India Gate, New Delhi: An impressive example of colonial architecture, India Gate is a symbol of modern Delhi. The 138 ft / 42 m high stone arch was built by the British in honor of Indian soldiers killed in World War I. A permanent flame honors Indian soldiers who died in wars since 1918. A popular tourist attraction, the gate is also a gathering place for Delhi residents, who love to stroll the area at night, eating ice cream and buying strands of flowers.

Qutub Minar, New Delhi: One of the most visited tourist spot of Delhi, Qutub Minar was built in 1199 by Qutub-ud-Din. The sultan's successor and son-in-law, Iltutmish, completed it. The purpose of building this beautiful monument is not very clear as some believe that it was built as a tower of victory to signify the beginning of the Muslim rule in India, while others say it served as a minaret to the adjoining mosque and was used by the muezzins to call the faithful to prayer. It is 72.5 metres high and one has to climb 379 steps to get to the top. The diameter of the base is 14.3 metres while the top flor measures 2.7 metres in diameter.

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur (Rajasthan): Built in 1799, the Hawa Mahal, or the Palace of the Winds, is one of the major landmarks of Jaipur, The Pink City. This five-storey building, which looks out over the main street of the old city, is a stunning exmple of Rajput artistry, with its pink semioctagonal and delicately honeycombed sandstone windows. It was originally built to enable ladies of the royal household to watch the everyday life of the city. The palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, and is part of the City Palace.

Taj Mahal, Agra: A white marble tomb built in 1631-48 in Agra, by Emperor Shah Jehan for his wife, Arjuman Banu Begum, is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is the symbol of true love. The Taj Mahal sums up many of the formal themes that have played through Islamic architecture. Its refined elegance is a conspicuous contrast both to the Hindu architecture of pre-Islamic India, with its thick walls, carved arches, heavy lintels in the Indo-Islamic styles, in which Hindu elements are combined with an eclectic assortment of motifs from Persian and Turkish sources.

Location

:

Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Map references: Asia

Area

:

Total: 3,287,590 sq km

Land

:

2,973,190 sq km

Water

:

314,400 sq km

Area - comparative

:

Slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land boundaries

:

Total: 14,103 km

Border countries

:

Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

Climate

:

Varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Terrain

:

Upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north

Elevation extremes

:

lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

Natural resources

:

Coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land

Irrigated land

:

590,000 sq km (1998 est.)

People

Population

:

1 Billion
(1,045,845,226 (July 2002 est.)

Religions

:

Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)

Languages

:

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language

Literacy

:

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total Population: 52%
Male: 65.5%
Female: 37.7% (1995 est.)

Government

Government type

:

Federal Republic

Capital

:

New Delhi

Administrative Divisions

:

28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Independence

:

15 August 1947 (from UK)

Constitution

:

26 January 1950

Legal system

:

based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Economy - overview

:

India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. Overpopulation severely handicaps the economy. Government controls have been reduced on imports and foreign investment, and privatization of domestic output has proceeded slowly. The economy has posted an excellent average growth rate of 6% since 1990, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language; India is a major exporter of software services and software workers.

GDP

:

Purchasing power parity - $2.66 trillion (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

:

4% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita

:

Purchasing power parity - $2,540 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition

:

By sector:
Agriculture: 25%
Industry: 25%
Services: 50% (2002 est.)

Electricity - production

:

547.12 billion kWh (FY 2000-01, utilities only) (2000)

Exports

:

$44.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Exports - commodities

:

Textile goods, Handicrafts, Gems and Jewelry, Engineering goods, Chemicals, Leather finished goods

Exports - partners

:

US 22.8%, Hong Kong 5.8%, Japan 5.3%, UK 5.3%, Germany 4.6% (2000)

Transportation

Railways

:

Total: 63,693 km (13,771 km electrified)

Highways

:

Total: 3,319,644 km
Paved: 1,517,077 km
Unpaved: 1,802,567 km (1996)

Waterways

:

16,180 km
note: 3,631 km navigable by large vessels

Ports and harbors

:

Chennai (Madras), Cochin, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Vishakhapatnam

Airports

:

335 (2001)
234 with paved runways

Internet country code

:

.in