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This article is about the Republic of India. For other uses, see India (disambiguation).

Republic of India
Bhārat Gaṇarājya
(see other local names)

Flag

State emblem

Motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)

"Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]

Anthem: "Jana Gana Mana"[2][3]

"Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[4][2]

1:04

National song
"Vande Mataram" (Sanskrit)
"I Bow to Thee, Mother"[a][1][2]
 Territory controlled by India shown in dark green; territory claimed
but not controlled shown in light green

Capital New Delhi

28°36′50″N 77°12′30″E

Mumbai (city proper)
Largest city
Delhi (metropolitan area)

Official languages Hindi
English[b][8]
Recognised None[9][10][11]
national languages
Recognised show
regional languages
State level and Eighth Schedule[12]

Native languages 447 languages[c]

Religion 79.8% Hinduism
(2011) 14.2% Islam
2.3% Christianity
1.7% Sikhism
0.7% Buddhism
0.4% Jainism
0.23% Unaffiliated
0.65% Others[15]

Demonym(s) Indian

Government Federal parliamentary constitutional republic

• President Droupadi Murmu

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud
• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

Legislature Parliament

• Upper house Rajya Sabha

• Lower house Lok Sabha

Independence
from the United Kingdom
• Dominion 15 August 1947
• Republic 26 January 1950

Area
• Total 3,287,263[2] km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)[d] (7th)
• Water (%) 9.6

Population
• 2022 estimate 1,375,586,000[17] (2nd)
• 2011 census 1,210,854,977[18][19] (2nd)
• Density 419.1/km2 (1,085.5/sq mi) (30th)

GDP (PPP) 2022 estimate
• Total  $11.665 trillion[20] (3rd)

• Per capita  $8,293[20] (127th)

GDP (nominal) 2022 estimate
• Total  $3.469 trillion[20] (5th)

• Per capita  $2,466[20] (139th)

Gini (2011) 35.7[21][22]
medium

HDI (2021)  0.633[23]
medium · 132nd

Currency Indian rupee (₹) (INR)

Time zone UTC+05:30 (IST)

DST is not observed

Date format dd-mm-yyyy[e]

Driving side left[24]

Calling code +91

ISO 3166 code IN

Internet TLD .in (others)

India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[25] is a country
in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most
populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by
the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of
Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;
[f]
 China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east.
In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives;
its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar,
and Indonesia.
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000
years ago.[26][27][28] Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-
gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in
human genetic diversity.[29] Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western
margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus
Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE.[30] By 1200 BCE, an archaic
form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the
northwest.[31][32] Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda. Preserved by
a resolutely vigilant oral tradition, the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in
India.[33] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and
western regions.[34] By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged
within Hinduism,[35] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social
orders unlinked to heredity.[36] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-
knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.[37] Their
collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity,[38] but also marked by the
declining status of women,[39] and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised
system of belief.[g][40] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-
languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[41]
In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became
established on India's southern and western coasts. [42] Muslim armies from Central
Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,[43] eventually founding the Delhi
Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval
Islam.[44] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting
composite Hindu culture in south India.[45] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting
institutionalised religion.[46] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of
relative peace,[47] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[h][48] Gradually
expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a
colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.[49] British Crown rule began
in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, [50][51] but technological
changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took
root.[52] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement led by Mahatma
Gandhi emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and it became the major
factor in ending British rule.[53][54] In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into
two independent dominions,[55][56][57][58] a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-
majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented
migration.[59]
India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a
democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic
society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to almost 1.4 billion in 2022.
[60]
 During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64
annually to US$1,498, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a
comparatively destitute country in 1951,[61] India has become a fast-growing major
economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle
class.[62] It has a space programme which includes several planned or
completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings
play an increasing role in global culture. [63] India has substantially reduced its rate of
poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality. [64] India is a nuclear-
weapon state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes
over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th
century.[65] Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender
inequality, child malnutrition,[66] and rising levels of air pollution.[67] India's land
is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots.[68] Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of
its area.[69] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's
culture,[70] is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats.

Etymology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (third edition 2009), the name "India" is
derived from the Classical Latin India, a reference to South Asia and an uncertain
region to its east; and in turn derived successively from: Hellenistic
Greek India ( Ἰνδία); ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός); Old Persian Hindush, an eastern
province of the Achaemenid Empire; and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu,
or "river," specifically the Indus River and, by implication, its well-settled southern
basin.[71][72] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which
translates as "The people of the Indus". [73]
The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ( listen)), mentioned in both Indian epic
poetry and the Constitution of India,[74][75] is used in its variations by many Indian
languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied
originally to North India,[76][77] Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th
century as a native name for India.[74][78]
Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ( listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India, introduced
during the Mughal Empire and used widely since. Its meaning has varied, referring to
a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its
near entirety.[74][78][79]

