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HISTORY
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Indus Valley Civilization
From the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the individuality of the early village cultures began to be replaced by a more homogenous style of existence. By the middle of the 3rd millennium, a uniform culture had developed at settlements spread across nearly 500,000 square miles, including parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Baluchistan, Sind and the Makran coast. |
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The Aryans
The Aryans are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber pass, around 1500 BC. They intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated themselves into the social framework. |
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The Gupta Age
The greatest empire in the fourth century AD was the Gupta empire, which ushered in the golden age of Indian history. This empire lasted for more than two centuries. |
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The Southern Kingdoms
While kingdoms rose and fell in the north of India, the south remained generally unaffected by these upheavals. Religions like Jainism and Buddhism gradually became popular in the centre and north of India, but Hinduism continued to flourish in the south. |
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The Muslim Invasions
An event of immense and lasting impact in Indian history was the advent of the Muslims in the north-west. Lured by tales of the fertile plains of the Punjab and the fabulous wealth of Hindu temples, Mahmud of Ghazni first attacked India in 1000 AD. |
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The Marathas
The power that came closest to imperial pretensions was that of the Marathas. Starting from scratch, the non-Brahmin castes in the Maharashtra region had been organised into a fighting force by their legendary leader, Shivaji. |
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Coming of the Europeans
The next arrival of overwhelming political importance was that of the Europeans. The great seafarers of north-west Europe, the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese, arrived early in the seventeenth century and established trading outposts along the coasts. |
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The Struggle for Independence
India achieved independence on August 15,1947. The progress and triumph of the Indian Freedom movement was one of the most significant historical processes of the twentieth century. Its repercussions extended far beyond its immediate political consequences. |
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| HISTORY OF INDIA |
| The roots of Indian Civilization stretch back in time to pre-recorded history. The earliest human activity in the Indian sub-continent can be traced back to the Early, Middle and Late Stone Ages (400,000-200,000 BC). Implements from all three periods have been found from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, parts of what is now Pakistan and the southern most tip of the Indian Peninsula.
These Paleolithic people were semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers for many millennia. Five main races of people were in existence when the move to an agricultural lifestyle took place, in the middle of the 9th millennium BC. These were the Negrito race, the Proto-Australoid; the Mediterranean race, the Mongloids and the Alpine people.
The first evidence of agricultural settlements on the western plains of the Indus is roughly contemporaneous with similar developments in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia. These settlements gradually grew and the inhabitants started to use copper and bronze, domesticated animals, made pottery and began trade activities.
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| PROFILE |
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General Information
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Population
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1,049,700,118 (July 2003 est.)
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Area
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3.3 million square kilometers ( slightly more than one-third the size of the US)
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Geographical location
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Lies between latitudes 8 °
4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97 ° 25'
east
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Coastline length
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7,600 km
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Languages
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17 major languages, 844 dialects
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
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Major religions
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Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)
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National
anthem
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Jan gana mana written
by Rabindranath Tagore
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National
emblem
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Replica of the Lion Capital
of Sarnath
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National
flag
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Horizontal tricolor in equal
proportion of deep
saffron on the top, white in
the middle and dark
green at the bottom. In the
center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue colour.
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National
Animal
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Tiger, Panthera tigris
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National
bird
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Peacock
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National
flower
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Lotus
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National
tree
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Banyan
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National
fruit
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Mango
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| National currency |
Rupees (One Rupees=100 paise) |
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Political structure
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India
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Sovereign, Socialist, Secular,
Democratic Republic
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The Indian Union
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25 States and seven centrally
administered
Union Territories
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Form of government
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Parliamentary, based on universal
adult franchise
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Legislature
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Parliament, consists of President
and the two
Houses, known as Rajya Sabha
(Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People )
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Executive
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Consists of President, Vice-President
and Council
of Ministers led by the Prime
Minister
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Judiciary
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Independent of executive
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Economic indicators
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Growth of exports
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28.8 per cent in 1995-96
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Power generation
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414.1 billion kilo-watt hour
in 1995-96
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Coal production
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270 million tonnes in 1995-96
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Crude oil production
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35.2 million tonnes in 1995-96
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Railway passenger traffic
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3,915 million in 1994-95
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Railway freight traffic
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382 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Total road length
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2.04 million km in 1995
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Telephone connections
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10.5 million in 1994-95
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Iron ore export
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26.0 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Exports of electronics, computer
software
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Rs 24,340 million in 1994-95
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Exports of decentralised cotton
cloth
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949 million sq. meters in 1994-95
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Foodgrains production
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191.1 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Sugarcane production
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258.4 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Cotton production
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12.1 million bales in 1994-95
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Oil seed production
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21.4 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Cement production
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62.4 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Nitrogenous fertilizer production
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7.95 million tonnes in 1994-95
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Nuclear energy generation
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8 billion kilo-watt hour in
1994-95
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The Indian Economy is in transition. After a major thrust
to Reforms, India is experiencing a spell of sound GDP growth at an average
annual rate of 6% during 1994-95 to 1996-97.
At the sectoral level, significant progress is taking
place : a steady growth of the agriculture sector, but its modernisation
is moving at a halting pace; a resurgence in industry, but a sudden blip
of deceleration is causing concern; a growing external trade intensity
of the economy, but exports have yet to gather a sustained momentum. The
services sector has been performing quite remarkably, specially after the
reforms of the financial sector, but much still remains to be done. The
prolonged phase of despondency in the capital market is the most worrisome
feature.
At this critical stage, infrastructure development, with
its multiple backward and forward linkages, has to be places at the centre-stage.
With a little more push to to reforms and more effective techno-managerial
efforts, it is not difficult to secure a sustainable high growth profile
of the economy.
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