India

total:

645.84 cu km/yr (8%/5%/86%)

per capita:

585 cu m/yr (2000)

• droughts;
• flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains;
• severe thunderstorms;
• earthquakes

volcanism:

Barren Island (elev. 354 m) in the Andaman Sea has been active in recent years

• 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 growing population is overstraining natural resources

• dominates South Asian subcontinent;
• near important Indian Ocean trade routes;
• Kanchenjunga, third tallest mountain in the world, lies on the border with Nepal

noun:

Indian(s)

adjective:

Indian

at birth:

1.12 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.13 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.07 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.91 male(s)/female

total population:

1.08 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of India

conventional short form:

India

local long form:

Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya

local short form:

India/Bharat

name:

New Delhi

geographic coordinates:

28 36 N, 77 12 E

time difference:

UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

• common law system based on the English model;
• separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus;
• judicial review of legislative acts

chief of state:

President Pratibha Devisingh PATIL (since 25 July 2007); Vice President Mohammad Hamid ANSARI (since 11 August 2007)

head of government:

Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH (since 22 May 2004)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

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 (no term limits);
• election last held in July 2007 (next to be held in July 2012);
• vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term;
• election last held in August 2007 (next to be held August 2012);
• prime minister chosen by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections;
• election last held April - May 2009 (next to be held no later than May 2014)

election results:

Pratibha PATIL elected president; percent of vote - Pratibha PATIL 65.8%, Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT - 34.2%

• All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [J. JAYALALITHAA];
• All India Trinamool Congress or AITC [Mamata BANERJEE];
• Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI];
• Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Nitin GADKARI];
• Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK];
• Communist Party of India or CPI [A.B. BARDHAN];
• Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M [Prakash KARAT];
• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK [M.KARUNANIDHI];
• Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI];
• Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADAV];
• Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR];
• Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Lalu Prasad YADAV];
• Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD [Ajit SINGH];
• Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV];
• Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL];
• Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY];
• Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU];
• note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties;
• only parties with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed

• All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir Valley (separatist group);
• Bajrang Dal (religious organization);
• India Against Corruption [Anna HAZAREI];
• Jamiat Ulema-e Hind (religious organization);
• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [Mohan BHAGWAT] (religious organization);
• Vishwa Hindu Parishad [Ashok SINGHAL] (religious organization)

other:

• numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations;
• various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy;
• hundreds of social reform, anti-corruption, and environmental groups at state and local level

chief of mission:

Ambassador Nirupama RAO

chancery:

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

telephone:

[1] (202) 939-7000

FAX:

[1] (202) 265-4351

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires A. Peter BURLEIGH

embassy:

Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021

mailing address:

use embassy street address

telephone:

[91] (011) 2419-8000

FAX:

[91] (11) 2419-0017

consulate(s) general:

Chennai (Madras), Hyderabad; Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay)

• three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top), white, and green, with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band;
• saffron represents courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of renunciation;
• white signifies purity and truth;
• green stands for faith and fertility;
• the blue chakra symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation

note: similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

name:

"Jana-Gana-Mana" (Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People)

lyrics/music:

Rabindranath TAGORE

note: adopted 1950; Rabindranath TAGORE, a Nobel laureate, also wrote Bangladesh's national anthem

agriculture:

52%

industry:

14%

services:

34% (2009 est.)

lowest 10%:

3.6%

highest 10%:

31.1% (2005)

• rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, lentils, onions, potatoes;
• dairy products, sheep, goats, poultry;
• fish

general assessment:

• supported by recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world;
• total telephone subscribership base reached 700 million, an overall teledensity of 60%, and subscribership is currently growing more than 15 million per month;
• urban teledensity has reached 100% and rural teledensity is about 20% and steadily growing

domestic:

• mobile cellular service introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan areas and 19 telecom circles each with multiple private service providers and one or more state-owned service providers;
• in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)

international:

• country code - 91;
• a number of major international submarine cable systems, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with a landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with a landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with a landing site at Cochin, the i2i cable network linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic;
• satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region);
• 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam (2010)

• Doordarshan, India's public TV network, operates about 20 national, regional, and local services;
• large number of privately-owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers;
• government controls AM radio with All India Radio operating domestic and external networks;
• news broadcasts via radio are limited to the All India Radio Network;
• since 2000, privately-owned FM stations are permitted but limited to broadcasting entertainment and educational content (2007)

• condensate/gas 2 km;
• gas 9,596 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 2,152 km;
• oil 7,448 km;
• refined products 10,486 km (2010)

total:

63,974 km

country comparison to the world: 4

broad gauge:

54,257 km 1.676-m gauge (18,927 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

7,180 km 1.000-m gauge; 2,537 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2010)

• 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service;
• no conscription;
• women may join as officers, but for noncombat roles only (2010)

males age 16-49:

319,129,420

females age 16-49:

296,071,637 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

249,531,562

females age 16-49:

240,039,958 (2010 est.)

male:

12,151,065

female:

10,745,891 (2010 est.)

• since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue;
• Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas);
• India and Pakistan resumed bilateral dialogue in February 2011 after a two-year hiatus, have maintained the 2003 cease fire in Kashmir, and continue to have disputes over water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries;
• UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949;
• India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964;
• to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea;
• Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State;
• Prime Minister Singh's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over undemarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented;
• Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea;
• Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River;
• India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

refugees (country of origin):

• 77,200 (Tibet/China);
• 69,609 (Sri Lanka);
• 9,472 (Afghanistan)

IDPs:

at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2007)

• world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets;
• transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia;
• illicit producer of methaqualone;
• vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system;
• licit ketamine and precursor production