Asia throws out to the south of the magnificent mountain ranges that stretch in a sword like curve across the southern border of Tibet. Shaped like an irregular quadrilateral, this large expanse of territory, we call India, deserves the name of a subcontinent. Ancient Geographers referred India as being “constituted with a four-fold conformation” (chatuh samasthana samsthitam), “on its South and West and East is the Great Ocean, the Himavat range stretches along its north like the string of a bow”. The name Himvat in the above passage refers not only to the snow capped ranges of the Himalayas but also to their less elevated offshoots -the Patkai, Lushai and Chittagong Hills in the east, and the Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges in the west. These go down to the Sea and separate India from the wooded valley of Irrawady, on the one hand, and the hilly tableland of Iran, on the other. The Himalayas standing tall in breathtaking splendor are radiant in myth and mystery. These, the youngest and tallest mountain ranges, feed the Ganga with never-ending streams of snow. The Himalayas are home to the people of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Indians love these snow-capped peaks because they are a part of every Indian's life. Indian's revere the mountains, as they would, the father. Even today, when Urban india is racing against time, in the caves of the snow-clad peaks, live hermits - seeking the divine. Not a surprise when you consider that even this century has seen some great philosophers like Ramana Maharishi, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and J. Krishnamurti.

Land And Location
The Vindhya mountains cut right across the country, from West to East, and form the boundary between North and South India.

India is also fortunate in possessing one of the world’s most extensive and fertile lands, made up of the alluvial Soil brought down in the form of fine silt by the mighty rivers. Lying south of the Himalayas, these Great North Indian Plains consist of the Indus basin, Ganga-Brahmaputra basin, and the tributaries of these mighty river systems.

To the south of the Great Plains of northern india lie the Great Plateau of Peninsular India, which is divided into two parts, viz., the Malwa Plateau and the Deccan Plateau. The Malwa plateau - bounded by the Aravalli hills in the northwest and the Vindhyas in the Vindhyas form the northern half of this peninsula. Chhota Nagpur region forms the northeastern part of this plateau and is the richest minerals producing region of India. The valley of the Narmada river forms the southern boundary of this plateau. The Deccan plateau, extends from the Satpura hills in the north to Kannayakumari, in South.

Towards the west of this plateau lie the Western Ghats that comprise of the Sahyadri, the Nilgiri, the Annamalai and the Cardamom Hills. On the eastern side, this plateau merges into a layer of discontinuous low hills known as the Mahendra Giri hills, which comprise of the Eastern Ghats.

Narrow coastal plains along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal flank the Deccan Plateau, on its eastern and western sides, respectively. The Western coastal plains lie between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, further split into the northern Konkan Coast and the southern Malabar Coast. The eastern coastal plains, on the other hand lie between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal and like the western plains are divided into two parts - the Coromandel Coast as the southern part and the Northern Sircaras as the northern.

Towards the western half of India lies a vast stretch of land that is divided, by the Aravalli mountains, into two separate units. The area west of the Aravalli comprises of the Thar Desert - made up of sand and interrupted by rocky hills and waterless valleys, this arid land, extend deep into Pakistan. The state of Gujarat lies to the east of this range and is one of the most prosperous regions in India.

These mainland areas apart, India has two groups of islands - the Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

Politically, India as it existed before its independence, however, extended beyond these natural boundaries and included not only Baluchistan beyond the Kirthar range, but also some small areas that lay in the Bay of Bengal.

The Legends
Historically, this vast landmass - we call India, was known as Bharat-Varsha, or the land of Bharata, a king famous in Puranic tradition. This territorial unit was said to form part of a larger unit called Jambu-dvipa - the innermost of seven concentric island-continents into which the earth, as conceived by the Hindu cosmographers, was supposed to have been divided.

The name ‘India’ was applied to the country by the Greeks. It corresponds to the “Hi(n)du” of the old Persian epigraphs.Like “Sapta sindhavah” and “Hapta Hindu”- the appellations of the Aryan country in the Veda and the Vedinand - it is derived from Sindhu (Indus), the great river that constitutes the most imposing feature of that part of the sub-continent, which seems to have been the cradle of its earliest known civilizations. Rising in southwestern Tibet, at an altitude of 16,000 feet, Indus enters the Indian territory near Leh in Ladakh.