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

An illustration from an early-modern manuscript of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, composed in story-telling

fashion c. 400 BCE – c. 300 CE[80]
By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or Homo sapiens, had arrived on the
Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved. [26][27][28] The earliest
known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. [26] After
6500 BCE, evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of
permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and
other sites in what is now Balochistan, Pakistan.[81] These gradually developed into
the Indus Valley Civilisation,[82][81] the first urban culture in South Asia,[83] which
flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India.
[84]
 Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan,
and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts
production and wide-ranging trade.[83]
During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned
from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[85] The Vedas, the oldest
scriptures associated with Hinduism,[86] were composed during this period,[87] and
historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the
upper Gangetic Plain.[85] Most historians also consider this period to have
encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the
north-west.[86] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and
free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations
impure, arose during this period.[88] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence
from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.
[85]
 In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number
of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[89] as well as by nearby traces
of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[89]

Cave 26 of the rock-cut Ajanta Caves

In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms
of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major
oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[90][91] The
emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which
became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its
exemplar, Mahavira.[92] Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha,
attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the
life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. [93][94][95] In
an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,
[96]
 and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century
BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as
the Mauryan Empire.[97] The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the
subcontinent except the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been
separated by large autonomous areas.[98][99] The Mauryan kings are known as much
for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's
renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[100][101]
The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and
200 CE, the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and
the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and
with West and Southeast Asia.[102][103] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal
control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women. [104][97] By the 4th
and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration
and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later
Indian kingdoms.[105][106] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion,
rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself. [107] This renewal was
reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an
urban elite.[106] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian
science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[106]
Medieval India

Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, completed in 1010 CE

The Qutub Minar, 73 m (240 ft) tall, completed by the Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish

The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200 CE, is defined by regional
kingdoms and cultural diversity.[108] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the
Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was
defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[109] When his successor attempted to
expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[109] When the
Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by
the Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and
the Cholas from still farther south.[109] No ruler of this period was able to create an
empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region. [108] During this
time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing
agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-
traditional ruling classes.[110] The caste system consequently began to show regional
differences.[110]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil
language.[111] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of
Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.
[111]
 Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in
great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well. [112] Temple
towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another
urbanisation.[112] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia,
as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became
part of modern-
day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia,
and Indonesia.[113] Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved
in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many
sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their
languages.[113]
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-
horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly
overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of
the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[114] The sultanate was to control much of North
India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the
Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its
own laws and customs.[115][116] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th
century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central
Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men,
mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby
creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. [117][118] The sultanate's raiding and
weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the
indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[119] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and
building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control
much of peninsular India,[120] and was to influence South Indian society for long
afterwards.[119]
Early modern India
In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, [121] fell
again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian
warriors.[122] The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came
to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices [123]
[124]
 and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[125] leading to more systematic, centralised,
and uniform rule.[126] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially
under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed
through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status. [125] The
Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture [127] and
mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, [128] caused
peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. [126] The relative peace maintained by
the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic
expansion,[126] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles,
and architecture.[129] Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such
as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions
during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both
recognition and military experience.[130] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave
rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and
eastern India.[130] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to
seek and control their own affairs.[131]

A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort

A two mohur Company gold coin, issued in 1835, the obverse inscribed "William IV, King"

By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance
being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the
English East India Company, had established coastal outposts.[132][133] The East India
Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military
training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength and caused it
to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in
allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline
the other European companies.[134][132][135][136] Its further access to the riches of Bengal
and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annexe or
subdue most of India by the 1820s.[137] India was then no longer exporting
manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with
raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.
[132]
 By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament
and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India
Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including
education, social reform and culture.[138]
Modern India
Main article: History of the Republic of India
Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and
1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East
India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These
included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the
population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them,
railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction
in Europe.[139][140][141][142] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this
time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and
perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and
summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many
regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule. [143]
[144]
 Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the
East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British government.
Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary
system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal
safeguard against future unrest.[145][146] In the decades following, public life gradually
emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National
Congress in 1885.[147][148][149][150]
The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of
the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks and many small farmers
became dependent on the whims of far-away markets. [151] There was an increase in
the number of large-scale famines,[152] and, despite the risks of infrastructure
development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated
for Indians.[153] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in
the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal
consumption.[154] The railway network provided critical famine relief, [155] notably reduced
the cost of moving goods,[155] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry. [154]

1909 map of the British Indian Empire

Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mahatma Gandhi, Mumbai, 6 July 1946

