Click Here to know more
Let us use this platform to share details about our countries, cultures and various other details that no one else knows. Let me start with my own country, India. People from different cultures, please share about your country, culture and its exuberance.
About India
“With the coexistence of multitude of Languages, Cultures & Traditions and multiple religions, India is a classical example of Unity and Diversity.”
Demography
- Population: 1.12 billion (2007 estimate) & 1.02 billion (2001 census)
- Languages: 18 official languages, 216 regional languages and 1600 dialects.
Administration
- Democracy: Bicameral parliamentary democracy
- Union Government: United Progressive Alliance, a Congress-led multi-party coalition
- Head of State: President Pratibha Patil (as on March 2008)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (as on March 2008)
Judiciary
- Highest Court of Appeal: Supreme Court of India
- Chief Justice: K. G. Balakrishnan
- High Courts: 21 covering all states and Union Territories
Geography
- Capital: New Delhi
- Largest City: Mumbai
- Size: India is the seventh largest country in the world with (approx.) 3.3 million sq. km land mass.
- Subdivision: 28 States & 7 Union Territories.
- Location: The Indian peninsula is separated from mainland Asia by the Himalayas. The country is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south.
- Border Countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west; China, Bhutan and Neap to the north; Myanmar to the east; and Bangladesh to the east of West Bengal. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea, formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.
- Coastline: 7,516.6 km encompassing the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
- Climate: The climate of India can broadly be classified as a tropical monsoon one. But, in spite of much of the northern part of India lying beyond the tropical zone, the entire country has a tropical climate marked by relatively high temperatures and dry winters. There are four seasons – winter (December-February), summer (March-June), south-west monsoon season (June-September), and post-monsoon season (October-November).
- Terrain: The mainland comprises of four regions, namely the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganges and the Indus, the desert region, and the southern peninsula.
- Natural Resources: Coal, iron ore, manganes ore, mica, bauxite, petroleum, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, magnesite, limestone, arable land, dolomite, barytes, kaolin, gypsum, apatite, phosphorite, steatite, flourite, etc.
Economy
- GDP: India became a trillion dollar economy this year, and is the 12th largest economy in real terms (4th largest in PPP terms).
- GDP per capita: $820
- Growth: 9.4% in 2006-07
- Exports: $126.3 billion (goods only, 2006-07) up 22.45% over last year.
- Imports: $190.56 billion (goods incl. oil, 2006-07) up 27.75% over last year.
- Foreign Exchange Reserves: $218 billion (July 13 2007)
- Foreign Direct Investment: $15.72 billion (2006-07, estimated)
- Cumulative FDI 1991-2007: $54.62 billion
- Attractiveness: AT Kearney places India as the second most attractive FDI destination in the world in its latest survey.
- Convertibility: The Indian Rupee is fully convertible on the current account and the talk is of capital account convertibility by 2009
To know more about India,
Although a bit long, this clip is too short to summarise the Indian Cultural History. While the first part narrates the history of India, the second half speaks about the future. The second half is my personal favourite. A must watch video Clip.
A little more to add…
A musical tribute to India
A musical tribute to Indian Soldiers
I Strongly urge all the people to share their comments and views on this article. People from India, please add on to the details and people from other countries please write about your country.
The suggested Video Clip is really worth a watch.
And I relly like the way it summarises the spirit of the past and vision of the future in just a few words. It says,
India has stood against all odds in the past, preserving it’s unique culture and tradition.
Past is history now.
We are moving ahead with new dreams and aspirations, there is no stopping now
In addition to the above details,
One thing that is important about India and makes it different than the rest of the world is the unique mix of people from different regions, speaking different languages, eating different kinds of food, wearing different kinds of clothes, singing on different kinds of tunes, following different religions and yet staying together like they are one big unit. India could not have prospered without this very diversified society.
The diversity of religions is commendable. While a lot of societies have only one religion and yet keep on fighting amongst each other, the diversity of religions prevail and prosper in India. While Hiduism is the most followed religion, (approximately) 15% of Indians are muslims. Also there are a lot of Christians, Jains, Bhuddhist, Sikhs, Parsis and people who believe in different religions.
Because of this very interesting mix, Indians celebrate all festivals with equal participation. While Diwali is the biggest festival, Eid is also a popular festival. (Especially for the Sevaiyan, a sweet served on Eid, is my favourite)
In India, we have festivals for all sorts of reasons and for all seasons. There are festivals for Summers (Holi), for winters (Diwali, Eid, Navratri etc.) and for rainy seasons too.
We celebrate on Birthdays, marriage anniversary, friendship day, valentine’s day, father’s day, mother’s day, childrens day, labour day, fools’ day and possibly everyday
So friends in short,
Cheers
If we are taking abt the culture, Bascially India Shrares four dimensions of the culture which area
high power distance
Collectivist society
high context society
high uncertainity avoidence.
this is a great piece of information.
Thanks Smith
Nice website!!