The river has total drainage area of about 4,50,000 square miles, of which 1,75,000 square miles lie in the Himalayan Mountainsand foothills.

After flowing eleven miles beyond Leh, in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the basin is joined on the left by its first tributary, the Zanskar, which helps green the Zanskar Valley. Many interesting mountain trails beckon the mountaineering enthusiasts to the Zanskar Valley.

The Indus then flows past Batalik. When it enters the plains, its famous five tributaries-Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej-that give Punjab (the food bowl of India) its name as the “land of five rivers,” join it.

However,much of the myth and sentiment attached to India is related with the Ganges. The gushing waters of the Ganges are at once peaceful, and at once tumultuous. Nature’s glory and man’s aspirations have long met along the Ganges. As her civilization spread out further, a pilgrimage had to be undertaken to reach her watery shores. Fairs and festivals began to be celebrated on her banks. The history of Ganga is as long as the history of Indian civilization. Barring the period of Harappan civilization, Ganga basin has been the spectator to all the actions that shaped mythology, history, and people of India. It was in this plain that the great kingdoms of India, viz., Magadh, Gupta, and Mughals found their home. It was in this region that one of the most homogenous cultures of all times was born. Furthermore, it was in this place that the essence of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism was established in india. Ever since then, the river has been the lifeline of India, economically,spiritually and even culturally.

The mighty Ganga (also Ganges) emerges from beneath the Gangotri glacier at a height of 3,959 m above sea level, in the Garhwal region of North India. Here she is known as the Bhagirathi, after the legendary prince Bhagirath who is accredited with bringing her down from heaven to earth. Bursting forth at Gaumukh, out of a huge cavern shaped like the mouth of a cow, snow laden and hung with giant icicles, the Bhagirathi goes rushing, sparkling, foaming around chunks of ice that are constantly breaking off from the glacier above. Eighteen kilometers downstream, stands Gangotri, which was the source of the river until the glacier melted and retreated to its present position above Gaumukh. From here, onwards the river passes through the plains of North India, covering the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. Along the route that Ganga and her tributaries took, they set up different settlements, each of which was distinct and developed its own indigenous culture.

Uttarkashi,Devprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Rishikesh and Haridwar are some of the important sites on the coast of this holy river during the early phase of its journey through North India. From Haridwar to Allahabad, the Ganga flows parallel to the Yamuna, another important river flowing through North India, each describing a huge arc. It flows past Garhmukteshwar, the very place where the goddess Ganga is said to have appeared to Shantanu (ancestor of the Pandavas), and Bithur, a city close to but much older than Kanpur, the site of an ancient Shiva temple, before reaching Allahabad, an important religious centre of india.

Allahabad is a sacred place with soul cleansing powers, particularly so because the mythical, subterranean river Saraswati is said to join the Ganga and Yamuna at this point-a speck of white sand known as the Sangam. In Vedic times, there was a settlement at this confluence, known as Prayag, where the Vedas were written. Brahma himself is said to have performed a sacrifice here. Huen Tsang visited Prayag in ad 634. It was under Mughal Emperor Akbar that Prayag was renamed Illahabas, later to be changed to Allahabad. Overlooking the confluence is a massive, historic, red stone fort built by Akbar.

Like Haridwar, Varanasi is also a temple town of India. However, it is difficult to describe Varanasi. As Shri Ramakrishna once said, “One may as well try to draw a map of the universe as attempt to describe Varanasi in words.” As old as any currently inhabited city on earth, it was already well known in the days of Buddha, 2,500 years ago. It finds constant mention in ancient literature and has all along been a pilgrimage center, sacred to Shiva. Hindus consider it an auspicious place to die, for then one goes straight to heaven. Surprisingly, Varanasi does not mark one of Ganga’s great confluences, but is named after two small rivers that join here, the Varuna and Asi. The oldest habitation site of India - Kashi, lies north of the Varuna.