After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[156] a new period
began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more
strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of
non-co-operation, of which Mahatma Gandhi would become the leader and enduring
symbol.[157] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the
Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. [158] The next decade
was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress's final push
for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped by the
advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two
states: India and Pakistan.[159]
Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in
1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic. [160] Per the London
Declaration, India retained its membership of the Commonwealth, becoming the first
republic within it.[161] Economic liberalisation, which began in the 1990s, has created a
large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing
economies,[162] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian films, music, and spiritual
teachings play an increasing role in global culture. [163] Yet, India is also shaped by
seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; [163] by religious and caste-related
violence;[164] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[165] and by separatism in Jammu
and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[166] It has unresolved territorial disputes
with China[167] and with Pakistan.[167] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique
among the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic
successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to
be achieved.[168]

Geography
Main article: Geography of India
India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic
plate, a part of the Indo-Australian Plate.[169] India's defining geological processes
began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern
supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor
spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east. [169] Simultaneously, the
vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian
Plate.[169] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both
created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to
under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[169] Immediately south of the
emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shaped trough that
rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[170] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic
Plain.[171] The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in
the ancient Aravalli range, which extends from the Delhi Ridge in a southwesterly
direction. To the west lies the Thar Desert, the eastern spread of which is checked
by the Aravallis.[172][173][174]

The Tungabhadra, with rocky outcrops, flows into the peninsular Krishna river.[175]

Fishing boats lashed together in a tidal creek in Anjarle village, Maharashtra

The remaining Indian Plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically
most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges
in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in
the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[176] To the
south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the
west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats;[177] the
plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years
old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′
and 35° 30′ north latitude[i] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude. [178]
India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance,
5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres
(1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains. [179] According to
the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the
following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and
46% mudflats or marshy shores.[179]
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.
[180]
 Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's
extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods
and course changes.[181][182] Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent
their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and
the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[183] and the Narmada and
the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[184] Coastal features include the
marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern
India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh.[185] India has two archipelagos:
the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[186]
Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of
which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons.
[187]
 The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in,
keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar
latitudes.[188][189] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden
south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the
majority of India's rainfall.[187] Four major climatic groupings predominate in
India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[190]
Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.
[191]
 Climate change in India is often thought to be the cause. The retreat of Himalayan
glaciers has adversely affected the flow rate of the major Himalayan rivers, including
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.[192] According to some current projections, the
number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of
the present century.[193]

Biodiversity
Main articles: Forestry in India and Wildlife of India
India has the majority of the world's wild tigers, approximately 3,000 in 2019. [194]

A Chital (Axis axis) stag in the Nagarhole National Park[195]

India is a megadiverse country, a term employed for 17 countries which display

high biological diversity and contain many species exclusively indigenous,
or endemic, to them.[196] India is a habitat for 8.6% of all mammal species, 13.7%
of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2%
of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[197][198] Fully a third of Indian
plant species are endemic.[199] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity
hotspots,[68] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high
endemism.[j][200]
According to official statistics, India's forest cover is 713,789 km2 (275,595 sq mi),
which is 21.71% of the country's total land area.[69] It can be subdivided further into
broad categories of canopy density, or the proportion of the area of a forest covered
by its tree canopy.[201] Very dense forest, whose canopy density is greater than 70%,
occupies 3.02% of India's land area.[201][202] It predominates in the tropical moist
forest of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India.
[195]
 Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%,
occupies 9.39% of India's land area.[201][202] It predominates in the temperate coniferous
forest of the Himalayas, the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry
deciduous teak forest of central and southern India.[195] Open forest, whose canopy
density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.26% of India's land area. [201][202] India has
two natural zones of thorn forest, one in the Deccan Plateau, immediately east of the
Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now
turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible. [203]
Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are
the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural
Indian herbal medicine,[204] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul,[205] which is
displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[206] and under which the Buddha is
recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[207]
Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the
southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years
ago.[208] India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species.
However, volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many
endemic Indian forms.[209] Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through
two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas.[195] This had the effect of
lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting
with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians. [198] Among endemics are
the vulnerable[210] hooded leaf monkey[211] and the threatened[212] Beddome's toad[212][213] of
the Western Ghats.

The last three Asiatic cheetahs (on record) in India were shot dead in 1948.

India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of

endangered forms.[214] These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges
river dolphin. Critically endangered species include: the gharial, a crocodilian;
the great Indian bustard; and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which has become
nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[215] Before
they were extensively utilized for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the
thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were
grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by the Asiatic cheetah; the blackbuck,
no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is
extinct.[216] The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent
decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of national
parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In
1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act[217] and Project Tiger to safeguard
crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and
amendments added in 1988.[218] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife
sanctuaries and thirteen biosphere reserves,[219] four of which are part of the World
Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under
the Ramsar Convention.[220]

Politics and government

Politics
Main article: Politics of India
As part of Janadesh 2007, 25,000 pro-land reform landless people in Madhya Pradesh listen to Rajagopal
P. V.[221]

