India

• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• overgrazing;
• desertification;
• air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions;
• water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides;
• tap water is not potable throughout the country;
• huge and rapidly growing population is overstraining natural resources

party to:

Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

0-14 years:

34% (male 175,463,726; female 165,722,164)

15-64 years:

61% (male 318,004,920; female 295,245,556)

65 years and over:

5% (male 23,571,270; female 22,840,914) (1999 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.08 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

1.03 male(s)/female

total population:

1.07 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

noun:

Indian(s)

adjective:

Indian

conventional long form:

Republic of India

conventional short form:

India

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

chief of state:

President Kicheril Raman NARAYANAN (since 25 July 1997); Vice President Krishnan KANT (since 21 August 1997)

head of government:

Prime Minister Atal Behari VAJPAYEE (since 19 March 1998)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister

elections:

• president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term;
• election last held 14 July 1997 (next to be held NA July 2002);
• vice president elected by both houses of Parliament;
• election last held 16 August 1997 (next to be held NA August 2002);
• prime minister elected by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections;
• election last held NA March 1998 (next to be held NA March 2003)

election results:

• Kicheril Raman NARAYANAN elected president;
• percent of electoral college vote--NA;
• Krishnan KANT elected vice president;
• percent of Parliament vote--NA;
• Atal Behari VAJPAYEE elected prime minister;
• percent of vote--NA

• Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP PALIWAL (chairman), Chitta BASU (general secretary)];
• Muslim League factions representing Sikh religious community in the Punjab;
• National Conference or NC (a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir) NA]

• various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy;
• numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including
  • Adam Sena,
  • Ananda Marg,
  • Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
  • and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

AfDB, AsDB, BIS, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIPONUH, MONUA, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNOMIL, UNOMSIL, UNU, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

chief of mission:

Ambassador Naresh CHANDRA

chancery:

2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; note--Embassy located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador Richard F. CELESTE

embassy:

Shanti Path, Chanakyapuri 110021, New Delhi

mailing address:

use embassy street address

consulate(s) general:

Calcutta, Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay)

• three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band;
• similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

lowest 10%:

4.1%

highest 10%:

25% (1994)

• rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes;
• cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry;
• fish

• mediocre;
• local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas;
• major objective is to continue to expand and modernize long-distance network in order to keep pace with rapidly growing number of local subscriber lines;
• steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but demand for communication services is also growing rapidly

domestic:

• local service is provided by microwave radio relay and coaxial cable, with open wire and obsolete electromechanical and manual switchboard systems still in use in rural areas;
• starting in the 1980s, a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced for local- and long-distance service;
• long-distance traffic is carried mostly by coaxial cable and low-capacity microwave radio relay;
• since 1985, however, significant trunk capacity has been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a domestic satellite system with 254 earth stations;
• cellular telephone service in four metropolitan cities

international:

• satellite earth stations--8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean Region);
• four gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai;
• submarine cables to Malaysia, UAE, Singapore, and Japan

total:

62,915 km (12,307 km electrified; 12,617 km double track)

broad gauge:

40,620 km 1.676-m gauge

narrow gauge:

18,501 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,794 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m gauge (1998 est.)

total:

3,319,644 km

paved:

1,517,077 km

unpaved:

1,802,567 km (1996 est.)

• boundary with China in dispute;
• status of Kashmir with Pakistan;
• water-sharing problems with Pakistan over the Indus River (Wular Barrage);
• a portion of the boundary with Bangladesh is indefinite;
• dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty Island

• world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets;
• major transit country for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries;
• illicit producer of hashish and methaqualone;
• cultivated 2,050 hectares of illicit opium in 1997, a 34% decrease from 1996, with a potential production of 30 metric tons, a 36% decrease from 1996