Crossing the vast Gangetic plain, the Ganga flows past Patna, the famous Pataliputra as mentioned in the history books across India. She flows past Mokamah a place famous as the working destination of the great hunter-conservationist Jim Corbett while in India. It flows past Farakka Barrage, built to divert more water from Ganga to Hooghly to prevent the latter from silting. Soon thereafter, the Ganga splits into the numerous tributaries that form the Gangetic delta. The Hooghly, regarded as the true Ganga, is one of these tributaries. The main channel proceeds to Bangladesh as the river Padma, so dearly loved by Rabindranath Tagore - the legendary poet of India.

Like the Ganges, the vast networks of rivers flowing throughout India are sacred to its people. The same goes for the region south of the Gangetic Plains in north India. This region is a highland zone rising to the chain of the Vindhya Mountains - forming the land of the river Cauvery Long revered by the people of India, for the bounties offertility bestowed by the gentle waters, this river flows from the azure mountains of the Nilgiris. Today, this region covering the four south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kanataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh offers visible continuity with traditions in time. Above the land of Cauvery lies Orissa, another culturally rich state in India that is fed by the river Mahanadi.

Through the east of India, flows the very cascading Brahamputra. The waters of the Brahmaputra travel all the way from China through the Indian States of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Further northeast are seven other states - Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

The two rivers Narmada and Tapti in central and western India have a unique distinction of flowing in the east to west direction, unlike other major rivers in India India with the exception of Brahmaputra. Out of the two, Narmada has more mythological significance as being the mother and giver of peace. Legends in India have it that the mere sight of this river is enough to cleanse one’s soul, as against a dip in the Ganga or seven in the Yamuna.

Population
India is also home to a large and diverse population that has added to its vibrant character since ages. There are about 3,000 communities in India. So wide and complex is the mix of the Indian population that two-thirds of her communities are found in the geographical boundaries of each of her states. They are a mingling of the Caucasoid, the Negrito, the Proto-Austroloids, the Mongoloid and the Mediterranean races. The tribals constitute eight percent of the total population of India.

Based on their physical type and language, we can easily divide Indian people into four broad classes. First, a majority of high class Hindus, who live in North India and whose language is derived from Sanskrit. Secondly, those who live in that part of India that is south of the Vindhyas and whose languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam - are entirely different from Sanskrit. These are known by the generic name of “Dravidians”. Thirdly, primitive tribes living in hills and jungles of India, who as mentioned above constitute eight percent of the total population in India. The Kols,Bhils and Mundas belong to this class. Fourthly, there are a people with strong Mongolian features inhabiting within India the slopes of the Himalayas and the northeastern states.

To add all this, India is perhaps the only place in the world where twenty religious streams flow together. If that sounds clichéd, here is a surprising piece of information. About 500 communities of India say they follow two religions at the same time! India has a population of over 1 billion people, the majority of whom are Hindus.

No wonder then that India is today known all over the world as the “Land of several Religions”. Ancient India witnessed the birth of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism; but all these cultures and religions intermingled and acted and reacted upon one another in such a manner that though people speak different languages, practice different religions, and observe different social customs, they follow certain common styles of life throughout the country. India therefore shows a deep underlying unity inspite of its great diversities.

The term Hinduism has emanated from the name given to the people who lived on the banks of the river Sindhu or Indus as it was denominated by the foreign invaders who came from the North West into India many, many centuries ago.

However, Hinduism is not really a religion, it is a philosophy and a way of life that has evolved over the millennia in the Indian subcontinent. Although there are many texts from the Vedic times, which enunciate the basic truths and lay down certain doctrines, Hinduism is not a doctrinaire religion but a catholic one with tolerance as its corner stone. Hence, the myriads of people of different racial, linguistic and religious faiths who have come in from the east and from the west, through the mountain passes and along the sea coast, bringing with them their own ideology their customs and their languages into India, have continued to live their lives according to their own traditions.