India is the world's most populous democracy.[222] A parliamentary republic with

a multi-party system,[223] it has eight recognised national parties, including the Indian
National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than
40 regional parties.[224] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political
culture,[225] and the BJP right-wing.[226][227][228] For most of the period between 1950—when
India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in
the parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage
with the BJP,[229] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the
creation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[230]
In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962,
the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in
1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after
his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, who went on
to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971. Following public
discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was
voted out of power in 1977; the then-new Janata Party, which had opposed the
emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. There were two
prime ministers during this period; Morarji Desai and Charan Singh. Voted back into
power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira
Gandhi was assassinated; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an
easy victory in the general elections later that year. The Congress was voted out
again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in
alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; that government too proved relatively
short-lived, lasting just under two years. There were two prime ministers during this
period; V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.[231] Elections were held again in 1991; no
party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as the largest single party, was able
to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao.[232]
US president Barack Obama addresses the members of the Parliament of India in New Delhi in November
2010.

A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996. Several
short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government
briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United
Front coalitions, which depended on external support. There were two prime
ministers during this period; H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. In 1998, the BJP was
able to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led
by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition
government to complete a five-year term.[233] Again in the 2004 Indian general
elections, no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the
largest single party, forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA). It had the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the
BJP. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased
numbers, and it no longer required external support from India's communist parties.
[234]
 That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal
Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term. [235] In
the 2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win
a majority and govern without the support of other parties. [236] In the 2019 general
election, the BJP was victorious again. The incumbent prime minister is Narendra
Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat. On 22 July 2022, Droupadi
Murmu was elected India's 15th president and took the oath of office on 25 July
2022.[237]
Government
Main articles: Government of India and Constitution of India

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, was designed by British
architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for the Viceroy of India, and constructed between 1911 and
1931 during the British Raj.[238]

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of

India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic
and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority
rights protected by law". Federalism in India defines the power distribution between
the union and the states. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26
January 1950,[239] originally stated India to be a "sovereign, democratic republic;" this
characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic
republic".[240] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with
a strong centre and weak states,[241] has grown increasingly federal since the late
1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes. [242][243]

National symbols[1]

Flag Tiranga (Tricolour)

Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital

Anthem Jana Gana Mana

Song "Vande Mataram"

Language None[9][10][11]

Currency ₹ (Indian rupee)

Calendar Saka
 Bengal tiger
Animal
River dolphin

Indian peafowl

Flower Lotus

Fruit Mango

Tree Banyan

River Ganges

The Government of India comprises three branches:[244]

 Executive: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state,[245] who is

elected indirectly for a five-year term by an electoral college comprising members
of national and state legislatures.[246][247] The Prime Minister of India is the head of
government and exercises most executive power.[248] Appointed by the president,
[249]
 the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political
alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament. [248] The
executive of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice president,
and the Union Council of Ministers—with the cabinet being its executive
committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must
be a member of one of the houses of parliament. [245] In the Indian parliamentary
system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and
their council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. Civil
servants act as permanent executives and all decisions of the executive are
implemented by them.[250]
 Legislature: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. Operating under
a Westminster-style parliamentary system, it comprises an upper house called
the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and a lower house called the Lok
Sabha (House of the People).[251] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of
245 members who serve staggered six-year terms.[252] Most are elected indirectly
by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their
state's share of the national population.[249] All but two of the Lok Sabha's
545 members are elected directly by popular vote; they represent single-member
constituencies for five-year terms.[253] Two seats of parliament, reserved for Anglo-
Indians in the article 331, have been scrapped.[254][255]
 Judiciary: India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary[256] comprising
the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a
large number of trial courts.[256] The supreme court has original jurisdiction over
cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the
centre and has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts.[257] It has the power to
both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution, [258] and
invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional. [259]
Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of India
See also: Political integration of India
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories.[16] All states, as
well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National
Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the
Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly
ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under
the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[260] There
are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district
and village levels.[261]

A clickable map of the 28 states and 8 union territories of India

States

1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Arunachal Pradesh
3. Assam
4. Bihar
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Goa
7. Gujarat
8. Haryana
9. Himachal Pradesh
10. Jharkhand
11. Karnataka
12. Kerala
13. Madhya Pradesh
14. Maharashtra
 15. Manipur
16. Meghalaya
17. Mizoram
18. Nagaland
19. Odisha
20. Punjab
21. Rajasthan
22. Sikkim
23. Tamil Nadu
24. Telangana
25. Tripura
26. Uttar Pradesh
27. Uttarakhand
28. West Bengal
Union territories

A. Andaman and Nicobar Islands

B. Chandigarh
C. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
D. Jammu and Kashmir
E. Ladakh
F. Lakshadweep
G. National Capital Territory of Delhi
H. Puducherry

Foreign, economic and strategic relations

Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces
During the 1950s and 60s, India played a pivotal role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[262] From left to
right: Gamal Abdel Nasser of United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Josip Broz
Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru in Belgrade, September 1961.

