India Facts

Key facts
Location
South Asia.

Time
GMT + 5.5

Area
3,166,414 sq km (1,222,582 sq miles)

Population
1.1 billion (Estimate 2007)

Population Density
347 per sq km

Tele density
33 percent (December 2008)
 
Literacy rate
66 percent (2001)

Capital
New Delhi. Population: 16.6 million (Estimate 2007)

States and union territories

28 states and 7 union territories

Geography
India shares borders with Pakistan on its northwest frontier, Shares northern boundary with China, Nepal and Bhutan, and the east with Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). The Arabian Sea lies on the west, Bay of Bengal on the east and Indian Ocean on the south. The southern neighbouring country of India is Sri Lanka, located off the southeast coast, and the Maldives lies off the southwest coast. The north-eastern states of India are often referred as seven sisters.  The mighty Himalayan range of mountains which guards its northern end acting as a barrier, cutting it from rest of Asia and acts as a shield checking the cold winds from Siberia.   The river Ganges acts as the lifeline of India.

Government
Republic since 1947

Head of State
President Pratibha Patil since July 2007

Head of Government
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since 2009

Language
The main language of India is Hindi which is spoken by nearly 40% of the population but English is also allowed in the constitution for official communication. In addition, 17 regional languages are listed in the 8th schedule of the constitution.  Some of these languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya and Punjabi. Tamil and Telugu are spoken in the different regions of the India. The other regional languages listed in the 8th schedule of the constitution are Kannada, Malayalam, Maithili and Marathi.  Urdu is mainly spoken by the Muslim population. 

Religion
The major religion in India is Hinduism with about 82% followers; Islam is next with 12%, and a significant share of Sikh, Christian, Jain, Parsi and Buddhist minorities.

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