Religion
During the last 50 years since India gained Independence, the Constitution has guaranteed the freedom of worship and way of life to all its citizens. This has ensured the rich kaleidoscope of festivals that are celebrated throughout the realm. UpDown

Since the majority of the inhabitants of India are Hindus, their festivals dominate the calendar. The most colorful of all the festival is Deepawali or Diwali as it is commonly known, the festival of lights. The central figure in the Indian epic, Ramayana, is Rama who went into exile for fourteen years at his father’s behest, accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman. During their wanderings in the forests, Ravana, the king of Lanka, carried Sita away. It was only after an epic battle that Rama vanquished Ravana, rescued Sita and returned home to his kingdom of Ayodhya. The journey from Lanka in the south to Ayodhya in the north took twenty days. His triumphal return to Ayodhya brought great joy to his people who illuminated the whole city to celebrate the occasion. This joy and this illumination continues to this day as houses and cities throughout the India are lit up (traditionally with small earthenware cups or diyas filled with oil) to commemorate the anniversary. Deepawli signifies the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness

The battle between Ravana and Rama and the latter’s victory are celebrated as Dussehra in many parts of India, twenty days before Deepawali. Dussehra is the day when the effigies of Ravana, his brothers Meghnath and Kumbhakaran, are burnt. Dussehra is preceded by enactment of the story of the Ramayana by amateur groups of people in all villages, cities and in localities of the metropolis throughout India. Practically all-night performances of the Ramayana from the beginning to the end are enacted, analogous to street plays, and the actors are mainly young boys who perform the role of the male and the female characters. Immense popularity is reflected by the large gatherings for these performances known as Ram Lila.

These are simplified accounts of two of the major festivals of the Hindus in India but there are many variations and accretions as different people perform different rituals and forms of worship. For example, in Bengal, the worship of the Goddess Durga precedes Deepawali.

While Goddess Durga is the eminent icon crafted with great devotion in West Bengal, Lord Ganesha - acknowledged universally in India as the remover of obstacles - who is the central figure in the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra.

Since Independence of India, there is also a definite revival in general of traditions and in particular of craft traditions. Crafts are an intrinsic part of the religious and ritual traditions in India as craftsmen often worked for the temples and for providing the appurtenances necessary for worship. Before Indian Independence, many village crafts languished as the British implemented the policy of modern industrialization.

There are many gods and goddesses in the Hindu pantheon; different parts of the country give importance to one or the other. Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, is the divine core in the epic Mahabharata. It was he who gave the sermon of the Bhagwat Gita (the song Celestial) to Arjuna, one of the five Pandava brothers during their battle with the Kauravas at Kurukshetra. This battle again epitomizes the fight between the forces of evil and good. Lord Krishna, however, is not a mythical character. Lord Krishna is venerated all over India and there are temples dedicated to him specifically but in particular, his home ground of Vrindavan and Mathura where he lived as a boy and revealed his divinity by the miracles he wrought. His love for Radha has been the inspiration for miniature painters of the Kangra or Pahari school of Painting, as also for the elaborate style of painting embellished with gold, known as the Tanjore styles from South India.

The Indian calendar, as opposed to the Gregorian, starts in April. New Year’s day is April 13, celebrated as Baisakhi, which coincides with the harvesting of the wheat crop in Northern India, especially in Punjab. People wear new clothes, sing and dance in joy. In Eastern India the new year begins on April 14th and again it is a joyous occasion with singing and dancing by young men and women who don their best silken mekhalas (sarongs) and chaddars (an overwrap) and dance to the beat of the drum. This festival is known as Rangali Bihu in Assam.

As the Hindu gods and goddesses in their myriad forms were worshipped with elaborate rituals, many introduced by the priesthood, there appeared on the scene in North India a reformer who enjoined a simpler form of worship shorn of rituals. He was Guru Nanak Dev, whose teachings and those of the nine gurus who followed later are collected in the holy book of the Sikhs, the Granthsahib. The birth anniversaries of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last of Gurus, are very important days and are celebrated with religious fervor and devotion. Processions are taken out, the scriptures are chanted, without a break, and the Gurudwaras (Sikh temples), illuminated in most parts of India where Sikh population exists.

Lord Buddha was born in India and it is from the shores of this land that Buddhism was disseminated to Sri Lanka and to Tibet. Lord Buddha’s birth anniversary is celeberated as Buddha Purnima. Falling on the full moon day and is a holiday in India for the last so many years. Buddhists practice their rituals and observe their special religious days all over India.