In the 1950s, India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a

leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[263] After initially cordial relations with
neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962, and was widely thought to
have been humiliated.[264] India has had tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan;
the two nations have gone to war four times: in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three
of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir, while the fourth, the
1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[265] In
the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host
country: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an
armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup d'état attempt in the Maldives. After the
1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with
the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier. [266]
Aside from ongoing its special relationship with Russia,[267] India has wide-
ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, it has played key
roles in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade
Organization. The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to
serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in
the East Asia Summit, the G8+5, and other multilateral forums.[268] India has close
economic ties with countries in South America,[269] Asia, and Africa; it pursues a "Look
East" policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan,
and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving
economic investment and regional security. [270][271]
The Indian Air Force contingent marching at the 221st Bastille Day military parade in Paris, on 14 July
2009. The parade at which India was the foreign guest was led by India's oldest regiment, the Maratha
Light Infantry, founded in 1768.[272]

China's nuclear test of 1964, as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of

Pakistan in the 1965 war, convinced India to develop nuclear weapons. [273] India
conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional
underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has
signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. [274] India
maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability
as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.[275][276] It is developing
a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[277][278] Other
indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class
aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[279]
Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and
military co-operation with the United States and the European Union.[280] In 2008,
a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States.
Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic
Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on
India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the
sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[281] India subsequently signed co-operation
agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[282] France,[283] the United
Kingdom,[284] and Canada.[285]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India (left, background) in talks with President Enrique Peña Nieto of
Mexico during a visit to Mexico, 2016

The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with
1.45 million active troops, they compose the world's second-largest military. It
comprises the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian
Coast Guard.[286] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or
1.83% of GDP.[287] Defence expenditure was pegged at US$70.12 billion for fiscal
year 2022–23 and, increased 9.8% than previous fiscal year. [288][289] India is the world's
second largest arms importer; between 2016 and 2020, it accounted for 9.5% of the
total global arms imports.[290] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence
against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. [291] In
May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia
Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[292] In October 2018,
India signed a US$5.43 billion (over ₹400 billion) agreement with Russia to procure
four S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced
long-range missile defence system.[293]

Economy
Main article: Economy of India

A farmer in northwestern Karnataka ploughs his field with a tractor even as another in a field beyond does
the same with a pair of oxen. In 2019, 43% of India's total workforce was employed in agriculture. [294]

India is the world's largest producer of milk, with the largest population of cattle. In 2018, nearly 80% of
India's milk was sourced from small farms with herd size between one and two, the milk harvested by hand
milking.[296]

Women tend to a recently planted rice field in Junagadh district in Gujarat. 55% of India's female workforce
was employed in agriculture in 2019.[295]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2022 was

nominally worth $3.46 trillion; it was the fifth-largest economy by market exchange
rates, and is around $11.6 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).
[297]
 With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and
reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[298] India is one of the world's fastest-growing
economies.[299] However, the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per
capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP.[300] Until 1991, all Indian governments
followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics.
Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the
outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation
to liberalise its economy;[301] since then it has moved slowly towards a free-market
system[302][303] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows. [304] India
has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.[305]
The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2017.
[286]
 The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the
agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$100 billion in
2022,[306] highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians
working in foreign countries.[307] Major agricultural products include: rice, wheat,
oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes. [16] Major industries include:
textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food
processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and
software.[16] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from
6% in 1985.[302] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%; [308] In 2021, India was
the world's ninth-largest importer and the sixteenth-largest exporter.[309] Major exports
include: petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods,
chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.[16] Major imports include: crude oil,
machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[16] Between 2001 and 2011, the
contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14%
to 42%.[310] India was the world's second largest textile exporter after China in the
2013 calendar year.[311]
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007, [302] India
has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st
century.[312] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle
classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[313] Though ranking 51st
in global competitiveness, as of 2010, India ranks 17th in financial market
sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th
in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies. [314] With seven of the world's top
15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009, the
country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the
United States.[315] India is ranked 40th in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.[316] India's
consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by
2030.[313]
Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$308 in
1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,380 in 2010, to an estimated
US$1,730 in 2016. It is expected to grow to US$2,313 by 2022. [20] However, it has
remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the
near future.
A panorama of Bangalore, the centre of India's software development economy. In the 1980s, when the
first multinational corporations began to set up centres in India, they chose Bangalore because of the large
pool of skilled graduates in the area, in turn due to the many science and engineering colleges in the
surrounding region.[317]

According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at

purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045. [318] During
the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of
8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050.
[318]
 The report highlights key growth factors: a young and rapidly growing working-age
population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and
engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a
rapidly growing middle-class.[318] The World Bank cautions that, for India to achieve its
economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport
infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of labour
regulations, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.[319]
According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by the Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU) which was created by comparing more than 400 individual
prices across 160 products and services, four of the cheapest cities were in
India: Bangalore (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[320]
Industries

A tea garden in Sikkim. India, the world's second largest-producer of tea, is a nation of one billion tea
drinkers, who consume 70% of India's tea output.

