Flag Tricolour

Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital

Anthem Jana Gana Mana

India is federation with a parliamentary form of Song Vande Mataram

government, governed under the Constitution
of India.[61] It is a constitutional republic and Animal Royal Bengal Tiger
representative democracy, "in which majority
rule is tempered by minority rights protected by Bird Indian Peacock
law." Federalism in India defines the power
distribution between the centre and the states. Aquatic animal Dolphin
The government is regulated by a checks and Flower Lotus
balances defined by Indian Constitution, which
Tree Banyan
serves as the country's supreme legal
document. Fruit Mango
Sport Field hockey
Calendar Saka
defined by
the River Ganges
constitutio
n.[8]

Demonym Indian

Federal constitutional
Government parliamentary
democracy[9]

 -  President Pratibha Patil (INC)

Prime Manmohan Singh

 - 
Minister (INC)

Speaker of the
 -  Meira Kumar (INC)
House

 -  Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia

Legislature Sansad

 -  Upper House Rajya Sabha

 -  Lower House Lok Sabha

from the United

Independence
Kingdom 

 -  Declared 15 August 1947 

 -  Republic 26 January 1950 

 Area

3,287,240 km2 ‡
  (7th)
 - 
1,269,210 sq mi 

 -  Water (%) 9.56

Population

 -  2010 estimate 1,188,986,000[10] (2nd)

 -  2001 census 1,028,610,328[11] 

361.7/km2 (31st)
 -  Density
936.8/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate

 -  Total $3.526 trillion[12] (4th)

 -  Per capita $3,015[12] (127th)

GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate

 -  Total $1.235 trillion[12] (11th)

 -  Per capita $1,032[12] (142nd)

Gini (2004) 36.8[13] (79th)

0.519[14] (medium) (119th
HDI (2010)
)

Currency Indian rupee ( ) (INR)

Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)

 -  Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+5:30)

Date formats dd/mm/yyyy (AD)

Drives on the left

 ISO 3166 code IN

Internet TLD .in

Calling code 91

Non-numbered Footnotes:[show]

India ( /ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणराज्य Bhārat Gaṇarājya;
see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by
geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most
populous democracy in the world.[16] Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the
south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by
Pakistan to the west;[note] Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and
Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep
Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar
Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the
Andaman Sea.[17] India has a coastline of 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi).[18]

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast
empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much
of its long history.[19] Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and
Sikhism—originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the
first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British
East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom
from the mid-nineteenth century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for
independence which was marked by a non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

India is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy consisting of 28 states

and seven union territories. A pluralistic, multilingual and multiethnic society, India is also home
to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The Indian economy is the world's
eleventh largest economy by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity.
Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the
fastest growing major economies in the world;[20] however, the country continues to face several
poverty, illiteracy, corruption and public health related challenges. India is classified as a newly
industrialised country and is one of the four BRIC nations.[21][22] It is the world's sixth de facto
nuclear weapons state and has the third-largest standing armed force in the world, while its
military expenditure ranks tenth in the world.[23] India is a regional power in South Asia.[24]

It is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade
Organization, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the East Asia Summit, the
G20 and the G8+5; a member of the Commonwealth of Nations; and an observer state in the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Contents
[hide]

Etymology
Main article: Names of India

The name India is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from
Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River.[25] The ancient Greeks
referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ινδοί), the people of the Indus.[26] The Constitution of India and
common usage in various Indian languages also recognise Bharat (pronounced [ˈbʱɑːrət̪ ]  (
listen)) as an official name of equal status.[27] The name Bharat is derived from the name of the
legendary king Bharata in Hindu scriptures. Hindustan ([hɪnd̪ʊˈstɑːn]  ( listen)), originally a
Persian word for “Land of the Hindus” referring to northern India, is also occasionally used as a
synonym for all of India.[28]

History
Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh are the
earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared
about 8,500 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[29] dating back
to 3400 BCE in western India. It was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations
of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 500s BCE. From
around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were
established across the country.[30]

Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, sixth century

In the third century BCE, most of South Asia was united into the Maurya Empire by
Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great.[31] From the third century CE, the
Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient "India's Golden Age".[32][33] Empires in
southern India included those of the Chalukyas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire.
Science, technology, engineering, art, logic, language, literature, mathematics, astronomy,
religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.

Following Islamic invasions from Central Asia between the 10th and 12th centuries, much of
northern India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire. Under
the rule of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed much cultural and economic progress as well as
religious harmony.[34][35] Mughal emperors gradually expanded their empires to cover large parts
of the subcontinent. However, in northeastern India, the dominant power was the Ahom kingdom
of Assam, among the few kingdoms to have resisted Mughal subjugation. The first major threat
to Mughal imperial power came from a Hindu Rajput king Maha Rana Pratap of Mewar in the
16th century. By early 1700s, the Sikh Empire and the Marathas had emerged as formidable foes
of the Mughals.[36] Following the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire entered a period of
gradual decline and by mid-18th century, a large portion of the Mughal territory came under the
control of the Hindu Maratha Empire.[37]

The National Emblem of India is derived from the time of the Emperor Ashoka. The emblem is a
replica of the Lion of Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The Lion Capital was erected in
the third century BC by Emperor Ashoka to mark the spot where Buddha first proclaimed his
gospel of peace and emancipation to the four quarters of the universe. The national emblem is
thus symbolic of contemporary India’s reaffirmation of its ancient commitment to world peace
and goodwill. The four lions(one hidden from view ) – symbolising power, courage and
confidence- rest on a circular abacus. The abacus is girded by four smaller animals- Guardians
of the four directions: The Lion of the North, The Elephant of the East, The Horse of the
South and The Bull of the West **. The abacus rests on a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the
fountainhead of life and creative inspiration.

The motto ‘Satyameva Jayate’ inscribed below the emblem in Devanagari script means ‘truth
alone triumphs’.

Slovenščina: državni grb Indije

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