Christians are equally at home in India. Two important Christian saints came to India many centuries ago and preached the doctrine of Christianity. It is believed that St Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Christ, came to India in the first century AD, and spent the rest of his life in India preaching Christinanity, particularly in Kerala where a large part of the population were converted to Christianity. His tomb, St Thomas Mount in Chennai, Tamil Nadu has become a place of pilgrimage for Christians in India.

The Spanish Catholic missionary, St Francis Xavier, also spent the greater part of his life in Goa - a small coastal state on the western coastal strip in India. His body, in a glass casket, has been kept in the Church of Basilica of Bom Jesu in Panjim, Goa. Every ten years, his relics are exposed to the public, and people from all over the world throng to Goa in order to get a glimpse and receive the benediction.

The Muslims in India celebrate all their festivals of Id, but they look westwards towards Arabia, which is their spiritual home, and the Government of India has made special arrangements for Haj pilgrims who go to Mecca annually. Chartered aeroplanes take them to their destination and they enjoy this concessional privilege.

Thus, it is evident that all members of this country enjoy the same constitutional rights and privileges since India got its Independence and their festivals and rituals lend a new dimension to the many faceted society that is India.

Topography
India is blessed with a wide variety of climates and soil types which permit the growing of many unique earthy roots, precious woods, aromatic spices, exotic flowers, balsamic resins and scented grasses. Practitioners of Ayurveda (the traditional Indian system of medicine dating to at least 1000 BC) were well acquainted with the uses to which these plants could be put and prescribed them to treat the emotional, mental and physical ailments of the people. Sandalwood, agarwood, spikenard, vetiver, saffron, cinnamon, jasmine, rose, coriander and ginger were but a few of the aromatic plants recognized by them as being plants possessing pleasing fragrant charm as well as being plants therapeutic value. These plants and many others were used in food preparations, medicinal formulas, massage oils, cosmetics, natural sandalwood-based perfumes called attars, incense, floral wreaths and unguents, each of which served some special function in promoting the well-being of the people. There is hardly any aspect of Indian life, be it political, social, economic or religious that has not been profoundly influenced by these plants.

A person interested in India’s botanical treasures will find there are many fascinating worlds to discover throughout the country. Flower markets, ayurvedic pharmacies and hospitals, traditional perfume houses, incense stores and manufacturers, essential oil and attar distilleries, botanical gardens and parks, temples, spice shops and marriage ceremonies are all good places to experience the diverse ways in which the wonderful jewels of the natural world permeate Indian life.

From the pine-clad slopes of the Himalayas to the scrub and thornforests of north west and peninsular India and from the semi-arid central forests to the ever-green deciduous groves of Kerala, Bengal, the northeast hills, and the Andaman and Nicobar, India’svegetation is tailored to its diverse topography. Some of the major Indian animals which inhabit its forest and green areas are: Bengal tiger, monkeys, elephants, foxes, jackals, mongoose, Indian crocodile, the gharial, and lizards and snakes - including the cobra comprise the indigenous reptile population. Peacock - the Indian national bird joins the ranks of birds from cranes, storks, ibises, hawks, hornbills, parrots, and the common crow.

History
The spirit of India has thus fascinated the world with its very mystique. A subcontinent with a 5000-year old history. A civilization united by its diversity - India has always been known as a land where history echoes itself with all its wonders in every piece of stone and every particle of dust.

India’s first major civilization flourished around 2500 BC in the Indus river valley much of which lies within present day India. This civilization, which lasted for 1000 years, and is known as the Harappan culture, appears to have been the culmination of thousands of years of settlement. From around 1500 BC onwards, Aryan tribes from Afghanistan and Central Asia began to filter into northwest India. Despite their martial superiority, their progress was gradual. Eventually though these tribes were able to control the whole of Northern India as far as Vindhya Hills, and many of the original inhabitants, the Dravidians, were pushed into south India. As the Aryan tribes spread out across the Ganges plain, in the seventh century BC, many of them were grouped together into 16 major kingdoms. Gradually these amalgamated into four large states, with Kosala and Magadha emerging to be the most powerful during the fifth century BC. North India however came to be dominated by the Nanda dynasty in about 364 BC. During this period however, North India narrowly avoided two other invasions from the west. The first was by the Persian king, Darius (521- 486 BC) and the second by Alexander the Great who marched into India from Greece in 326 BC.