India's telecommunication industry is the second-largest in the world with over 1.2

billion subscribers. It contributes 6.5% to India's GDP. [321] After the third quarter of
2017, India surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in
the world after China.[322]
The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased
domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[323] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.
[324]
 At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals,
generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP, and
contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[325]
The pharmaceutical industry in India emerged as a global player. As of 2021, with
3000 pharmaceutical companies and 10,500 manufacturing units India is the world's
third-largest pharmaceutical producer, largest producer of generic medicines and
supply up to 50%—60% of global vaccines demand, these all contribute up
to US$24.44 billions in exports and India's local pharmacutical market is estimated
up to US$42 billion.[326][327] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.
[328][329]
 The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing its
revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at
June 2013 exchange rates).[330]
Energy
Main articles: Energy in India and Energy policy of India
India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts
is renewable.[331] The country's usage of coal is a major cause of greenhouse gas
emissions by India but its renewable energy is competing strongly.[332] India emits
about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This equates to about 2.5 tons
of carbon dioxide per person per year, which is half the world average. [333]
[334]
 Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking with liquefied petroleum
gas have been priorities for energy in India.[335]
Socio-economic challenges

Health workers about to begin another day of immunisation against infectious diseases in 2006. Eight years
later, and three years after India's last case of polio, the World Health Organization declared India to be
polio-free.[336]

Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-
economic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living
below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. [337] The
proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005. [338] Under the World Bank's
later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[k][340] 30.7% of India's children under the
age of five are underweight.[341] According to a Food and Agriculture
Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished. [342][343] The Mid-
Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[344]
A 2018 Walk Free Foundation report estimated that nearly 8 million people in India
were living in different forms of modern slavery, such as bonded labour, child labour,
human trafficking, and forced begging, among others. [345] According to the 2011
census, there were 10.1 million child labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6 million
from 12.6 million in 2001.[346]
Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the
per-capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that
of the poorest.[347] Corruption in India is perceived to have decreased. According to
the Corruption Perceptions Index, India ranked 78th out of 180 countries in 2018 with
a score of 41 out of 100, an improvement from 85th in 2014. [348][349]
Epidemic and pandemic diseases have long been a major factor, including Covid-19
recently,[350]

Demographics, languages, and religion

Main articles: Demographics of India, Languages of India, and Religion in India
See also: South Asian ethnic groups
India by language

The language families of South Asia

With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[351] India

was the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% from
2001 to 2011,[352] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).
[352]
 The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000
males.[351] The median age was 28.7 as of 2020. [286] The first post-colonial census,
conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[353] Medical advances made in the last
50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green
Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly. [354]
The average life expectancy in India is at 70 years—71.5 years for women, 68.7
years for men.[286] There are around 93 physicians per 100,000 people. [355] Migration
from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in India's recent history.
The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.
[356]
 Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas. [357][358] The level of urbanisation
increased further from 27.81% in the 2001 Census to 31.16% in the 2011 Census.
The slowing down of the overall population growth rate was due to the sharp decline
in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991. [359] According to the 2011 census, there
are 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among
them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in
decreasing order by population.[360] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46%
among females and 82.14% among males.[361] The rural-urban literacy gap, which
was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The
improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas. [359] Kerala is the
most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[361]

The interior of San Thome Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Christianity is believed to have been introduced
to India by the late 2nd century by Syriac-speaking Christians.
Among speakers of the Indian languages, 74% speak Indo-Aryan languages, the
easternmost branch of the Indo-European languages; 24% speak Dravidian
languages, indigenous to South Asia and spoken widely before the spread of Indo-
Aryan languages and 2% speak Austroasiatic languages or the Sino-Tibetan
languages. India has no national language.[362] Hindi, with the largest number of
speakers, is the official language of the government. [363][364] English is used extensively
in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";
[6]
 it is important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state
and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution
recognises in particular 22 "scheduled languages".
The 2011 census reported the religion in India with the largest number of followers
was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining
were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and
others[l] (0.9%).[15] India has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-
Muslim majority country.[365][366]

Culture
Main article: Culture of India

A Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab

Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[367] During the Vedic period (c. 

1700 BCE – c. 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu
philosophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and
practices which still exist today, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga, and mokṣa, were
established.[73] India is notable for its religious diversity,
with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the
nation's major religions.[368] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by
various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[369] the Yoga
Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[368] and by Buddhist philosophy.[370]
Visual art
Main article: Indian art
India has a very ancient tradition of art, which has exchanged many influences with
the rest of Eurasia, especially in the first millennium, when Buddhist art spread with
Indian religions to Central, East and South-East Asia, the last also greatly influenced
by Hindu art.[371] Thousands of seals from the Indus Valley Civilization of the third
millennium BCE have been found, usually carved with animals, but a few with human
figures. The "Pashupati" seal, excavated in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, in 1928–29, is
the best known.[372][373] After this there is a long period with virtually nothing surviving. [373]
[374]
 Almost all surviving ancient Indian art thereafter is in various forms of
religious sculpture in durable materials, or coins. There was probably originally far
more in wood, which is lost. In north India Mauryan art is the first imperial movement.
[375][376][377]
 In the first millennium CE, Buddhist art spread with Indian religions
to Central, East and South-East Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art.
[378]
 Over the following centuries a distinctly Indian style of sculpting the human figure
developed, with less interest in articulating precise anatomy than ancient Greek
sculpture but showing smoothly-flowing forms expressing prana ("breath" or life-
force).[379][380] This is often complicated by the need to give figures multiple arms or
heads, or represent different genders on the left and right of figures, as with
the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva and Parvati.[381][382]
Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from
Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi, Sarnath and Amaravati,[383] or is rock-cut reliefs at
sites such as Ajanta, Karla and Ellora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later.[384]
[385]
 In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing
artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups,
and sculptors probably usually served all communities. [386] Gupta art, at its peak c. 
300 CE – c. 500 CE, is often regarded as a classical period whose influence lingered
for many centuries after; it saw a new dominance of Hindu sculpture, as at
the Elephanta Caves.[387][388] Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic
after c. 800 CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues.
[389]
 But in the South, under the Pallava and Chola dynasties, sculpture in both stone
and bronze had a sustained period of great achievement; the large bronzes with
Shiva as Nataraja have become an iconic symbol of India. [390][391]
Ancient painting has only survived at a few sites, of which the crowded scenes of
court life in the Ajanta Caves are by far the most important, but it was evidently
highly developed, and is mentioned as a courtly accomplishment in Gupta times. [392]
[393]
 Painted manuscripts of religious texts survive from Eastern India about the 10th
century onwards, most of the earliest being Buddhist and later Jain. No doubt the
style of these was used in larger paintings. [394] The Persian-derived Deccan painting,
starting just before the Mughal miniature, between them give the first large body of
secular painting, with an emphasis on portraits, and the recording of princely
pleasures and wars.[395][396] The style spread to Hindu courts, especially among the
Rajputs, and developed a variety of styles, with the smaller courts often the most
innovative, with figures such as Nihâl Chand and Nainsukh.[397][398] As a market
developed among European residents, it was supplied by Company painting by
Indian artists with considerable Western influence. [399][400] In the 19th century,
cheap Kalighat paintings of gods and everyday life, done on paper, were urban folk
art from Calcutta, which later saw the Bengal School of Art, reflecting the art colleges
founded by the British, the first movement in modern Indian painting.[401][402]
 

Bhutesvara Yakshis, Buddhist reliefs from Mathura, 2nd century CE

 

Gupta terracotta relief, Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi, 5th century

 

Elephanta Caves, triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, c. 550

 
 

Chola bronze of Shiva as Nataraja ("Lord of Dance"), Tamil Nadu, 10th or 11th century.

 

Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on His Return from the Mewar Campaign, Balchand, c. 

1635
 

Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids, Kangra painting, 1775–1785

Architecture
Main article: Architecture of India
The Taj Mahal from across the Yamuna river showing two outlying red sandstone buildings, a mosque on
the right (west) and a jawab (response) thought to have been built for architectural balance

Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Indo-Islamic

Mughal architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions
with imported styles.[403] Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours. Vastu
shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni
Mayan,[404] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings; [405] it employs
precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.
[406]
 As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a
series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha
mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[407] The Taj Mahal, built
in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in
memory of his wife, has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the
jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the
world's heritage".[408] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in
the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[409]
Literature
Main article: Indian literature
The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in
the Sanskrit language.[410] Major works of Sanskrit literature include the Rigveda (c. 
1500 BCE – c. 1200 BCE), the epics: Mahābhārata (c. 400 BCE – c. 400 CE) and
the Ramayana (c. 300 BCE and later); Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of
Śakuntalā, and other dramas of Kālidāsa (c. 5th century CE) and Mahākāvya poetry.
[411][412][413]
 In Tamil literature, the Sangam literature (c. 600 BCE – c. 300 BCE) consisting
of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work. [414][415][416][417] From the 14th
to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic
change because of the emergence of devotional poets like Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru
Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and
expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly
from classical traditions.[418] In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in
social questions and psychological descriptions. In the 20th century, Indian literature
was influenced by the works of the Bengali poet, author and
philosopher Rabindranath Tagore,[419] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in
Literature.
Performing arts and media
Main articles: Music of India, Dance in India, Cinema of India, and Television in India
India's National Academy of Performance Arts has recognised eight Indian dance styles to be classical.
One such is Kuchipudi shown here.

Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical

music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the
northern Hindustani and the southern Carnatic schools.[420] Regionalised popular
forms include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known
form of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among
the better-known folk dances are: the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam,
the Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand, Odisha and West
Bengal, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the lavani of
Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological
elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy
of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil
Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala, kuchipudi of
Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, odissi of Odisha, and the sattriya of Assam.[421]
Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. [422] Often
based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social
and political events, Indian theatre includes: the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West
Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of
Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, terukkuttu of Tamil
Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[423] India has a theatre training institute
the National School of Drama (NSD) that is situated at New Delhi It is an
autonomous organisation under the Ministry of culture, Government of India.
[424]
 The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[425] Established
regional cinematic traditions exist in
the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Mar
athi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[426] The Hindi language film industry
(Bollywood) is the largest sector representing 43% of box office revenue, followed by
the South Indian Telugu and Tamil film industries which represent 36% combined. [427]
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of
communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades. [428][429] The state
monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels
have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society. [430] Today, television is
the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there
are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite or cable connections
compared to other forms of mass media such as the press (350 million), radio
(156 million) or internet (37 million).[431]
Society

Muslims offer namaz at a mosque in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste

system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions
found on the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands
of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[432] India
abolished untouchability in 1950 with the adoption of the constitution and has since
enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives.
Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-
generational patrilineal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear
families are becoming common in urban areas.[433] An overwhelming majority of
Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other
family elders.[434] Marriage is thought to be for life,[434] and the divorce rate is extremely
low,[435] with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce. [436] Child
marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching
18, which is their legal marriageable age.[437] Female infanticide in India, and
lately female foeticide, have created skewed gender ratios; the number of missing
women in the country quadrupled from 15 million to 63 million in the 50-year period
ending in 2014, faster than the population growth during the same period, and
constituting 20 percent of India's female electorate. [438] Accord to an Indian
government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive
adequate care.[439] Despite a government ban on sex-selective foeticide, the practice
remains commonplace in India, the result of a preference for boys in a patriarchal
society.[440] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class
lines.[441] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise,
despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[442]
Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Diwali, Ganesh
Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas,
and Vaisakhi.[443][444]
Education
Main articles: Education in India, Literacy in India, and History of education in the
Indian subcontinent
Children awaiting school lunch in Rayka (also Raika), a village in rural Gujarat. The salutation Jai
Bhim written on the blackboard honours the jurist, social reformer, and Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar.

In the 2011 census, about 73% of the population was literate, with 81% for men and
65% for women. This compares to 1981 when the respective rates were 41%, 53%
and 29%. In 1951 the rates were 18%, 27% and 9%. In 1921 the rates 7%, 12% and
2%. In 1891 they were 5%, 9% and 1%,[445][446] According to Latika Chaudhary, in 1911
there were under three primary schools for every ten villages. Statistically, more
caste and religious diversity reduced private spending. Primary schools taught
literacy, so local diversity limited its growth.[447]
The education system of India is the world's second-largest. [448] India has over 900
universities, 40,000 colleges[449] and 1.5 million schools.[450] In India's higher education
system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies
for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education
system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development.[451]
[452]

Clothing
Main article: Clothing in India

Women in sari at an adult literacy class in Tamil Nadu

A man in dhoti and wearing a woollen shawl, in Varanasi

From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional
dress in India was draped.[453] For women it took the form of a sari, a single piece of
cloth many yards long.[453] The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body
and the shoulder.[453] In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or
Indian petticoat, and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also
commonly worn with an Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-
body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—serving to cover the
midriff and obscure the upper body's contours.[453] For men, a similar but shorter
length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[454]

Women (from left to right) in churidars and kameez (with back to the camera), jeans and sweater, and
pink Shalwar kameez

The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at
first by the Delhi sultanate (ca 1300 CE) and then continued by the Mughal
Empire (ca 1525 CE).[455] Among the garments introduced during this time and still
commonly worn are: the shalwars and pyjamas, both styles of trousers, and the
tunics kurta and kameez.[455] In southern India, the traditional draped garments were
to see much longer continuous use.[455]
Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are
held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.
[456]
 The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias, in
which case they are called churidars. When they are ordinarily wide at the waist and
their bottoms are hemmed but not cuffed, they are called pyjamas. The kameez is a
long shirt or tunic,[457] its side seams left open below the waist-line.[458] The kurta is
traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered
decoration, such as chikan; and typically falls to either just above or just below the
wearer's knees.[459]
In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in
urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they
remain popular on formal occasions.[460] The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn
by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans. [460] In white-collar office
settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.
[460]
 For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle- and upper classes often
wear bandgala, or short Nehru jackets, with pants, with the groom and
his groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars.[460] The dhoti, once the universal
garment of Hindu males, the wearing of which in the homespun and
handwoven khadi allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions, [461] is
seldom seen in the cities.[460]
Cuisine
Main article: Indian cuisine