The Mauryas were the first ruling dynasty to control large parts of North India and some parts of South India, as one territorial unit. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya with the able guidance of Kautilya, the author of the famous treatise - Arthshastra - he was able to set up ahighly centralized administrative setup. The empire reached its peak under Ashoka, who left pillars and rock-carved edicts, which delineate the enormous span of his territory that covered large areas of the Indian subcontinent; these can be seen in Delhi, Gujarat, Orissa, Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh and Sanchi in Madhya pradesh . Following the death of Ashoka, in 232 BC, the empire rapidly disintegrated, finally collapsing in 184 BC.

A number of empires rose and fell, especially in North India, following the collapse of the Mauryas. The next dynasty worth a mention is that of the Guptas. Although the Gupta empire was not as large as the Maurya empire, it kept North India politically united for more than a century from AD 335 to 455.

Following the decline of the Mauryan Empire a number of powerful kingdoms arose in central and south India, among them Satavahanas, Kalingas and Vakatakas hold precedence. Later on these regions saw the rise of some of the greatest dynasties of South India in the form of the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras, Chalukyas and Pallavas.

The decline of the Guptas, in North India, and the consequent rise of a large but ineffective number of regional powers made the political situation very fluid and unstable by the ninth century AD. This paved the way for the Muslim invasion into India during the early half of the eleventh century. These were felt in the form of seventeen successive raids to North India, made by Mahmud of Ghazni between 1001 and 1025. These raids effectively shattered the balance of power in North India allowing subsequent invaders to claim the territory for themselves. However the next Muslim ruler to invade India achieved the establishment of foreign rule in India, in its truesense. This Mahmud of Ghauri attacked India and after some futile resistance by the local leadership was able to successfully lay the foundation of a foreign empire in India. Under him, large parts of India came under Muslim rule and very soon his successor Qutub - ud - Aibak became the first of the sultans of Delhi. His was followed by the rule of the Khaljis and Tughlaq, also known as the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, who ruled over a large portion of North India and parts of South India till until the coming in of the Lodis andSayyids and after them the Mughals who established, what came to be known as the most vibrant era of Indian History.

Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb were some of the most prominent rulers of the Mughal dynasty. Although the Mughal’s heyday was relatively brief, their empire was massive, covering, at its height, almost the entire Indian subcontinent. Its significance was not only in its size, however. The Mughal emperors presided over a golden age of arts and literature and had a passion for building, which resulted in some of the greatest architecture in India. In particular, Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal at Agra ranks as one of the wonders of the world. This apart, the large number of forts, palaces, gates, buildings, mosques, baolis (watertank or well) gardens, etc., forms the cultural heritage of the Mughals in India. The Mughals were also instrumental in establishing one of the most efficient administrative setups in India. Most noteworthy being their revenue administration, the characteristics of which form the basics of the revenue and land reform laws in India till date.

The decline of the Mughals saw the corresponding rise of Marathas in Western India. In other parts of India, however a new trend of foreign invasion under the garb of commercial links had started from the fifteenth century AD onwards - first, with the arrival and gradual takeover of Goa by the Portugese led by Vasco da Gama -between 1498 and 1510 AD; and then with the arrival, and the setting up of the first trading post at Surat, in Gujarat, by the East India Company.

The British and Portugese were not the only Europeans in India. The Danes and Dutch also had trading posts, and in 1672 AD, the French established themselves at Pondicherry, an enclave that they held even after the British had departed. The British represented by the East India Company established their commercial control over vast areas in India, which very soon had an administrative dimension to it. The British rule in India was however formalized by the direct takeover of India by the British Crown, through the post 1857 reforms.

Since then uptill independence the history of India is one of constant struggle between the nationalists - who assumed different names, ideologies, backgrounds and methods - and the Britishers and their repressive policies in India.

Historians however, use the beginning of mature agriculture in the Indus and Ganges valleys as the starting point of the story of Indian civilization. The calendar reads first millennium BC. By now, iron had been discovered, and even iron implements for clearing of forests and cultivation had been fashioned out. Beginning here, the art or science of metallurgy developed very rapidly in India. India had many copper, tin, lead, brass and silver reserves, not to mention gold mines. Indian steel was so well known that after the famous battle between Alexander the Great and Porus, the only gift Porus could think of giving Alexander was steel. Today, apart from many steel plants, India has held this thread of continuity even in indigenous research in titanium technology and composites.

Modern India
At that time when man had just about created the right tools to throw up an agricultural surplus, the population of the area, according to some sources was recorded as one hundred million. No wonder Indian population figures continue to be staggering. While the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have managed to flatten their population growth curve, the Gangetic plains continue with their upwards-rising graph. Women are being empowered in this traditionally male dominated society with literacy, rural banking systems, and vocational skills. Organized women’s movements are gaining ground and this has managed to effect many legislative changes in the country. The Parliament is facing a bill for the reservation of 33% seats for women candidates. Of course, this comes against the backdrop of the many firsts in India history. The first woman president of the General Assembly of the United Nations was Vijaylakshmi Pandit.

As a matter of fact, the transformation being brought about in the society today, due to both welfare schemes as well as economic liberalization, makes it comparable to the period where our story begins. Historians call the 1st century BC the first axial stage and the 20th century AD the second. The first axial stage set in motion the gigantic transformation of a simple agrarian settlement into one of the most complex and enlightened cultures. By the 5th century AD,there was a wealth of material on every aspect of life-religion, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, arts, and crafts, even the art of governance. Today, these treatises are constantly being sourced for their eternal wisdom.

Accelerating the evolutionary process in the cultural sphere was the birth of two new religions: Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism saw a sudden revival of activities and many magnificent temples came into being. Arrival of Islam and interaction with Greece, Arabia, Persia and Central Asia further enriched life, which can be discerned even in aspects like architecture and irrigation technology. Literature was also greatly influenced by these movements.

Equally, the process of communication became varied and spread out. Stories, songs, theatre, craft were all vehicles of communicating with the people. India has 325 languages and 25 scripts. Even today, all of them are alive and being used. Tamil is the oldest language using the Dravidian script. The ancient language of Sanskrit continues to be ever charming with its highly developed grammar.

The reason why Indian Languages are not doing the disappearing act as those in many other parts of the world is because Indians, it has been found, are basically bilingual or even trilingual!

It is from within this society that the struggle for freedom against the British rule grew. The largest national movement in history took shape. People from every corner of India participated and all of them followed the path set by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, one of the greatest visionaries of this century. Naturally, a movement of this order finds many interpretations, insights and possible causes.

Sustaining a high moral order could not have been easy. History reveals an integrated vision of the leaders where truth and ahimsa or non-violence were held supreme. Strengthening this vision was the newly emerging intelligentsia. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra, Rabindranath Tagore, Subramanya Bharati and Abul Kalam Azad were some of those who enthused the people through their soul-stirring writings and songs to reach out to nationalism.

There were many who communicated directly with the masses. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Asaf Ali, C. Rajagopalachari, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Sarojini Naidu are some of the great names associated with the freedom struggle. Jawaharlal Nehru, of course, was the charismatic leader who later became independent India’s first Prime Minister. Rajendra Prasad became the country’s first President. In addition, a million others made this movement possible.

Independent India
India moment of glory finally arrived on the midnight of 15 August 1947. People delirious with joy flooded the streets to welcome the dawn of a new era. There was rejoicing everywhere. And within the Assembly Hall, Jawaharlal Nehru rose to make his famous “tryst with destiny” speech. By the early hours of morning, as the clouds sent a light drizzle to acknowledge the awakening, independent India was all set to transform a colonial society into a liberal polity.

A Constitution was drawn up in a matter of four years. It sought to assimilate different linguistic regions and religious communities of India into a cohesive Nation-State while, at the same time, conferring substantial autonomy upon the diverse states of the Indian Union. A concern for the citizens formed the basic principle for the guiding policies for governance laid down by the Constitution.

There was foresight in the visualization of the Indian Constitution, at every step. The founding fathers under the leadership of B. R. Ambedkar based governance of the country upon the free choice of its citizens. What is it that made them confident of the prudence and capabilities of the people from a society with modest social development? It was perhaps the strength of the oral tradition. The other was probably the existence of grass-root governance, a complex system having all the elements of a modern democracy. The Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary started functioning long before such systems were recognized by international thinkers.

Their faith was not misplaced. Time and again, the people of India have shown their ability to discern: to be able to match immediate interests with the over-arching interests of the nation. The unfailing mechanism of democracy assured stability for the nation. At another level, the politicization of the popular classes generated political aspirations. These aspirations were reflected in various movements, which helped redefine priorities, or in the formation of new political organizations, which added other dimensions to political thought. And, to the people, it became a source of hope for a better future.

India in 1949 was gearing up to face many challenges. She inherited a society administered for over a century by a civil service answerable to no one but itself. Her predominantly agrarian economy was stagnant, registering in fact a decline in production. In two phases, India tackled the situation.

In the first phase governmental planning and action addressed land reforms, improvement of agricultural marketing techniques and irrigation facilities. Reducing dependency on the fickle monsoons was a major priority area since most of Indian agriculture is rain-fed.

All this required, in addition to planning, a good deal of research. This was what the second phase was all about. Moving over to scientific research and development, India raised her agricultural production to a consistent growth rate of three percent per annum. Improved methodology and the spirit of innovation of her farmers are holding out dreams of reaching in far greater strength the markets of Europe, Middle East and Far East in the near future.

Contemporary impressions of India sometimes neglect the fact that the country is a great manufacturing nation. Economic charts reveal that many domestic brands of consumer goods, be they potato chips or trucks, computers or textiles are competing vigorously with global brands.

Simultaneously, India was building a scientific foundation for all her programs, be it agricultural research or pure scientific research or product designs for the craftsmen. If C. V. Raman, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and Hargobind Khorana were recipients of the Nobel Prize, there were others with equal capabilities like Homi Bhabha, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar,Jagdish Chandra Bose, Meghnad Saha Kothari, Krishnan, Vikram Sarabhai and Pal who concentrated their energies on creating the environment and infrastructure for further academic and developmental activities..

The ‘Green Revolution’ of the sixties and the ‘White Revolution’ of the seventies brought about amazing results in agriculture and cooperative dairy farming.

Industrial Sector
Indian industrial policy could be broadly divided into two phases. Before 1991, the need of the moment was seen to be the development of a machinery-producing sector with associated economic skills. The second part concentrated on creating a protected home market.

In 1991, India threw open the industrial sector to greater internationaland domestic competition. Financial systems have been strengthened and India are well developed. India in recent years has emerged as one of the leading destinations for investors from developed countries.

Supporting infrastructure facilities are also being made available. The country has the largest railway network in Asia and the second largest in the world under a single management. Roads are taking developmental changes to the most remote corners of the country. Nearly 85% of the villages have been electrified and there are nationwide grids for the transmission and distribution of power.

New areas like oceanography, space, electronics and non-conventional energy sources were developed. Her large scientific and technological personnel were contributing to research and development all over the world. Inter-university centers and consortia for advanced studies were fast becoming active centers of learning.

Their success, it has been observed, is based on a rare combination: scientific knowledge and the readiness to test and match it to folk wisdom. A large number of wells, for instance, have been dug with the help of space imagery! The Indian remote sensing program, perhaps the best in the world, sends out a special broadcast to fishermen who listen to this broadcast before getting their nets ready to bring home a range of seafood! When science was busy with research and applying its finds to traditional Indian life, artists of all genres were busy discovering new idioms, languages and expressions.

India’s newly acquired status as a nuclear power and a booming economy has thus brought under international limelight. Its internal problems notwithstanding, India has stepped into the new millennium with great confidence.

India therefore can be defined as a land where humanity has lived since ages; where different religions, societies, cultures, languages have interplayed with each other in harmony; a land which has seen the best and the worst of everything; a land where religion means more than their name; a place where nature has bestowed itself in all its colors to end it all a land which shall remain itself till eternity.